Hertha BSC!

Today I attempted to join the ranks of German football hooligans.  As an American college student, I think I passed fairly well.  The last time I had been to any sporting event nearly this large was almost nine years ago, at a Women’s World Cup game at Chicago’s Soldier Field, so while I have some experience, it is indeed a bit old and American.  I stopped by the Hertha BSC store before class to pick up a scarf, so that I could support my home team in style.

Dan and I left for the game with about an hour and fifteen minutes to go.  We grabbed some dinner to go (döner are a post all to themselves), and started on our way.  Upon reaching S-Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten, we finally started to see some other people with the tell-tale Blue & White scarves.  We decided that this was a good a time as any to pick up a beer before the game, so we stopped in the supermarket as we transferred trains.  After traversing two different tracks, we finally found the correct one.  We knew it was right, because armed security guards lined the tracks, just waiting.

We made it to the stadium, and followed the swelling crowds to the Olympic Stadium, got checked by security, found the right entrance, and took our seats as the team took the field.  I held my scarf high and shouted the tune to which other fans sang words.

Within the first minute, we discovered to our left a very angry man, who flipped off the ref at the first possible instant of the game.  Throughout the 90 minutes, he shouted seemingly random words and occasionally “Hertha!” in a very raspy and alcoholic voice.  He was intimidating for the first half, but his absolute joy and complete camaraderie in the celebration of the Hertha keeper’s save of the only penalty kick endeared him to me.  At any rate, I was occupied with shouting and cheering and trying keep pace with the energy of the full fan section several rows to the side.   We shouted ourselves hoarse, we sang along, I confused the boys in front of us by shouting in English, I waved my scarf, and we all laughed at the mascots together.  It was a great game.  I even got a Olympic Stadium mug, which I will treasure forever, especially since the bottle/cup deposit was a euro.  Unfortunately, the game ended in a tie, despite some great shots by both Hamburg and Hertha.  However, I definitely plan to go to the next home game that I can.

I’ve already got the scarf.