| |
|
|
Let the carnage begin…
After checking in at the Renaissance, we headed to the Knoten. It was great to be back there again and Isa greeted us with two freshly poured Schlössers. Perfect! There were only a few folks about as most of the Admirals fans were not coming up until Saturday morning, but we still partied up a storm. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Velcro, showing just how he feels about The Beerleaders, with Ruari and Mo. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dancing in the Knoten. It's like we've never been away. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Doesn't Ralph look cool in this hat? |
|
|
|
|
Saturday began with breakfast, followed by the first beers of the day in the hotel bar with Velcro, Monica and Ruari from Amsterdam and Roy, The Mad Hatter. Once we were joined by Teflon & Laura we headed back to the Knoten.
The bus ride to Arena AufSchalke took an hour and all the drinking had taken its toll on Lou, who made the entire bus stop while she nipped off for a pee. There were a few other ladies and a bunch of smokers who didn’t seem too bothered. By the time we arrived at the stadium, we’d missed the fan festivities, so we found our season tickets and headed inside.
The Arena felt very similar to the Amsterdam ArenA, with the same annoying Arena points system of buying beer. Also annoying was the fact that the beer men who roam the stands now have pils in their backpacks. Alt is available from the concessions. Boo!
Ian was told he had to cheer for the Admirals, as Niki had given him one of the fantastic lime green Triple A T-shirts at the fan day the weekend before. We now both have these exclusive shirts, which are lime green in tribute to the finest uniforms of all time - Orlando Thunder 1991/92. There are only 35 of these shirts in existance, and we'll all be wearing them next week in Amsterdam. We would say "Look out for us", but you really can't miss them! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Triple A tee - a tribute to another defunct team, Orlando Thunder. |
|
|
|
|
Other folks do game reports better than us, so for an Admirals fan's perspective on the game read Velcro's review on the Trench Crew site.
Or you could real the official line at NFLEurope.com.
|
|
|
|
|
After the game we boarded the lovely pink bus back to the Altstadt, ready for another party. Amazingly, we managed to get inside the Knoten and forced our way onto a table, which soon became ours.
Monica fancied popping around the corner to the Louisiana, where the players gather after the game, so Lou agreed to accompany her. The most amusing thing was watching all these 7ft 300+lb men drinking delicate little pink shots. Monica and Lou managed to sip away three Long Island Iced Teas each and were feeling pretty happy after that. Returning to the Knoten was very odd, as everyone seemed so short!
A Rhein player that Monica and Lou had met in the Louisiana joined us in the Knoten. He shall remain nameless for reasons that will become clear. Lou asked Player X to sign a Rhein Fire shirt. He obliged, followed by #60. Ian realised that he couldn’t be, as #60 is German national Patrick Venzke. Lou pointed this out to Player X. He realised that he plays 60 at his allocated team. Doh!
Later Player X admitted that he was not keen on the Alt that we love, so Mo bought something his taste preferred, Jack Daniels. After downing the first one, Player X was somewhat ill. Doh! Funnily enough, we didn’t see much of him after that…
At 3am Roy toddled off in the direction of the airport, mad hat in hand. Teflon & Laura, Velcro, Ruari and Monica had called it a night and the rest of the Triple A were nowhere to be seen. We were concerned that this could mean a premature end to the evening. Thankfully, Triple A’s Ralph & Ilse reappeared as did Niki and Michel and the party continued until 5am when the bar closed. Boo! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
"We're coming up, so you'd better get the party started!" |
|
|
|
|
Sunday morning was a very chilled affair. We enjoyed a few drinks with Monica, Velcro and Ruari before the long journey home. Lou managed to be in 5 countries in one day – Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and the UK!
FINAL SCORE: Amsterdam Admirals 17 - 15 Rhein Fire
Next week… Barcelona @ Amsterdam |
|
|
|
|
The Beerleaders have no digital camera or scanner, so we would to raise a beer to the Triple A for the photos. There are more Week 1 pics on the Triple A website.
Check out the Triple A's site here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
