6/17 - Tricky Dick, The Donald, and Wade

[AndyMead]

USA vs Italy (b/w Portugal vs Iran)

The SuperFriends were in good company in Kaiserslautern
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm07.jpg

I gave the scarf I bought to trade to this guy
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm12.jpg

And whatever do, don't mess around with Wade. Good thing there was a fence between him and me!
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm16.jpg

[AndyMead]

Saturday turned into a very, very, very long day.

I got up early and had breakfast, then after catching up online, I headed out to find the laundromat. It turned out to be a few hundred yards from the the hotel. For 7,90 Euro, they're going to wash/dry/fold nearly two weeks of clothes. The only bad news is that they're closed today, so I'll have to pick my clothes up tomorrow morning.

After that, I headed the other way down to the Zeil near Konstablerwache U-Bahn stop. Last Saturday was a massive market day, and I wanted to check things out again and do some more exploring.

Portugal and Iran were in Frankfurt for their game, and I ran into a very large number of Iranian cuties
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm01.jpg
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm05.jpg
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm04.jpg

[AndyMead]

I also ran across a good number of Portuguese fans
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm03.jpg

And during my wandering, I found myself all the way down at the Main River in the town square near the Fan Fest entrance. A bunch of kiosks and stuff were set up and some German fans had their WM-Fanbus there

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm02.jpg

After a couple of hours of exploring, I headed back to the hotel for the long day trip to K-town.

[AndyMead]

They were running a special ICE train from Hamburg to Kaiserslautern through Hannover, Koln, Frankfurt, and Mannheim to the game. I was very lucky and found an empty seat. After the grueling trip to and from Nuremberg for England/Trinidad - I was going to be sitting down on that train one way or the other.

We got to Kaiserslautern on time around 5:30pm. The place was absolutely packed. That should've been an omen for things to come.

I got my ticket to the game and found out I was in the blue section, which meant I had a very long trek to get into the stadium. I kept that in mind as I started exploring and milling about the town.

Americans were everywhere, and the makeup and costumes were fantastic
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm06.jpg

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm08.jpg

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm09.jpg

[AndyMead]

I wandered through town until around 7 when I slowly decided to start making my way towards the far side of the stadium - and with all the security and geography problems (the stadium is atop a small mountain) - the hike promised to be a long one.

I was starting to get a bit hungry, but all the food kiosks on the main strip were either packed or selling stuff that I can't eat.

As I headed out of town on foot, I noticed some Americans outside a grocery store, so I crossed over and joined them. I bought 6 rolls, a bunch of cheese, and some sliced chicken or turkey. The cost - a whopping 2,12. Crazy cheap. Outside the grocery store as I'm making myself a sandwhich, someone handed me a bier! Even better. The 2,12 was more than twice the food I could handle, so I passed that around, and a good time was had by all.

During the treck up the mountain, a scarf vendor was selling scarves for 5 Euros, so I bought a several different U.S. ones, including two of the one design, so I could have something for trade - but the trade scarf (as noted) went to a good cause.

Side Note: Somewhere outside both Gelsenkirchen and Kaiserslautern, someone was selling cheap "game specific" scarves for the two games. I have yet to run into that vendor. I would love to have either or both of the two "game" scarves. If anyone has an extra - let me know!!!!!

I finally got to the Blue sector entrance after about an hour - which includes dinner in the parking lot of the grocery store.

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm10.jpg

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm11.jpg

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm13.jpg

[AndyMead]

The seat I had been given was a Category I - USSF ticket.

This was my view
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm14.jpg

Five minutes early, the sun was blazing in my face. As you can see, the "best ticket you can buy" is way beyond the endline and a good distance up in the second deck.

Just like Korea, the Category III seats (down below in the corner) seem to be the "best" seats that ordinary fans can buy.

It really does beg the question as to why they break tickets in to 3 or 4 "categories" when the price on the ticket doesn't really correllate to the quality of the seat.

I'm just glad I didn't pay for the ticket with the expectation of having a "sideline" seat.

The American fans were well represented in the stadium, too:
http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm15.jpg

[AndyMead]

Here comes the rant. I'm sorry, but I keep hearing about "German efficiency" and "German engineering", but anyone that's been in the country for two weeks has to wonder if they've ever had a full stadium before.

It's absolutely unacceptable the way that crowds are dealt with after games.

I hung out for 10-15 minutes after the game in the stadium to 1) let the crowd get out and 2) kills some time because my train was a 1:05am train.

After trading some insults with Wade, and meeting a few old friends, I headed for the exits.

In the United States, it's not uncommon for a 50,000 seat stadium and grounds to be more or less vacant in 20 minutes or less. In Mexico, Estadio Azteca (110,000 seats) is designed to be emptied in less than 10 minutes (because of Earthquake planning).

In Germany, I don't think they've ever considered the safety implications of penning in tens of thousands of fans into long corridors of fencing with no lights or indication of where they're going.

