WC2006: History's Long Shadow

MAINZ (12:45pm local time) -- I visited a couple of churches, stopped back at the apartment, and then trucked over to the "Fan Party" to watch Germany take on Sweden. So far, my viewing of the home side's matches has been a bit more subdued - a mostly seated outdoor café and an Irish pub - so this is my first real exposure to the more fanatical experience of standing in a big park cheering and waving flags and drinking and then taking the cups back for a deposit.

More to the point, I now understand some of the hand-wringing about this new sense of German national pride. Seeing large numbers of Germans waving flags and chanting in unison does trigger a sort of reflexive fear, if only because the nearest point of comparison is not what you would call a happy memory. Of course, it's absolutely necessary for Germany to create new memories of that pride if they are going to put more emotional distance from their past. Some may just think it's still too soon to take that step.

Anyway, there's a lot of time for this deep philosophical shit because the game is pretty much over by halftime, with two early goals for Germany and a late red card on a dubious second yellow for Sweden in the opening 45 minutes.

The ensuing celebration in Mainz is much smaller and somewhat less pervasive than what I saw in Berlin and Nuremberg, which reinforces the notion that this new enthusiasm of very focused on just the football.