Germany 3: Bochum’s bad rap

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Beau Dure

First up — gotta plug my latest espnW content: My report from Japan-New Zealand, featuring the almost-overconfident Ferns and my second video from Berlin, opening with a joke about one of Julie Foudy’s prior endorsement deals.

Bochum. I used to pronounce it “BO-kum.” Excuse me — “BEAU-kum.”

But as I get used to listening to German, I’ve started to adopt some affectations. So it’s slowly morphing into “BO-khum.” Or “BO-(phlegmy sound)m.”

Some might say that’s appropriate. Bochum doesn’t have the best reputation as a tourist destination. In my Lonely Planet guide to Germany, it’s fully covered in two pages. On a Kindle. That’s like Earth’s entry in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Mostly harmless.”

Basically, it has a cool mining demonstration and a cluster of bars with a wild party scene. That’s about it.

As I looked out from my 13th-floor window at the sunset at 10:30 p.m. — somehow, I didn’t realize we were in the Arctic — I saw a few nice neighborhoods and a pretty steeple. Off in the distance, a few miles apart on the horizon, are a wind turbine and a nuclear reactor. And the gummy treats left on my bed are shaped like nuclear reactors. Other than that, I didn’t had a chance to see much else other than the stadium and the train station.

I do wish I had eaten dinner at McDonald’s rather than the hotel restaurant. The meal was fine, but they seemed a little agitated that someone insisted on eating at 8:45 even though they’re open until 10.

But say this for Bochum — I bumped into several people eager to chat. I have a tendency to wear my credential everywhere — at the Olympics, you pretty much have to, and I feel lost without it. Especially because it’s also my rail pass. A couple of people at the stadium tram stop saw it and struck up conversations about the games and the cities on my itinerary.

So on the whole, I’ll stand up for Bochum. Obviously, parts of it are pretty, and parts aren’t. The city center is kind of like Ballston (Arlington, Va.) except that you can go more than two directions on the trains.

The novelty of seeing U.S. movies and TV shows dominating the German airwaves has worn off. I watched something with Ray Liotta being systematically beaten up in a “Prisoner”-type scenario that probably made even less sense in English. I am a little sad that I missed Phineas und Ferb. “Hey! Wo ist Perry!”

Photos follow:

From Bochum, posted by Beau Dure on 6/28/2011 (6 items)

: Why thank you, rewirpower-electriccompany-heyyouguys-stadion!

: This is apparently how Germany builds cell towers. Seeing them all over the place.

: 9:51 p.m. from my hotel window. Hard to force myself to sleep an hour later.

: Best part of my hotel stay in Bochum. Pears, medium-crispy bacon, potatoes, a full gl…

: The worst part of my stay. 60 cents to drag myself and my bags through this gate just…

: It was also a rough day for German rail – most of the right column shows delays. Stil…

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soccer

Germany 2: Leaving Berlin, never easy

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Beau Dure

I’ll let the pictures tell the story for the most part. I’ve covered so much of my stay in Berlin for ESPN and espnW already. (See the game story, crowd story, day-before press conference story and video – hoping to see second video later.) They are paying me, after all. SportsMyriad is not. I should chat with the boss. (Or chat with the readers who aren’t clicking these ads.)

Berlin left quite an impression on me. So much so that I started ranking it among all the major cities I’ve visited. I count 20-30 cities in the USA, depending on your definition, plus two in Canada, two in Ireland (including Cork), one in England, one in France, one in Italy, one in China (not counting Qinhuangdao, because I just saw the glimmering stadium and the ghastly train station) and now one in Germany.

The only cities I can remember that rival Berlin in terms of being endlessly fascinating and charming are Boston, Seattle and Toronto. Salt Lake City is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and the people are friendly, but it falls into a different category — it’s a mid-sized resort town. Honorable mentions would go to Chicago, Vancouver, Dublin, Cork and Beijing.

Location is everything, of course. Perhaps if I had been dropped off somewhere else in town other than this charming strip along the Spree, I wouldn’t have such a great impression. But I saw a good bit of Berlin from the train and on my two-mile walk from the hotel to Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz.