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm17.jpg

The above shot should've been a warning. It was the concourse outside the stadium. I wasn't too shocked at that point, but I didn't realize that it would take me nearly 45 minutes to get to the end of the security fencing. It must've been 1/2 mile at least with thousands upon thousands of fans fenced in like livestock. Quite disconcerting.

http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm18.jpg

And after a day where I'd already been walking for six or seven hours then mostly standing for a two hour game, my feet were really killing me.

And it was a good half hour walk back around the stadium after clearing the security gates. Mindboggling.

Then I got to the train station and they weren't letting people in because of overcrowding.

It was going from bad to worse.

And just when it seemed bleakest, it did get a little better. Apparently, at the last minute, they added a Kaiserslauter-Mannheim-Daumstadt-Frankfurt ICE train, and I seemed to be just about the only person to notice.

The 12:04 RE train was on platform 3, and it got backed up to 12:55, so everyone on the platform was cramming into that train instead of waiting for the 1:08 ICE train opposite on platform 2. The scheduled ICE train at 1:05 was over on platform 5. Apparently that train was packed as well.

The 1:08 train arrived around 1am and I hopped on. Nobody else got into the car for about 5 minutes, and the held departure until around 1:30 with constant announcements over the PA in the station about the "Frankfurt train on track 2". I guess nobody realized it was there except for a handful of folks who actually read the big board in the station.

Needless to say, it was a relatively nice two hours back with my feet up, a beer, and an egg salad sandwhich.

I got to the room around four and listed to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup until Edmonton scored their third, then I crashed without setting an alarm.

Today I'm chilling out. I think I'll watch the first game (in about 15 minutes) from my room, then head to Fan Fest for the 6pm game.

I did have a two hour midday walkabout when I woke up to get some lunch, but more about today, later!

[mpruitt]

Fascinating stuff about your feet hurting Andy. Really riveting.

[AndyMead]

Fascinating stuff about your feet hurting Andy. Really riveting.

Thanks, Mike. Knowing you care makes them feel better.

[scaryice]

Did somebody say Ice Train?

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/pictures/i/icetrain/01.jpg

[Supersuperman99]

Really neat stuff man, Great to hear your having a blast.

[nyrmetros]

Americans are always in a rush to leave stadiums right after the game. Other people like to hang around and soak up the atmosphere. Americans.......

[AndyMead]

Americans are always in a rush to leave stadiums right after the game. Other people like to hang around and soak up the atmosphere. Americans.......

And apparently Italians and Germans, too.

I did stay and "soak up the atmosphere". I was one of the last people out of the seating bowl.

You should read nicephoras's similar report in the Italy forum.

Kaiserslautern was an organizational disaster.

[DoctorD]

The Germans are very efficient when it comes to herding people between fences. You should see how many people they can pack into a box car.

[KenC]

Odd how some of those American getups look strangely french.

[gosh1976]

the organization was awful I didn't let it bother me but I was really surprised at how poorly the crowd was handled after the game it wasn't such a big deal that before the game I was forced to go what must have been a mile out of the way to come back not far from where I started

but afterward just after seeing Frankie Heyduk trying to get some of the US soccer contingent back to their busses (I should've gotten a picture with him or of him but oh well) was terrible

I didn't leave directly after... I stood for a minutes untill well after the team had left the field and made my way to the train station it seems to me that in an effort to keep the crowd orderly and in certain areas (fenced in dangerous for us safe for them) it created problems

when we got to the train station they were still allowing people in but it was terrible I made it ok to my platform where I found the extra train that only one DB employee seemed to know about going to Worms (you have got to see this thing circa 1940's I'll see baout posting pics) it was good they stopped letting people in the station where they could spread out in front the other platforms were full and as more people crammed in downstairs others were being turned around at the full platforms people were starting to push and those looks of panic were strating to appear on some peoples faces.... people were trying to move in all different directions if no one was hurt and no fights broke out I'm amazed

[StormTrooper]

And apparently Italians and Germans, too.

I did stay and "soak up the atmosphere". I was one of the last people out of the seating bowl.

You should read nicephoras's similar report in the Italy forum.

Kaiserslautern was an organizational disaster.


I'm wish you. We waited until well after the match was over to let the crowd disperse. The design of the stadium took us about a mile around the backside, in the dark, and then further congestion approaching the train station. If al Qaeda wanted to cause trouble, some guy could have easily gotten in the middle with a backpack and taken out hundreds.

German efficiency my ass. And the train back to Mannheim was a farce with its delays. Approach to the stadium, exit, and train ride were all ridiculous.

But what a match!

[FC Dizzle]

USA vs Italy (b/w Portugal vs Iran)





http://worldcup.bigsoccer.com/june17ajm/bs060617ajm12.jpg


wait.. even garber is at the WC and doesnt give a siht about the MLS season right now.