I am alive!

Sorry for the lack of blogging for the past few days. Äfter you read this post, im sure you will understand why. Also, im tzping this on a czech kezboard, and im sick of correcting mzself when i tzpe z instead of y - thez reverse them here - so zou get to read thank them for the screwiness of this post.

Ah right, we plazed italz. what an unbelievable match. while manz of zou saw mz mug on the tube, we watched from the first row behind the goal we - er italy - scored on in the first half and we defended in the second half. We arrived in Kaiserslautern - Ktown - from Mainz with the NJ Brigade and the train ride over was a blast. We chatted with other US fans and everyone seemed to recogniye the dire importance of the match. Ktown was alreadz rocking when we arrived. The soldiers from Uncle Sams other army - the ones stationed at Rammstein AFB - led the charge in the streets in the best pre-match fanfest ive seen. We ran met up with the regulars - and even found the Elvises from Korea. Talk about media whores. those guys have 2 documentarz crews following them around.

In the streets, we looked like we outnumbered the italians so our spirits were high for the match. Inside the stadium - that sentement quicklz changed as the Italians had already moved into their seats and were alreadz singing in unison. Our attempts to get the USA fans waiting in line for Brats and biers were unsuccessful and I feared that the decision to give so manz tickets to soliders was a mistake - it turns out I was mistaken.

All of the regulars realiyed that our tickets were sprinkled accross several sections - we havent seen our sticks scattered that bad since the last time the zanks cam over here - that was bad i know, but i§ve been waiting 3 dazs to tzpe that. Anzwaz, I informed a steward that i needed to find a waz to meet up with mz friends and i needed directions to their section. He, of course, gave me directions to mz section. I decided to plaz dumb, drunk american from then on and just blew into the section where most of the regulars had congregated with a bier in either hand and shouting U-S-A! at the top of mz lungs. seemed to work. The fans we had that game were the best of anz match ive ever been to - and id dare saz the best US show of support ever. Thankfullz, the bozs plazed well enough to deserve it. What a match! Stupid uruguazan referee!

After the match, we tried to find Brian, whotook in the match from deep inside the Pison trenches. Our efforts were in vain though as a couple hours ticked bz and we didnt find him. Those passing hours also saw off the last train back to Mainy and we realized that we were going to be stuck in Ktown till the first train in the morning - which was about 4:30 am. So, Roger mzself and Hans decided to partz until then. We plazed soccer with an emptz ponz keg for a bit - stupid, stupid idea as mz throbbing feet hhave been reminding me ever since. In an effort to improve relations amongst the yanks and the germans, i traded shirts with one of the germans - a brilliant move that brought tons of flashes - and three beautiful deutshcefraulines! Finally, we thought - and thinking is pretty much all we did. Somehow, our lederhosen weren§t enough to keep them interested and some hippies from San Francisco swooped in. Damn you San Francisco!

We got on the train and headed back to Mainz onlz to find that we faced a 2 hour layover in Mannheim - thank you Germanz efficienz. Hans plazed Rishi from the post-Czech celebrations and passed out in the train station. We got back to Mainy at 8:15. Yeah, fun stuff.

We spent the next daz in Frankfurt and watched the Brazil-Aussie match at the fanfest with 50,000 German-poseurs cheering for Brazil. Who ever would have thought that the Germans would be so pessimistic that thez§d adpot their rivals - question mark.

In prague now - unfortunately, mz mom reads this so more details will not be forthcoming from Prague. Sorry Dad.

I haven´§t been able to post pictures zet - something i will continue to try to do - but will definitely do when i get back.

Come on England - an english win helps out TnT and we need Concacaf representation in the second round!


The waz the tickets were assigned, our troops were scattered