Right, finally, finally writing the World Bowl 2000 story...
I hope I can remember enough of it! Too many of the pictures made
me go "Huh, I don't remember doing that...". Although beer is possibly
to blame there.
Anyway, you are certain to remember that WB2K took place in Frankfurt. Site of
the first Trench Crew field rescue operation (if you need to ask, you obviously
haven't read enough of our site yet!). Remembering our troubles getting
the necessary beer money in 1998, this was the first thing we took care of! The
second thing we took care of was finding the actual fan party.
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Can't buy beer without cash...
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We found the party!
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We arrived quite early, but that was ok. It meant we had a bit more quality (sober) time
to meet up with all our friends (people who buy us beer) and take in the atmosphere. We
rode the mechanical cow, got blinded by a certain fluorescent jersey of a league long
gone (I want one of those!) and had an excellent time. If you recognize yourself on one
of these pictures: great! Drop us a line and we will try to get back with a decent
blackmail letter asap...
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I have to get one of these jerseys!
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Who are these idiots?
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"I know these guys!"
For insiders...
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Phil cowboying off. And yes: I rode the bull too.
And no, I'm not showing the picture of me hurtling off.
I eh... lost that one. Yes, that's it.
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Sheesh, they let just anyone enter these
parties, don't they?
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There were even some cheerleaders present.
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As it began to get dark, some more interesting guests arrived. A few Scottish cheerleaders had been
forced to make an appearance. Although it is always possible they weren't forced. They might
not have heard that we were there... We even spotted two actual players and immediately used
up a sizable amount of camera memory!
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Ross adjusting his look.
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Can we say 'photo-op!' ?
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Those look like players...
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And that must mean another photo-op!
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| Solemn note: Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten who these players were, but I
have been reminded that this is actually ex-Claymore Donald Sellers (wearing
the black cap). My apologies, I would have mentioned something more serious
otherwise. As you are all aware, Donald Sellars died in a car crash earlier
this year. A tribute to him can be found on the Cheddar website. |
The later it got, the better the party became. Possibly it had something
to do with me wandering around with five bottles of beer at one stage...
Those little belt clip things to keep your bottles on were extremely useful.
But as you can see, Ross and I were not the only ones enjoying ourselves!
I took more pictures of the fluorescent jersey, but unfortunately they
didn't come out right. Over exposed... In hindsight, the flash in combination
with the actual jersey colors was a bit of an overkill.
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When's the next season of "Yes GM"? |
My god, I certainly can grin stupidly... But then again,
Ross doesn't look much better! Read all about this
amazing power of his here. |
Fortunately, we weren't the only ones having
trouble looking cool. |
Ross' superpower must be rubbing off on me. |
And then I spotted some more cheerleaders at the party; Ross' usual Admirals'
cheerleader radar having malfunctioned. We actually had a nice chat (and
obviously took advantage of this photo-op). Ross and I are actually getting
recognized by our cheerleaders. I suppose we have been fans for quite a
long time by now. And they gave us several buckets of icecream that they
got for being cheerleaders, but couldn't possibly finish themselves. Fortunately,
Ross and I didn't have to watch our figures (we were watching theirs instead).
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Cheerleaders providing us with icecream. How cool
is that? |
Because of 'someone' losing our WB tickets, I had begged and pleaded with
the Fireplanet guys for weeks. Unfortunately, not even they were able to
convince the office of providing us with replacement tickets. So basically,
we were screwed. Fireplanet being the lifesavers that they are, in the
end could promise us three tickets that they had managed to set aside.
They were even in the same section as our lost tickets, so naturally, we
were rather pleased! Tickets would be handed over at the carpark party,
the following morning.
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Fireplanet rules! Thanks again for the save. |
Obviously, with the party winding down after midnight, it was time to once
again head to the stadium and the big carpark fields next to it. There,
we met up with the allnight bbq / party that seems to happen every time,
and filled up on snacks and some more drinks. (Thanks go to all those generous
people who helped us starving Trench Crewians survive)
Some of the Fire fans had concocted a special drink, I'm not sure what
it was anymore, as at that point I wasn't all that sure of where I was
either. I think it was cola and lambrusco. I believe I quite enjoyed it
in fact. The big campfire was a welcome feature too, warming us up nicely.
I must say that as a venue, Frankfurt is the best place for a World Bowl.
A large and fairly interesting city, huge fields right next to the stadium
where one can (unofficially) camp out the night before the game and tailgate
on gameday. You can't beat an allnight bbq, can you? The stadium area is
very large as well, allowing for a very good pregame party (and some fan
football!). The stadium itself is pretty much a dump, but that is only
a small part of a World Bowl.
On to game day!
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