American embassy warning to Americans in Germany

This is worth a quick look:

http://germany.usembassy.gov/warden/2008-06-24/index2.html

Good PSA.

Crazy Europeans and their silly soccer....

Yep, I've survived World Cup games in Germany by staying at home close to the Bier Kuhlschrank.

While I wish America would get into the footy a bit more, I'm thankful I don't have to worry about that rediculousness. Still, watching your team with half a million other fans would be something to remember forever...

That being said ESPN's "technical difficulties" aren't letting me watch the game, and I'm going crazy! Go Turks!

Lousy soccer hooligans......

I wonder if the German gov't issued a warning to it's citizens to avoid Boston and L.A. during the NBA Finals?

When my parents went to Costa Rica, the travel agent I was working with to arrange the trip pulled up the security page on Costa Rica and had me read it, we discussed the dangers and risks posed by traveling in that second world country.

I then pulled up a page for foreigners traveling to America. I read what they had to say about the dangers to foreigners in New York and Chicago. Meh.. it pretty much sounded identical to the Costa Rica warnings.

Unless there's a war going on there or some sort of civil unrest, or a reason to think that Americans in particular are going to be targeted, I really don't see a reason to put too much stock into those warnings.

And if you are traveling to those places, it's always a good idea to carry a pin with the Canadian flag on it...

One of my college buddies is from Germany. he said there are so many Turkish people in Berlin that they call it 'Turkey's 3rd Largest City'.

There's gonna be a riot no matter who wins!

Stupid floppity flop soccer.

blacklab said:

he said there are so many Turkish people in Berlin that they call it 'Turkey's 3rd Largest City'.

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It's actually called 2nd largest Turkish City ... yeah it's quite "interesting" to say the least. I went to the open match of the last World Cup two years ago in Germany and the World Cup was awesome. Soccer is def religion

blacklab said:

There's gonna be a riot no matter who wins!

Stupid floppity flop soccer.

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Football trouble is like plane crashes. If there's trouble at a football match, it's all over the news, with the result that people who don't generally have any contact with it think it's an everyday occurrence. I've been going to football maches for twenty five years and have never seen a riot - and I don't know of anyone who's ever seen a football riot either. Mind you, over the years, I have seen some bitchin' football riots on TV.

It's the exact equivalent of worrying that if you go to the US, you'll get killed by a nutjob going postal on a killing spree. Yeah, sure - anyone with a TV knows that it happens from time to time, but it's so rare that it's not worth worrying about.

(By the way, we call it football because it involves a kicking a ball with your foot )

It not all European countries and it's not all soccer fans...

It's also not a particular danger to Americans but how often do Americans watch European news stations. The police predict this kind of thing because of past event, every other person who regularly watches the news can predict it... The further you are of a foreigner the less likely you are to predict the situation...

Most of the hooligans that cause these things aren't there for the game but to square up to the cops... Twats...

rmck1 said:

Most of the hooligans that cause these things aren't there for the game but to square up to the cops... Twats...

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+1. Damn straight.

Ach Ja, Germany beats Turkey in the 90th minute. Berlin must be in flames.

Why Brazil beat Turkey in the 2002 World Cup. NSFW!

http://osdir.com/ml/recreation.humor.sidesplitters/2006-06/msg00024.html

Danek said:

I've been going to football maches for twenty five years and have never seen a riot - and I don't know of anyone who's ever seen a football riot either.

(By the way, we call it football because it involves a kicking a ball with your foot )

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When I lived in Europe, I got headbutted by a FC Cologne fan once... does that count?

ArcaneXor said:

When I lived in Europe, I got headbutted by a FC Cologne fan once... does that count?

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Sorry to hear that. I'd say if it was at the football, or on the way to football, then yep, that'd count. (Of course, if he just headbutted you because you were sleeping with his wife, or something else non-football related, then I wouldn't count it )

Actually, I do have to revise my never-seen-trouble claim. I'd forgotten once when I was in Prague I saw the Sparta-Slavia derby. There was some drunk loons from both teams who were throwing flares at each other, and it got quite nasty. Though they seemed to have their own part of the stadium to fight in, as there were no actual fans within 30 yards of them. And to be honest it was a pretty bad game, so I can understand why they might have felt the need to make their own entertainment.

ArcaneXor said:

This is worth a quick look:

http://germany.usembassy.gov/warden/2008-06-24/index2.html

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that link is broken. the disappointed turkish fans probably broke into the embassy website and burnt that page after the defeat last night.

i've not found turkish football fans to be particularly bad when i was living in germany, and there were always reasons to celebrate: fenerbace winning the turkish league, turkey wins in WC 2002, and even the eurovision song contest win required munich's main street to be swamped with celebrating turkish fans. i doubt if there was major trouble last night, to be honest.

Danek said:

Sorry to hear that. I'd say if it was at the football, or on the way to football, then yep, that'd count. (Of course, if he just headbutted you because you were sleeping with his wife, or something else non-football related, then I wouldn't count it )

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Naw, they were just a bunch of drunk teenagers (so was I at the time) who took offense at me sporting the kit of one of their biggest rivals, who they were playing later that day.

I have seen much more serious things happen after Gator football games than at any soccer game I went to in the US. While there are still problems, the days of Heysel and Hillsborough are thankfully long in the past.