07/20/2006   English German
  Edition # 62  
San Francisco, 07-20-2006

World Cup in America
Figure [1]: Thousands are watching the game in Dolores Park.

Michael The World Cup is indeed long over, but I still wanted to report on how such an event unfolds in a country where soccer is a completely exotic sport. The World Cup matches were broadcast almost exclusively on the sports channel ESPN, which we unfortunately don't have due to frugality. Fortunately, the Spanish channel also aired them, and this even had the advantage of not having to listen to the uneducated comments of the American soccer commentators. In Rundbrief 07/2002 we have already reported that South Americans always shout "Goooool!" when a goal is scored. Do you want to hear it live? This time we present the goal commentary as an MP3, listen in: TV sound during the 1-0 in the Germany vs. Portugal match.

At Yahoo, the games were shown on large flat-screen TVs in our coffee bar on the ground floor. Most of them started at 9:00 in the morning or at 11:00 AM, and there were always smaller and sometimes larger groups of employees who took two hours off to watch a match. Even some Americans joined in! By the way, during the Argentina game, most people were cheering for Germany.

Large screens like those in Germany did not exist in the USA, so a German immigrant in San Francisco came up with a plan: He wanted to rent a large TV screen and show the game in Dolores Park in San Francisco. He probably had the thought in the back of his mind that maybe the German team would be playing in the final, but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Figure [2]: This man was to be proven right.

Figure [3]: The dog was right, too.

But no sooner said than done, German man Jens-Peter Jungclaussen obtained the necessary permits for the event from the city of San Francisco, rented the required number of portable toilets, and even had to hire police officers responsible for security.

Figure [4]: The mounted television screen

All in all, the fun cost about $17,000, which he hoped to recoup through sausage sales and voluntary donations. He probably expected a few hundred spectators, but what happened due to word of mouth, an email avalanche on the internet, and finally an announcement in a major newspaper was incredible: About 7,000 people showed up! San Francisco is not lacking in Italians, and there is also a considerable number of French people. And even a German flag was spotted! I have never seen so many people in the relatively small Dolores Park; people were really sitting shoulder to shoulder on the grass.

Figure [5]: Not everyone can win.

Figure [6]: Voluntary donations

The German-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco did not hold back and contributed to the costs for the TV screen, and I think that the donations and sausage sales easily covered total expenses.

Figure [7]: The men at the grill had their hands full.

In America, you are not allowed to drink beer in public, and the permit for the event in Dolores Park was apparently granted only on the condition that no alcohol would be consumed. The announcer pointed this out over the loudspeaker, and the police officers on duty also admonished beer drinkers, but with a wink. Overall, it was still an exhilarating event!

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