I could go on for days about the way Berlin’s past tragedies provide such a stunning backdrop for a celebratory city. The Wall has been down for two decades, and still Brandenburg Gate, the site of Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” speech, is full of people who seem to be celebrating. Within site of the Gate in what used to be East Berlin is a museum dedicated to the Kennedys, with a giant picture of Jackie in the window. It’s right next to the Starbucks.

Aside from the breathtaking parts of the city, the place is full of neat apartment buildings, all with balconies adorned with flowers. Someone even managed to grow some impressive sunflowers from a balcony.

Unfortunately, I made that ranking in my head while I was completely unable to sleep. But I’m doing pretty well so far this morning. I finally fell asleep a little after 1:30 and was still alert for my 5:30 wakeup call.

I made it with plenty of time to spare to Berlin’s massive Hauptbahnhof, or main train station. It took me five minutes or so to take in the scope of it and figure out where I was supposed to go.

I was nervous that my “train pass” — a sticker applied to my World Cup credential — would leave the conductor befuddled. But she didn’t question it, and I’ve had a carefree train ride from Berlin to Bochum, whipping up to 250 km/h past a giant wind farm on the way to Wolfsburg.

On board, I was able to plug in my headphones and listen to some radio stations. Radio Berlin played an eclectic mix including Eurythmics’ Love Is A Stranger. I still haven’t seen or heard anything related to David Hasselhoff, but Nicole Eggert is mentioned in Bild. And one of the U-bahn (subway) trains in Berlin had a news display that rotated abruptly from the Copa Libertadores (South America’s top soccer tournament) to something about Lindsay Lohan.

Yeah, yeah, we’re cultural imperialists. That’s OK. But I wouldn’t mind seeing Germany export some of its culture to the USA. Let’s start with the trains.

From Berlin 2: Heading East, posted by Beau Dure on 6/27/2011 (13 items)

: The name “OWENS” is carved into this stone a couple of times. This is at the Olimpia-…

: Into the stadium from Marathon Gate, which was left open so that the Bell Tower and M…

: Another view at Marathon Gate showing the juxtaposition of old and new.

: U.S. presidents fondly remembered in Berlin graffiti.

: From Dulles (airport) to Dulles (allee). This is in Tiergarten, a large park that lea…

: Perverse? Have you looked in the pages of Bild? “Government finance minister suggests…

: I was surprised to find a memorial in Russian so close to the Gate — and on the West…

: Brandenburg Gate, the symbolic meeting point of East and West, as seen from the East….

: This is Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial. I caught a bit of a presentation by an Australia…

: Opening Ceremony!

: Kids from the ceremony race up the steps at Marathon Gate.

: Really, food vendors? You’re just going to throw out all that bread? If you had put i…

: Auf wiedersehen, Spreebogen. Loved staying here.

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soccer

Germany: Day 1-2

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Beau Dure

A few notes from the trip:

– Lufthansa is a very nice airline, but the pilots seem intent on breaking speed records. We landed in Frankfurt and Berlin at high speed with a little bounce, then hit the brakes as if they’ve just run into heavy traffic on the Beltway.

– My first public transit didn’t go so well, but I don’t have to repeat it. I had to take a bus from Berlin’s soon-to-be-closed Tegel Airport, and that required standing in a long line for a ticket machine. (Or so I was told by all the signs — on board, a couple of people just handed the driver some cash.) I was riding to the nearest U-bahn (subway) station. The driver slowed as he approached the bus stop, where some people seemed ready to board. Then, suddenly, he took off like … well, like a Lufthansa pilot trying to set a speed record. I thought I had actually pressed the “STOP” button. I hopped around the bus and found another “STOP” button, then saw that the display now said “STOP.” But because I had managed to catch the express bus, we traveled another 5 minutes or so before stopping.

I would have had a hard time retracing my steps, but fortunately, another U-bahn station appeared. Right next to the neighborhood sex shop.

– The U-bahn was easier, with one hitch — the machines purport to give instructions in English and take credit cards, but when you put in a credit card, it suddenly switches to German. I had to break a 50-Euro note — my fault for not having smaller change. But the woman running the snack-and-magazine booth didn’t flinch when I bought a snack and magazine totaling maybe 3 Euros and paid with the 50.

I got back to my machine just as the train I wanted pulled in. A couple of women came up behind me to use it next. I raced to put in all the coins and got my pass … JUST as it closed the door. The women and I had a good laugh at my effort. No big deal — next train came in a few minutes.

