GER-SWE @ adidas arena

I checked another item off my to-do list when I watched the Germany-Sweden game today at the adidas arena, a venue with stadium seating and a couple big-screen TVs. It's designed to resemble the Olympiastadion and occupies the field opposite the Reichstag. You need tickets to get in, and one might say that it’s ridiculous to pay money to watch a game on TV when you could as easily do that at home. But what makes the experience distinctive, of course, is the atmosphere. The adidas arena fits something on the order of ten thousand fans (more than, say, go to see the Metrostars play), and while it wasn’t the same as being at a game, it wasn’t far off. The pandemonium that erupted when Podolski scored his early brace was deafening.

So as I write this in my hotel room, there’s non-stop horn honking and general din in the streets around Ku’damm as the Germans celebrate their convincing win over the Swedes. So now it appears that the party that erupted when Germany beat Poland wasn’t really that unusual at all—it’s not at all a reflection of the quality of the win or the magnitude of the accomplishment (e.g., the same thing happened after the largely meaningless win against Ecuador) but just an excuse to have a big party.

And I have to admit it makes me kinda jealous. The WC is an unparalleled scene win or lose and it’s been great to be here (about which more later), but the disappointing US performances did cast a certain pall of, well, disappointment over the past few days’ proceedings. When the Germans were having a great time and celebrating their goals at the Adidas arena today I couldn’t help feeling the contrast with how I felt about my team. But that is of course a necessary risk—winning wouldn’t be meaningful if it weren’t occasionally contrasted with losing (unless you’re Brazil, of course).

{Pic #1: Adidas arena interior.}
{Pic #2: Happy Germans celebrating yet another goal.}