GGGGGOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!

So I had the pleasure of going to my very first football game on Saturday. F, a friendly Bernese guy from work, had invited KC and B to the football game, and I invited myself, as I've never been either. So along with DK, a wild German football fan, we went to the FC Züri vs Bern Young Boys game, sitting in the Bern section.

Of course, all my dreams about a wild European football game came true. The stadium was the size of my high school (American) football stadium--we could barely see the scoreboard. Per local custom, we were separated from all the FC Züri fans in a standing-room only section. It was going very, very badly for the away team Bern, and I think I'd never seen such wild and angry fans, screaming, singing, jumping, cussing, waving flags, and swinging scarves. One guy smoked a doobie in my face the entire time, and I feared that another guy would jump from the stands to commit suicide, he was so torn up about his team. KC bravely wore her Zürich Limmatschwimmen t-shirt she'd bought earlier in the day and got harassed repeatedly.

Of course, I watched the game, too. There was lots of play-acting injuries on the field, unfortunately less playing by Bern. They were down 4-0, but they finally managed to make an "honor goal" (a fan threw his cup of beer on the field in triumphant celebration), and not 30 seconds later, FCZ made yet another goal, making the final score 5-1 Züri. We left at that point, politely greeted the friendly riot police, equipped with shields, who showed us the way to the bus (a bus just for the Bernese to keep the fans from fightin') and we were serenaded by the many drunken fans on the bus all the way from Hardturm Stadium (yet another moment I was sorry to be able to understand Swiss German), who made the bus ride all the more fun by jumping all over the place. It was a great time, but I probably won't be going back to any football games anytime soon.