WC2006: No Deposit, No Return

OLYMPIC STADIUM, BERLIN (9:44pm local time) -- It's halftime at the Sweden-Paraguay match as I write this - and if you squint real hard, looks like it could be Columbus-Chivas USA on steroids - which gives me a little time to reflect on some of the local customs I've picked up on since arriving.

This whole notion of returning your bottles and glasses and getting back a cash deposit takes some getting used to. Even at the matches, you can get 1€ back if you turn in your souvenier cup. Which explains why there were people scrounging through the stands after matches. There's gold in them thar seats!

If you're drinking Bitburger, though, you won't get a souvenier cup. That was part of the compromise to get a German beer at the stadium when Budweiser had exclusive rights. Of course, all the Budweiser is marked as just "Bud," which was part of the deal Anheiser-Busch made with the original Budweiser, in that they wouldn't use the trademark in Europe. Globalization is a bitch.

While we're on the subject of drinking, you toast by saying "prost," with a long "o" and an "r" that you somehow roll in the back of your mouth. And it's important that you touch the bottoms of your bottles, and not the tops, and that you look the person you're toasting in the eye.

Yes, the Germans have a lot of rules about their drinking. I didn't even get into the standards for draft beer that forced Bud to supply the stadiums with bottles and not kegs...