Now, I am not a die-hard football (aka soccer) fan.  But since a certain someone in my life is — and has been since he was born — I happen to know a little bit about the sport.

Really, how can you not, living in Germany and all?  In addition to the actual football games, there exists: a live commentary with players and coaches after the game, an in-depth expert analysis later in the evening, a play-by-play on the late-night news of all of the games played that day.  And in case that wasn’t enough, let’s throw in a Sunday morning talk show analysis, plus the weekly print magazine, Kicker.  I’m sure there’s more.

Yes, my friends, I have picked up some surprising football knowledge.  I can rattle off the names of many players from the German national team, FC Bayern, and a few others here and there.  I can even fill you in on all the details of the firing of Jürgen Klinsmann (which made it’s way into the NY Times).

But that is not why I am writing this post.  The point is that last night I attended my first ever Bundesliga football game!  Since Hamburg (aka HSV: Hamburger Sport-Verein) made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup playing against arch-rivals Werder Bremen, we shelled out a little dough to watch it live.

Nothing like 50,000 football fans to get you energized!  Although Hamburg ended up losing (2:3), it was way more fun to watch the game in-person than on television.  Plus I learned a new little ditty, which I will translate for you here:

What is green and stinks like fish?  Werder Bremen.

No, it doesn’t really sound any better in German.  HSV fans just like to sing it to piss off Bremen fans.  It’s the little things, you know?

Good times.  More photos here!