Watch Out For The T-1000 Diego

Brazilian, former Werder Bremen star, and soon-to-be Juventus player Diego was caught by the German rags cutting a rug with Sarah Connor. It was during Diego's going away party on Sunday.

Connor is actually not some militaristic survivalist but a German pop-singer formerly married to American Marc Terenzi. Interestingly, Diego and Marc look quite similar in John Stamos-guido way.

Diego.

Terenzi.

Diego was likely still celebrating his club's German Cup (DFB-Polkal) win on Saturday.

It's always disconcerting seeing Germans in large groups before people on balconies

Read more on "Watch Out For The T-1000 Diego"...

UEFA Cup's final Final Open Thread

European Silverware day! While not as glamorous as nest week's Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona, this is guaranteed to be a historic finale. Yes, friends, today we see the last UEFA Cup Final ever. Germany's Werder Bremen and Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk will put it all on the line to see which team becomes the historical footnote/trivia answer. Or not. That's the beauty of the game. You can never tell how it will be played until the match is in motion.

Shakhtar and Bremen both benefited from entering the competition at the knockout stage after being dumped from Champions League play. That's not a bad parachute to have if you can ride it to the final. Inside, we'll hit on lineups and both teams road through the competition. In case that's not enough for you, you can go look back at Werder's entry into The Good, The Bad, The WTF, and know that Shakhtar will get added in after the match. Will they be secondary champions of Europe at the time? Hell for all I know, it will still be in PKs when that post goes live.















Shakhtar Donetsk

Round of 32: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1
Round of 16: CSKA Moscow 2-1
Quarterfinals: Olympique Marseille 4-1
Semifinals: Dynamo Kyiv 3-2

Today's lineup:
Pyatov, Kucher, Fernandinho, Jadson, Ilsinho, Luiz Adriano, Lewandowksi, William, Rat, Chygrynskiy, Srna.
Subs: Khudzhamov, Duljaj, Gai, Gladkiy, Ischenko, Chyzhov, Moreno.















Werder Bremen

Round of 32: AC Milan 3-3 (away goals)
Round of 16: Saint Etienne 3-2
Quarterfinals: Udinese 6-4
Semifinals: Hamburg 3-3 (away goals)

Today's lineup:
Wiese, Boenisch, Naldo, Baumann, Fritz, Rosenberg, Ozil, Prodl, Frings, Pizarro, Niemeyer.
Subs: Vander, Pasanen, Tosic, Vranjes, Hunt, Tziolis, Harnik.

No away goals to save the Germans tonight. Let's hope for lots of action and just a few goals, shall we?

Read more on "UEFA Cup's final Final Open Thread"...

Werder Bremen Foils Neo Nazis

I know we promised some more upbeat stories today, but this one came across the desk, and, well, it bears telling. In Bundesliga play this past Saturday, Werder Bremen and Bochum drew 0-0. I know, not especially noteworthy except for the fact that some Neo Nazis unfurled political banners. The perpetrators were promptly arrested after being fingered by other fans.

I hate to ascribe intelligent, cogent thought to Neo Nazis, but Saturday was November 9, a day of historical significance for Germany. So much so, the Germans call it Schicksaltag. A day that marks two significant Nazi landmarks--the Beer Hall Putsch and Kristallnacht. It also is the same date that the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Bremen officials are banning the offenders thankfully. And, hopefully, we'll have more uplifting stories for the rest of the day.

Read more on "Werder Bremen Foils Neo Nazis"...

The Good, The Bad, The WTF

This week, my friends, we get to ogle a true retro shirt. As an added bonus, I'll link to the eBay auction going on right now. That's right, it's a two-fer, one part "OMG!", one part "I want that", until it combines into "OMG I want that!" I promise that I am not the seller. (I like Schalke, not Werder).

So, as Joe Elliott once said

Step inside.
Walk this way.
It's you and me, babe.
Hey. Hey.

This beauty comes from the 1990-91 season, if this listing is to be believed. I suppose it could be a shirt that brings back good memories for a longtime fan, as they won the DFB Pokal that season. That title propelled them into the old Cup Winners' Cup, which they won in 1992. You think that would bring in more than $3.78.

Maybe it's the design. I don't really know how Werder's shirts looked before 2004, but this color and design screams "washed dollar bill" to me. Plus, and I'm just guessing here, I think this shirt is itchy. Doesn't it look like it would irritate your neck? And you just know that polyester blend will have that smell. I can't describe it well, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Old sweat and burnt plastic, I think.

For me, I guess, when it comes to Werder shirts, Give me the orange ones. It may be my Miami Dolphins allegiance, but I want one of these to sport around town. Besides, if you have a jersey like this, there should be no need to make an away shirt, right?
Images from the ebays (obvs) and sporting-heroes.net

Read more on "The Good, The Bad, The WTF"...