– Now I know to take the S-bahn, not the U-bahn, to the Olympic Stadium. It was a wonderful, educational walk all the way around the stadium and a nearby park, but dragging my rollaway bag through gravel isn’t a good idea. I eventually picked it up for long stretches of the long walk.

– I’ve had no trouble getting help with my credential, my hotel check-in and other things I need. Perhaps it’s because a lot of people in Berlin speak English (though not my waitress last night or the impossibly cute housekeeper who just stopped by), or perhaps it’s because I pull off “helpless and friendly” well.

– I’m smitten with my hotel and surrounding neighborhood. Pictures are below — I’m off to the stadium for a series of press conferences.

From Berlin, posted by Beau Dure on 6/25/2011 (11 items)

: Spreebogen! Hotel Abion at top left. Patio restaurant at bottom right.

: Patio restaurant is a moored boat that sways every time another boat goes by.

: First beer of Germany.

: First meal — and it was amazing. Salmon mit “vanilla spinach und celerystock.”

: Statue of dude going through wall, part of the Spree’s sculpture garden.

: Between the sculpture garden and the Spree is this fun playground.

: Not labeled as such, but this surely is a piece of the Wall, isn’t it?

: All species enjoy the Spree.

: Not part of the sculpture garden – just a big rolling globe in a fountain, surrounded…

: Can’t help it — I see “Spandau,” I think “Ballet.” Especially after seeing the Edwar…

: Just a little windy. If it would warm up to actual summer temperatures, I wouldn’t mi…

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olympic sports

Quick international update and break

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Beau Dure

As you may have seen or guessed, I will spend the next couple of weeks traveling in Germany, covering the Women’s World Cup.

The top priority on SportsMyriad is still finishing up the 2012 medal projections. If I get bored on my train rides, I might make some progress on those. More likely is that I’ll be catching up on World Cup work, reading and/or sleep on those train rides.

The Women’s World Cup is the start of a busy stretch in all our favorite Myriad sports. Some highlighted start dates from the calendar:

July 2: Tour de France
July 3: Archery, World Championships
July 6: Volleyball, World League final
July 16, Swimming and other aquatic sports, World Championships
July 28: BMX, World Championships
August 5: Volleyball, World Grand Prix
August 8: Badminton, World Championships
August 18: Canoe/kayak, Flatwater World Championships
August 23: Judo, World Championship
August 27: Athletics (track and field), World Championships
August 28: Rowing, World Championships

So apologies in advance if the blog is a little dormant for a couple of weeks. Check espnW for my work from Germany, and be ready for all the big events coming up after that. It’s too hot outside for me to leave the TV, anyway.

soccer

Thunderstruck: D.C. United Women’s home debut

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Beau Dure

A decent crowd was walking up to the stadium despite the 100-degree heat, the bagpipes were in effect, the staff was ready, the players were warming up …

Bzzzt … beep … blaaaaaare … bzzt.

That’s the static-electricity detector at the Maryland Soccerplex, telling everyone to get inside.

So for two hours, fans and players crowded into the gym at the Plex, waiting for the all-clear. The rain didn’t last long, but we were just close enough to a couple of passing storm cells to see some flashes and hear some rumbles, each one restarting the countdown until we could get the game underway.

The upside was that the game, once it started, was uninterrupted. The storm cooled off the Plex, and it turned into a very pleasant night with 100 or so fans remaining from the original crowd. Surely that crowd would’ve been more on a weekend — getting up I-270 to the Plex is difficult at rush hour — and the heat/storm forecast didn’t help.

The crowd included a group from New Jersey that stuck it out. Good for them for making the trip. The bad news was that they echoed the Wildcats’ coaching staff in hounding the refs throughout the game, at times inventing their own reality. I wound up in an argument with one gentleman who claimed the ref saw the retaliation (the Wildcat red card) but not the original foul on a late altercation. But Christie Welsh got a yellow — a debatable one — for the original foul. So surely the ref saw something.

The coaching staff didn’t put up much of an argument on the red card. That may have been a smart move, or they may have simply been hoarse from complaining about everything from physical play to throw-ins at midfield. Frankly, it was comical at times.

