THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260076
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CARRIE ANSELL, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
YESTERDAY I had to cancel an important appointment. Why?
In Germany there is only one possible answer - soccer. I had to cancel my appointment to watch a soccer game, specifically Borussia Dortmund against SC Freiburg. (Those are teams from two German republics.) If Dortmund won this game, they would become Herbst Meister, or fall champions.
Here, ``Fussball ist Koenig.'' That is, soccer is king.
As Americans discovered last year while hosting the World Cup, soccer is the most popular, most watched sport in the world. American football doesn't even come close.
That's OK with me. I like soccer, and that's a good thing, because my host family loves it. My host mother is a native of Dortmund, and so we're all huge fans. I've gone to two Dortmund games and watched countless others on television, and I have to say there is nothing like it.
In a country suspicious of patriotism, everyone is proud to stand behind their team. I have not seen one article of clothing with the German flag on it, but I've seen shirts, shorts, shoes, hats, scarves and countless other items in team colors.
And it doesn't stop there. You thought Americans were model capitalists? Welcome to merchandising German style. In addition to clothes, I can buy Borussia Dortmund moisturizer, can openers, champagne, playing cards, milk, ash trays, pencil sharpeners, cookies, bath gel, stamps, yogurt, after shave, shampoo, roller blades, vodka, CDs, soap, calculators, toothbrushes, butter - the list goes on and on. I mean, when was the last time you drank Dallas Cowboys milk or did your math homework on a Washington Redskins calculator?
This endless list of products is only matched by the endless list of soccer games. In addition to games between German teams, there are games between Europe's national teams, between Europe's regional teams and between different levels of these teams - majors, minors and amateurs.
As a result of this soccer overexposure (not that I'm complaining), soccer players here are stars. Germany may not have Hollywood, but it has Dortmund and Munich and Bremen and Freiburg and Stuttgart and Frankfurt and countless others. It may not have Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Antonio Banderas (unfortunately), but it has Matthias Sammer, Jurgen Klinnsman, Stefan Effenberg and Marion Basler. Oh, and we get the first three just the same.
The United States will experience major league soccer this spring, and it will be interesting to see if Americans will catch on to the soccer craze that now wraps around the world. If nothing else, the merchandisers would love it. MEMO: Carrie Ansell graduated a year early from First Colonial High School so
she could spend her senior year at a high school in Germany. She files
occasional dispatches about life abroad. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Carrie Ansell
by CNB