Worldly Chatter

Well there will be no battle of the teams in this Dutch household. The Yankees lost in their fourth game, 6-4. The Indians take on the Red Sox on Friday in Boston. I am happy for Dutchie, her team makes the next step to the World Series but my goodness was I disappointed! I mean, you have to know they tried when it came to the bat but pitching left much to be desired! Wang started the game and let four runs in after only an inning and a half. What a way to start the game! I really don’t know what Torre was thinking when he put him in as starter when he did crap the first game against the Indians.
And as if the ball club didn’t have enough to deal with as far as the sharp sting of losing, George Steinbrenner isn’t sure he is keeping Torre! He gave him a message, win this or else. The Boss has spoken. On top of that A-Rod might not wear the stripes after this! A handful of ball clubs are willing to pay him up to thirty million a season to have him. His record is amazing and to some he is worth it. Steinbrenner wants to keep A-Rod but one of Rodriguez’s deciding factors will be whether Torre stays. Will other players have the same thoughts? What will happen to the Yankees without Torre? I know there have been other managers but it makes me wonder. So disappointed and worried about the Yanks.

Anthony, a fellow writer, has the scoop on Torre and Steinbrenner here. I read it and sighed. I know he is right in what he writes but damn, so harsh to be a Yankee and sometimes just as harsh to be a fan.

NY Yankees, Worldly Chatter, Joe Torre, Yankee loss, Yankee Fans

Oh, to be in Holland during the playoffs is madness! We are six hours ahead of the US so if there is a 8pm game in Boston, we aren’t watching it live! 2am for a game is too much; reality does kick in bright an early the next day so there is a disadvantage here. I am a Yankee fan and sadly, Dutchie is a Boston Red Sox fan, especially a Coco Crisp fan, so we both find this frustrating but Dutchie did something wonderful this season! On www.mlb.com for a reasonable price, $14.95, we were able to listen to regular season games, live and archived. Now granted you can’t see the action but at least you weren’t behind or depending solely on news. It worked especially well for Dutchie, who could listen to it first thing in the morning while working. We faithfully paid attention to the battle for first, which Yankees lost, and as the season came to a close we pondered what to do for the post season. We could purchase the radio broadcasts again, purchase the television broadcasts live or pay for the package where you watch all televised games but it has to be archived for just $24.95; this is post game and World Series. We opted this last option and for good reason.

We can watch the games, get the game and all its splendor, or horror, and get a really good deal. If the post season games are primarily at night, or late afternoon, why get it live if we would have to watch it archived anyway but pay the price for live games? Diligently we have loaded up the games the next morning and watched it through without checking the scores. We have even had to avoid emails from my mom who is a Sox fan. The temptation is great I assure you! Just take a peek at the MLB site or go to my yahoo sports but I have not! I haven’t been able to watch baseball since I lived in the US; I want the chance to watch it damn it!

As I write this, we are watching the second game, Red Sox Vs Angels. We have already suffered my second game. 1-2 was the final score after 11 innings for those who don’t know and my goodness I was at the edge of my couch, especially when they pulled Pettitte and put in Chamberlain! What a horrid inning! Two wilds and a bunt and the Indians took the lead and kept it! Riviera didn’t fare much better but nothing could have been worse than that pitching. Never mind the fact that they took us for a good ride in game one 12-3! We needed this game so we could go back to NY with a foot in the door but, hey, it just wasn’t happening was it!

Not only is it a pain in the butt to get baseball in a nation who loves their football, soccer, but on top of that, I married a woman with no taste in a sport she doesn’t even get here! She sits on the couch, just as I did, intense look on her face, bellowing at the bad moves and practically dancing with glee when they actually get it right! It’s an intense house right now. I promise, we will go to bed happy people no matter the score at the end of this game but no promises during the game!

