one more miracle

Thanks to soccer, no weekend is ever boring anymore! It gives life an odd sense of urgency and electricity all the time. I know I can't keep up this level of emotional investment forever (especially not when I have to focus on my PhD...) but for now, it's tons of fun, especially as my personal life isn't exactly thrilling.

First came the usual whirlwind of Saturday Bundesliga matches - 6 games ALL AT ONCE. This Saturday, there were TWENTY-SIX GOALS in said six matches - I love this league! The match I was invested in, Mainz-Gladbach, was a thriller with the teams taking turns scoring goals and Mainz emerging victorious in the last minutes with a scoreline of 3-2. Mainz's Sami Allagui was a revelation, scoring two miraculous goals as a sub, and Lewis Holtby continued to be the perfect human being. (I'm legit in love with him, it's a little scary, haha.) André got a beautiful goal as well. It was a REALLY REALLY exciting game and probably my favorite of the Bundesliga season so far! I was so happy to see my Mainz bbs return to winning ways after a full month of Bundesliga misery, and their celebrations were as youthful and full of joy as ever. The most adorable bit was when Lewis ran over to the barrier and HIS MOM HAULED HIM UP FOR A CONGRATULATORY KISS. sdlkfsjldfkjs I think my heart exploded a little with joy. :')

Sadly, in contrast, Bayern produced a disappointing draw with Bayer Leverkusen. I only caught the first 20 minutes, during which Bayern's only goal was scored and my Basti was a total hero ♥, but I hear in the second half it went rather downhill, and the final score was 1-1. Really not helping your title defense, honeys. Le sigh. (I have entered a state of emotional self-preservation, wherein losses or draws are no longer crushing, but instead causes for shrugs and sighs, while wins are the pleasant surprises. I'm more functional that way.) Most notable things about this match: Basti shaved off all his hair and looks like a different person, he wore a jersey with the sponsor logo printed upside down for half the match, AND he groped Thomas Müller in the crotch TWICE during a goal celebration. AHAHAHA OKAY BASTI. Never a dull moment with my boy. ♥

But the BEST part of my soccer weekend was seeing a match in person!! My Michigan boys, as you might recall, got into the NCAA tournament by WINNING the Big Ten title, so they hosted a second round game and of course I went to it! My daddy and my roomie came too and we had such a great time. It was overcast but not too cold, perfect soccer-viewing weather. We were playing University of Central Florida, so of course they didn't even own long sleeved jerseys and were all in gloves, awww. It was a super duper thrilling and anxiety-attack inducing match, the WHOLE TIME! UCF is ridiculously good at defense, while Michigan is very strong on offense, so it was a never ending clash of these two powers. The numbers tell the story - Michigan had 31 shots and 13 shots on goal, while UCF only had something like 5 shots in the whole game. Nevertheless, UCF scored first, very early on, and it took until halfway through the second half for Michigan to equalize, on the most gorgeous assist and finish at the top of the box that I had a perfect view for. The stadium EXPLODED, it was such an amazing feeling! Then we finished regulation with a 1-1 tie and had to go into sudden death overtime, and after only four minutes Michigan WON!!!!! I screamed and jumped and it was just generally the most fantastic feeling in the whole world! I think I understand why people are sports fans now. :D It was so wonderful to be in a stadium filled to bursting, watching a team I adore do what it's best at. Now Michigan moves on to the NCAA third round to face 7th seeded South Carolina, a daunting matchup to say the least! I really really hope they win and move onto the Elite Eight! *crosses fingers*

( Peeektures! Lewis and Basti and Michigan celebratory crowdsurfing! )

In non-soccer news (gasp!), DANGER DAYS CAME OUT TODAY!!!!! *does a happy dance* The iTunes LP is AWESOME, rich and creative and enormous. I love this band so much. :') But the best part is that I finally gave the album to my dad (who loves Three Cheers but really doesn't like Black Parade) since he's coming to see them with me in December, and he emailed me specifically to say HE LOVES IT! IT'S KICKING HIS ASS!! I am so happy and proud, oh my goodness. Now I'm looking forward to the show even MORE, because I know my dad will love the experience too. :DD And I also have tickets to see them in Cleveland in April with angel726! AHHHH I AM SO EXCITED AND I LOVE THIS BAND SO MUCH. I've literally listened to nothing except this album for the past five days, lmao. Ugh so many hearts! ♥_____♥ My favorite song has become Save Yourself, it's just so gorgeous. But I love the WHOLE ALBUM. *happy sigh*

That's all for now! Toodles!

BAYERN WON YESTERDAAAAAY! On a literally last gasp (91st minute!) goal by Daniel van Buyten, of all people, but my boys fought and fought and deserved to come away with the win. Thank god, because we REALLY needed those damn points. It still wasn't very good for my heart - Lahm is playing atrociously, and I NEVER thought I would say that (and okay, he's playing fine, but for his normal standards? ATROCIOUS). And most horrible of all, Ribéry was supported off the field crying and yelling in agony - he'll be out for at least 4 weeks, possibly longer. :((( We... uh, kind of need him, especially without Robben. So THAT sucks. But we came away with the points and I'm clinging to that.

So in celebration, I bring picspam!

The ever lovely munkykiss messaged me on Twitter and was all, godammit, FINE, show me Germans! And I was all :D! :D! OKAY I WILL SHOW YOU MANY MANY ADORABLE WONDROUS GERMANS AND YOU WILL LOOOOVE THEM! :D! :D! I think I frightened her a little. But I promised to deliver, and even though this is much later than I planned, I COME BEARING GERMANS! In GIF form, specifically. Please see this huge post for a picspam of WC2010 - so much epic. <333 But for now, I was specifically asked for gifs, so here they are! Warning: THIS HAS A LOT OF GIFS. Do not enter unless you have GOOD internet and your computer won't die. Consider yourselves warned!

( Ich liebe die Deutschen! )

And there you have it! A highly biased selection of my darling, beautiful Germans being cute and badass and hugging each other a lot. :D I hope you enjoyed!