Ups.

Wow, what a disaster! While for you guys, the 4th of July is a national day of celebration, for us it's now officially a national day of mourning. Well, not quite ;) But this is true: I have never seen that many guys cry in public like tonight.

Though I had fun anyways because I got to see the game in Leipzig: the first half at the Moritzbastei, the second on the Augustusplatz with a few friends and students of mine from Tucson!

And hey - it's just a game!

And we've had our fun: flags and hats and shirts and socks and face paint and leis (yes, the beach culture has arrived this summer in Germany...), almost a bit of a flirt with a new national pride, finally, a healthy one. And now we're sobering out a bit again, looking back on these four weeks with a laughing and a crying eye.

But I am curious what is going to happen with all that Germany merchandise. Will it go in a big chest up in the attic which is where we usually hide our flags, or will we be wearing it until the game in Stuttgart is over, or will we - after this World Cup ends - actually sight a black-red-gold sock in the tram somewhere, a shy flag on a car's rear view mirror or even a beach towel on one of the many newly created city beaches, perhaps even with a bather wearing a black-red-gold lei?

Oh, and if not, in two years we'll have the EM, and then "we" will kick some (Italian) butt (for you, too) ;) And we'll get out these flags again. Just to make it worth the money we spent on them.