See what this fellow 451press writer has to say on the game!

worldly chatter, MLB, Yankee Fans, Red sox Fans, Sox Yankee rivals

Camping, I’ve done it on several occasions in my life. I have slept in a tent, having it flooded while I slept, and I have slept soundly and dry in a caravan. The Dutch are big on their camping. People love to go out camping for a week or six weeks. There are those die hard campers who have grounds that they call their summer home year after year. Yet for the Dutch, it isn’t with a tent. Let me introduce you to the world of Dutch caravans!
Camping Jachthaven Uitdam is fifteen kilometers outside Amsterdam and has tons to offer. Walking, cycling or boating and the grounds come fully equipped for your caravan, grocery store and a place for the kiddies to go! Now, the caravan is particularly important to the camping life here in the Netherlands. Each park that has a lot for your caravan, big or fold-up, and a means for you to power it up and have gas and plumbing is a winner to the Dutch, they aren’t big on tents you see. Another park is Gaasperpark on the Gaasperplas (Gaasper Lake). Twenty minutes from Amsterdam it has similar features to the other park but with one rule to go by. No powerboats or motorbikes. This is strictly for cycling, rowing, sailing and anything that doesn’t require an engine on the trails and waters. My point, the outdoors is a great way to spend your time in Holland! But before you start clicking on links and planning let me teach you about the caravans you could rent, or buy if you live here.
Vouwcaravan; they are very popular for the light traveler or the person with not a lot of space. It literally means folding caravan. First time I saw it I was a tad puzzled, what was this box I thought! Then I remembered the vouwfiets, folding bikes, and laughed a little; with a country so densely populated that so small they find a way to fold just about anything! It has enough space for a small family and when you’re done fold it back up and hitch it to the back of your car and go.
You also have the tourcaravan and stacaravan! Stacaravan is literally stay caravan. Dutchies, who are big on camping yearly will by a massive stacaravan, rent or buy land on camp grounds here in Holland and make that their home away from home! Dutchie told me of a family member of hers who did this. They went up in size until they ended up with a massive stacaravan and now is fully furnished for their get-a-ways! Grounds to put your put your home away from home can be found all over Holland! You can also find a stacaravan on campgrounds that have them permanently on site for those who don’t own or rent but just want a place to vacation. I wouldn’t argue doing this!
Then you have the tourcaravan. Tour caravans, travel caravan, either translation with do just fine. You guessed it; these caravans go where you go! These are particularly popular to rent or buy for the Dutchie, tourists who love to travel Europe! Dutchies love these to go to Austria, Germany and elsewhere in Europe. You can easily search on the web to rent one and get great package deals. Skiing packages, mountain climbing packages and more! But you cannot forget to pack!
The Dutch rarely go anywhere without a caravan full of Dutch goodies. Hagelslag (sandwich sprinkles), pindakaas (Dutch peanut butter) and Dutch kaas (cheese) are a must! (You can see they love their sandwich stuff!) Never forget the coffee! Just like the English have tea time, the Dutch have koffietijd (coffee time)! You can usually count on a community of campers either here in Holland or elsewhere getting together for koffietijd and a party in the evening to have some fun! So rent a tourcaravan, grab the hagelslag and koffee and travel! It’s better than sleeping in a tent that floods when the Dutch rain comes!

camping, caravans, stacaravan, vouwcarava, tourcaravan, campers, Netherlands, Europe, Holland campgrounds, Europe campgrounds, Camping Jachthaven Uitdam, Gaasperpark, Gaasperplas (Gaasper Lake), Tourist activities

Wow I am getting into this! Last night the Dutch national team was in Slovenia fighting for their chance to be in the European Championships next year. It was a great game to watch, Slovenia team is intense and aggressive while the Dutch were simply trying to keep up. They did a good job in keeping the Slovenians at bay but it was no easy task, especially when three of the players were rookies. The Dutch finally scored 85 minutes into the game with Giovanni Van Bronckhorst kicking in the only goal which was deflected twice before actually making it in the net.
Now I am not a regular viewer of soccer as I was brought up with football and baseball on every weekend however, last year was the World Cup in Germany and I watched the Dutch try their heart out to take the cup. They ultimately lost but I watched and was finding it a good sport to actually watch! I didn’t know much about it but am now making headway when I watch but there is much to learn! Last week they played Romania and the game ended scoreless but the announcer mentioned lost and gain of points. What does that mean when the game was scoreless? Dutchie, while understanding the sport better than I, hadn’t a clue as she isn’t an avid watcher. Thanks to Wikipedia I have the answer to my question! The points are dealt as follows; three for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The more points you have the higher you’re standing in your group. This concept of how they come up with the final qualified teams out of 48 is still rather puzzling to me but I do know that the teams are put into groups of seven and that the two teams in each group with the highest standings go to the quarter finals where it gets smaller. It seems like the same concept of the World Cup which runs two years after the European Championships. This stuff can get quite exciting. If you have a championship every two years and the year prior you have to qualify soccer seems to go on and on!
Of course you have local teams and thanks to yahoo sports I can share the major teams in the Netherlands. I can’t read it however. I haven’t a clue as to what any of this means! So my goal is to get it, understand it and become familiar with all things soccer! Find out when games are on and record them, watch them the next day to learn all I can. Anyone out there can actually tell me what all that means, by all means, email me! Help this girl understand! I can of course start calling it voetbal as the Dutch do!
I miss my Baseball and Football but maybe I can have passion in voetbal. I can at least try. HUP HOLLAND!