But the Wildcats have a solid team, strong at the back with a dangerous player in Kylee Rossi. The goal, an opportunistic long-range effort from Andrea Lopez, was well-taken. Both goalkeepers had solid games, with Emmy Simpkins making a couple of big late saves after starter Caroline Williams was hurt in a collision.

D.C. United has some communication issues, not surprising for a team that’s still being cobbled together. Welsh just got her clearance to play, as did former 2.Bundesliga player Hayley Siegel. The talent level is pretty strong, though, and Nairn stood out throughout with good runs in midfield and accurate, powerful long-range shots.

The weather may have thrown players off a bit. Long passes skipped on the wet turf, though the excellent Soccerplex field drains quickly.

These teams may see each other down the road. New Jersey has only two blemishes on its record — the tie with D.C. and a one-point deduction (if anyone knows why, please let me know). D.C. lost its opener 0-1 at New Jersey. As both teams come together, a late July playoff matchup could be something special.

mma

Friends, athletes, objectivity and professionalism (SEO adds: MMA and sex)

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Beau Dure

You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That’s what’s important. If you’re a rock journalist – first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they’ll buy you drinks, you’ll meet girls, they’ll try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs… I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of the rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it.

That’s the semi-fictionalized Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in the classic Almost Famous, the semi-autobiographical Cameron Crowe film about a young journalist getting advice from Bangs and going out on the road with a typical ’70s band.

Though I grew up wanting to write for Rolling Stone, I’m now glad MMA journalism is about as close as I’ll ever get. Sex, drugs and rock and roll? Well, there’s a bit of rock and roll. Aside from the occasional performance-enhancing drug scandal or marijuana aficionado, we don’t have any drugs.

Sex? That’s a little trickier. And being friends? Even trickier. The Karyn Bryant-Rampage Jackson interview raised a few questions along those lines.

Continue reading →

mma

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13, Episode 10: The finalists are …

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Beau Dure

After a slow start to the season, everything has perked up in the last couple of weeks. We’ve seen some decent fights, some brazen efforts to grab reality-show infamy, some heartwarming kindness and some drunken idiocy. Tonight, we have a pair of semifinals, each compelling in its own right. And I get to find out who’ll need to put up with my stupid interview questions this weekend.

Credits roll — hey, does anyone remember seeing Mick Bowman or Justin Edwards say anything over the course of the season? Justin was unlucky to miss out on a wild-card spot due to injury, but he has been awfully quiet since then. Nordin Asrih was silent for several weeks until he gave Chris Cope some mildly enthusiastic advice on fighting Shamar Bailey.

We start by seeing much more of the house than we have in the rest of the season. Tony, who alienated the rest of the house with his inebriated comments about Charlie’s custody battle, asks where Charlie is. Chuck doesn’t seem to answer.

But we cut quickly to the weigh-in between two of the funnier guys of the season, Chris Cope and “Stripper” Ramsey Nijem. They exchange “Whoo!”s and laugh.

Back quickly to the house, where Tony tries to apologize. Chuck isn’t buying it. He tells him he crossed the line by bringing Charlie’s kid into things, and Charlie showed a lot of character by not punching him in the face when the rest of the team wanted to pound him. Tony tries again. Blank stares.

Awkward cut back to the gym for the first semifinal. Chris is the big surprise, upsetting Javier Torres and Shamar Bailey to get here. Ramsey is an awesome wrestler and Team Dos Santos’ last hope.

Round 1: Chris is on the same path he trod to beat Shamar — defend the takedown and land short punches while his opponent leans on him. But Ramsey is showing more adaptability than Shamar, and he lands a lot of solid punches and a couple of good knees. Chris gets a mark or two on his face. 10-9 Ramsey.

Round 2: Finally, an actual takedown, but Ramsey can’t hold it. He does give Chris a good body kick as he slips away. I swear I actualy saw blood fly from Chris’ face on one punch, just before they smile at each other for the 100th time. Then Ramsey finds another way to get Chris down — he overwhelms him with punches. Chris staggers against, the cage, then falls. Ramsey keeps throwing punches, but Steve Mazzagatti quickly and correctly stops it. Team Dos Santos will have a fighter in the final.

