Robert Enke: 24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009. RIP
By: Scott |
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Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team News
Matchday Twelve: Tearful Reunion
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The last time we saw Michael Skibbe at BayArena, he was there to clean out his desk- the 07/08 season razed on its final matchday, two-and-half years of service to the Werkself scrubbed away. His final memories were of angry supporters building pitchside bonfires of Leverkusen jerseys and a stolen mobile phone packed with pics of the fallen coach finding the back of his then-girlfriend’s net. Skibbe went to a lot of trouble to keep those pictures from being made public, and I can’t help but wonder if they contained any sort of spanking more graphic than the one we gave Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this evening. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsMatchday Eleven; Dawn of the Debt-ridden
By: Scott | 4 Comments
Any good ghost story begins with a likeable hero, brave, well-intentioned, pure of heart. Usually the scene is set with the hero journeying away from home and at the start of what he expects is some grand leap forward: The completion of research, the acquisition of a rich relative’s estate, taking three points and a clear lead at the top of the table.
Laying in wait there’s always some creepy anti-hero; a count who doesn’t drink… wine, a one-eyed Indian medicine man, a coach who looks like someone who should be dragging corpses back to his master’s lair through a foggy English countryside. (Yes, Felix, I’m talking about you.) Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsHow I Spent My Pokal Vacation
By: Scott | 2 Comments
Dear Diary;
Well, all the other kids went off to play in the Pokal this mid-week, but we didn’t get to go since Kaiserslautern took us by surprise and knocked us out at the last round. The other teams were very excited to get to the pitch with the hopes of ending the week a bit closer to raising that trophy in Berlin next Spring, but I don’t even care. We’re making our own fun and get to practice for the big match against Schalke on Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsMatchday Ten: The Swarm.
By: Scott | 3 Comments
Earlier this week, when Jupp Heynckes said that it was time to start showing the other side of Leverkusen, it never once occurred to me this is what he’d meant. Jupp hinted at showing us the offensive side. The side that takes the ball forward and keeps the goal counter clicking ever upwards. That free-flowing, scrappy side we all love so much about the Werkself, but that has been kept toned well down this season. And so I settled in at my preferred watering hole, in the corner that lets me pick up the open wifi from the café across the street, my company at kick-off a dozen or so loaded Americans in the sunrise stages of a bachelor party, and I ordered a pint and I waited. Rolfes and Augusto were out, but surely our subs were up to the task. Hot-diggity! Bring on the goals!
The Werkself ripped into the match, guns a-blazing. Not two minutes in, Lars Bender, getting his first start for Leverkusen and his first chance to go head-to-head against his brother Sven, launched an attack but just missed out on opening the scoring. Toni Kroos repeated the intentions moments later, but with the same results. We were not yet five minutes in and I was ready to celebrate. What would the final be? 2-0? 3-0? 4-0? Would Dortmund even get to touch the ball? Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsMatchday Nine: Are we there yet?
By: Scott | 1 Comment
About two hours into the second half of today’s top-of-the-table clash between the Werkself and Hamburg, I found myself wondering what to have for dinner. My mind doesn’t often wander to such jejune considerations while the ball is moving, so I was a bit surprised. Not as surprised, though, as I was to realise that nearly every man on the pitch at that moment appeared to be wondering the same thing. The much-ballyhooed “biggest game to date” had wound down at a rate outpacing the normal rules of time. Granted, it’s probably good that I stuck the final minutes out, or I would have missed the brief period during which the Werkself seemed to remember they wanted to win this one. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsDiary of a Madman: Fantastical musings on a lonesome Autumn eve
By: Scott | 10 Comments
I spent a very good year with Bayer and I certainly don’t want to spoil anything about that time.
-Bruno Labbadia
I’m sorry, what was that? Which year would you be talking about BL? August through December of 2008? Because from what I recall, the bottom half of the 08/09 season was not good and should have been enough to spoil the contract year for you. And if the results on the table weren’t enough, losing the confidence of the squad by spring thaw ought to have put a damper on things. C’mon, Bruno. Fess up. Your time at- and suspect departure from- Leverkusen is not, as you say, “water under the bridge.” Not unless you’re standing on a rainbow bridge overlooking unicorns and lollipops and dwarves making balloon animals for beautiful women too naïve to judge you. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsEnd of discussion
By: Scott | 6 Comments
Yes, Germany’s keeper is amazing. His name is Rene Adler. He plays for Leverkusen.
The city I’m living in is a mosaic of nationalities, ex-pats and those whose hearts reside in the land of their forebears. On a day like today, when key qualifying matches were being played around the world, it’s easy to find a makeshift “headquarters” where one can join the revelry or despair of supporters of virtually any nation. My mid-day was spent in a Bavarian restaurant, where I watched Germany seal their passage to next summer’s World Cup. By the time I was back home, the noise, noise, noise of honking horns had already started Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsMatchday Eight: Razing Christmastown
By: Scott | 3 Comments
It’s hard to dislike Nürnberg. A picturesque city whose architecture acts as a living tour through Western history and culture, its Christmas markets are what all tales of Holiday magic spring from. Culturally, the city played a major role in the German Renaissance, and today, culture not being what it used to be, Nürnberg continues on as an epicentre of glee and wonderment with the International Toy Fair. Once they even knew something about winning at football. But lately, “der Club” are looking more like “der Club-footed.” There is trouble in Christmastown and if a picture is, as they say, worth a thousand words, then a picture of Michael Oenning as he appeared watching today’s routing of his struggling team would make for 1000 largely unprintable words. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team NewsMatchday Seven: The Billy-Goats Snuffed
By: Scott | 2 Comments
A note to the broadcast rights holders: Stop it. You’re not going to win and you’re just upsetting people. People like me, who just want to see their club play and have no other option but to rely on the Internet streams made available by unsung heroes. For the profits that come from every kit, cap or flag purchased with my club name on it, my rights to enjoy the match have been paid. When North American broadcast rights are removed from the fumbling paws of people like those at GolTV, whose allusions to making all Bundesliga matches of the 2009/2010 season available to the supporters were little more than insincere musings, and instead given to a broadcaster with the capabilities and desire to let us see what we want to see, I shall gladly trade the choppy, low-res streams, the giggle-sopped Cantonese (or is it Mandarin?) commentary, the weekly feed hunts that generally continue well past kick-off time and pay you. But as long as broadcasters choose to wallow in the crumbling castle of media distribution as it used to be, then I will be a stream thief and I will show no remorse for it. There are thousands of us and in trying to shut it down, rather than working with technology to stake your own claim in the p2p ring, all that you serve to do is the limit the fanbase. Limiting the fanbase means limiting interest. Limiting interest means reducing profits and the overall value of the league name. And if the league name doesn’t carry much value, neither do your broadcast rights. And that should never be the endgame for any company with its head outside its own arse.
Oh, and another thing. Screw you, Bayern München. Can’t you eke out a win- or even a damn draw- when I need you to?
So how was your Saturday? Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team News
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