Deutschland uber alles!!

A disclaimer. Yours truly is of German heritage, so the levity, and perhaps poor taste expressed below can as much be considered poking fun at myself, as any others. So don't get your liederhosen in a knot, OK? Onward.

Nein. The slogan "Deutschland uber alles", which roughly translates to "Germany kicks everybody's ass", didn't work out so well for them back in the early 1940s. There was that little dust-up called World War II and, when it was all over, the Fatherland was in ruins. They would see their country divided in half by the former "allied" powers, and a wall built splitting their capital city of Berlin. The US and the USSR had begun the "cold war" and Germany was caught in the middle. It would take almost a half century before Deutschlanders were able to fully reunite again, and be free -- mostly -- of external powers jerking them around.

But ach du lieber. Look at them now. After just defeating Argentina in the finals of the World Cup, they are the undisputed heavyweight champs of soccer. "Deutschland uber alles" seems appropriate indeed. If one is German, ja, das ist sehr gut (which roughly translates to "very cool and let's party").

Idle thought: If Lebron James and the Miami Heat had three-peated instead of getting blown out by San Antonio in the Finals, would he still be going "home" to Cleveland or staying in South Beach looking to keep the streak of NBA titles alive, as was his prediction four years ago? Hmmm.

But for now, the Teutonic descendants reign supreme in the world of FIFA (which roughly translates to "Futbol Is F***ing Awesome"). Methinks the biergartens and rathskellers will be quite busy in the near future. Sehr gut indeed.

In a climactic moment that basically decided the game, Mario, who had replaced Miroslav, scored a goal that was set up by Andre. Wait a second. The Germans are naming guys Mario, Miroslav, and Andre these days? Really? Sounds Italian, Serbian, and Spanish to me. Whatever happened to the good old traditional names like Hans, Dieter, Johann, Ludwig, Fritz, Gunther, and -- dare I say it -- Adolph? Dude still makes a great meat marinade. Buy it all the time. Geez, and the USA thinks THEY have an immigration problem.

And that's the thing about soccer in Deutschland. It's a HUGE deal and winning the World Cup is certainly cause for national celebration. Americans can't fully appreciate this. It would be like all politicians simultaneously declared they would set aside their petty partisan differences, and to show their dedication to a higher cause -- work for free for the betterment of the country as a whole. Nein, that's not likely to happen. But talk about a national uplifting of the spirit if it did....

But enough about that. I bid thee "auf wiedersehen" (which roughly translates to "this stupidity has ran on long enough and I'm outta here").