FINALIST: Ramsey Nijem by second-round TKO

Not even an ad break before the next weigh-in. Just judging by the clock, we may be looking at a three-rounder in the second semifinal. After the events of last week, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Tony Ferguson’s immediate family rooting for him, but he has been one of the most impressive fighters on the show.

Herb Dean starts our second fight at 9:32 p.m., leaving us plenty of time for three rounds and a wrapup.

Round 1: Chuck lands the first punches in a tepid opening. But Tony looks better boxing — his chin is tucked and his head is moving, while Chuck’s chin is just sitting there. Chuck catches Tony low, and despite the events in the house, they do the sportsmanlike thing and tap gloves. Tony feints a takedown, waits a few seconds, then snaps Chuck’s head back with a straight punch. Chuck’s nose is getting redder, and Tony’s getting more comfortable. Near the one-minute mark, Tony catches a Chuck kick and sends Chuck to the mat, but he backs away to keep the fight standing. Tony finishes the round with a good right cross and a left hook. 10-9 Tony

Round 2: Again, Chuck strikes first, Tony strikes more cleanly and crisper. Tony starts doing an Ali shuffle for some reason. Chuck needs to find someplace to be other than directly in front of Tony, who again snaps Chuck’s head with a clean punch. Tony spends the rest of the round turning Chuck’s face into a bloody Forrest Griffin-esque mess. 10-9 Tony

Round 3: Tony lands several good shots to the head. Then the body. Then the leg. This is really worse than a 1-minute knockout or submission. With 1:50 left, Chuck tumbles, and Herb Dean has seen enough.

FINALIST: Tony Ferguson by third-round TKO

Quick postscript: We see Dana getting the call from Brock Lesnar. The diverticulitis is back with a vengeance, and Brock can’t fight Junior. Enter Shane Carwin.

Any other cast members on the TUF13 finale card? They don’t announce anything. Press release likely coming in 5, 4, 3, 2 …

soccer

Best reads on FIFA/CONCACAF crisis

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Beau Dure

Yes, I feel rather frustrated that we in the U.S. media just don’t seem to have the time or resources to do this story justice. A lot of questions are just begging to be answered, and a lot of powerful people need to be asked to tell the truth.

But we have a few good works to share, starting with NYT columnist George Vecsey’s perfect metaphor:

Watching the charges of deals and payoffs, Americans can feel like the naïve young cyclist in the classic movie Breaking Away who wants to participate in the world sport, only to have a more seasoned Italian cyclist stick a pump in his spokes.

Also at the NYT, Jere Longman rounds up pertinent comments from Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism author Andrei Markovits and others.

At Yahoo, Martin Rogers highlights today’s blockbuster from Germany, whose federation president is demanding an investigation of Qatar’s winning World Cup bid.

Soccer America finds the latest from interim CONCACAF president Lisle Austin, who keeps insisting that he has fired general secretary Chuck Blazer. (Article 28c of the CONCACAF statutes would beg to differ.)

At a lower level in the FIFA/CONCACAF org chart but with an interesting story to tell, it’s Puerto Rican federation president Eric Labrador, explaining what led him to turn in evidence. That’s from Puerto Rico’s Primera Hora, which graciously allowed IMSoccer to run an English translation. As a follow-up, IMSoccer spoke with the journalist following the story.

The most comprehensive and timely roundups have come from BigSoccer’s Bill Archer.

And from beyond these shores, we have live blogging from The Guardian, which has taken great amusement in being branded as a lying loser by people who just happened to find their way to the microphone at today’s FIFA shindig.

I’ll be at the Women’s World Cup game between Germany and Canada in Berlin. That’s not the first game of the competition — Nigeria and France open the Cup a couple of hours earlier in Sinsheim. But I hope Sepp Blatter is in attendance at Germany-Canada. Can’t wait to see what kind of reception he gets.

Duresport.com

Duresport.com

Books and freelance work by Beau Dure

Month: June 2011

Germany 3: Bochum’s bad rap

Germany 2: Leaving Berlin, never easy

Germany: Day 1-2

Quick international update and break

Thunderstruck: D.C. United Women’s home debut

Friends, athletes, objectivity and professionalism (SEO adds: MMA and sex)

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 13, Episode 10: The finalists are …

Best reads on FIFA/CONCACAF crisis