Pre-game post: Hamburg

Alright, so, the pictures from last time are up. You can find them here (or here) and in the links section on the left, under Third Set.

It’s gameday, at Hamburg. Not going to lie—I didn’t get to see any of Hamburg yesterday. Our 3 hour bus ride took 5 hours (construction, traffic, rain), so we got in exactly at dinner time, and team curfew (me included?) was at 11.

Plus, the team leaves right after the game, and gets in to Teltow at 2:30 AM. …I think, however, I’m staying with Cem overnight in Hamburg. So, maybe I’ll get to see something tonight.

This is our only bus trip of the season, since, in theory, Hamburg is so close.

It’s rained ever since we got here. It’s been a strange trip: the rain, and the curfew, and our bus was pretty small (I couldn’t even stand up in it, so you could imagine how our offensive linemen felt), and it had my two biggest pet peeves so far in this country.

First, air conditioning. For whatever reason, there is a nationwide resistance to air conditioning. I understand that some people might not like to be cold, but, I would guess that the bus was about 80 degrees, with an ostensible amount of humidity. Players were sitting with their shirts or pants off because it was so hot. The bus DID have air conditioning, but it did about as much as waving a business card in your face did.

Next, curtains. I don’t understand the functionality of a 2-foot curtain for an 8-foot window. And, that is another nationwide occurance. Either the curtain only covers the top quarter of the window, or it goes the other way, and covers little parts of the left and right side of the window.

With the air conditioning, I understand—it just might not be big in this country. But with the curtains, that’s just functionally illogical. Do you buy sunglasses that only cover half of your eye? Or a hat with a hole in the middle of the brim?

…anyway, things are going well. The hotel is nice. Big game today. It kind of feels like the 49ers Thursday night game against Seattle.

The 49ers just lost two awful games, to the Saints in New Orleans and the Packers at home. Then we had to go on the road—in a very, very short week—and take on a pretty good team in Seattle on Thursday night.

People weren’t very optimistic. They thought—rightfully so—that if the 49ers played the way they did in their last two games, Seattle would destroy them. (Especially playing on a short week, in prime time, on the road, in a monsoon, against the defending NFC champions.)

As it turned out, the 49ers played a great second half, and beating the Seahawks 24-14 was arguably their signature win last season (maybe up there with Denver).

I get the same feeling from this team as I did from the 49ers that week: Yeah, we haven’t played so well the last few weeks, and we’re playing a good team on the road. But, let’s just worry about how we play and let the rest sort itself out.

We’ll see what happens.

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Then, after this, the season only has 3 games left (not including the World Bowl). This season truly flew by. Either way, I’ll be at the World Bowl in Frankfurt though, whether we’re there as a team or not. It’s pretty neat that I’ll get to the Super Bowl and the World Bowl in the same year.

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That’s all I’ve got for now (yes, short entry, I know). Check back after game day.