European Championships, Euro 08, Netherlands football, voetbal

I am baseball fan, I grew up with the entire family talking baseball when in season and then football was another topic that was a biggie. I never got into football as much as my family would have hoped but baseball I did grasp and enjoy; especially when we would head to Shea Stadium or to the Bronx for some Yankees. I do understand football and have been to a couple of games in New Jersey but the passion that so many Americans have isn’t in there for me I suppose. My father was big on taking us to baseball games and it is an experience I haven’t forgotten and miss here in Europe. In 2005 I went to the World Cup Baseball final game in Rotterdam. The Netherlands were the host of that year’s low profile tournament and we took the opportunity to go as baseball isn’t that popular here and it was a great opportunity to get in a great game. While it wasn’t the same as sitting in Yankee Stadium it was still a rush just to be there! To sit there with the cool air on your face with a program in your chair while you cheer on the team was great to feel again! So as an American who enjoys baseball and even a football game once in a while, I feel lost in this European world of Soccer!
The FIFA World Cup was held in Germany last year and I was here to watch it on television as the Netherlands tried to get the World Cup Champions. With as much of an effort and gusto that the Dutch had they couldn’t do it after being eliminated in the second round. I hadn’t a clue to the rules, how it work or anything! I had never watched a soccer game for more than a minute. It wasn’t on the television much and I can’t recall my school even having a soccer team! I had much to learn I realized. While the 2006 FIFA World Cup was going on I swear the entire country was orange with pride! People colored their hair orange, decorated themselves, their cars and bicycles orange for the occasion and I was even able to purchase orange mayonnaise and dish soap! The list could go on and it was quite a sight to see! I even got into the festivities and bought a orange football shirt and cheered on the Netherlands while they were on television just as all the Dutchies did! It was actually quite exciting!
I went to Wikipedia to do some reading on the sport and asked a ton of questions to my partner about the game. If I am going to live in Europe it is best to know at least a little about the continents favorite sport! And I did learn a lot I will admit this but not nearly enough to carry on any conversation in the sport and I even get the name wrong as I refer to it as soccer and the rest of the world calls it football!
Next year is the European Championships and it seems to be the buzz in sports news. The talk of players, coaches and captains is all over in any country. You can go to any bar and if there is a game they will post that it will be on the television and who is playing. I really do feel lost in this sport and I can’t help but think I need to watch more and attempt to become a fan of a local football club but which one when the Netherlands has so many I wouldn’t know where to begin! I want to chat baseball and aside from the American expats out there and my partner there isn’t a place to go here for baseball!
So why write all this to begin with? Well, yesterday I went to Amsterdam to shop near the Amsterdam Arena. The Arena holds the football club Ajax and there happened to be a game yesterday when we arrived. We arrived at noon and while the game didn’t start until 2:30 there were already a swarm of people partaking in the hot dog stands and wearing their red and white colors while chatting with fellow fans about the game soon to start. The Arena was huge and the Ajax logo and colors shown with pride all over the outer parameter of the arena. Another thing that caught my eye was the ambulances and swat teams that sat on standby. I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing this even though I was informed that swat teams show up at every game to control the hooligans that come in support of their club. I have heard stories about it here, in Germany and Italy but never had I really seen it. They sat there quietly while the game went on and I was informed they sat all around the arena not just where we were. I watched on the news last year as the German swat teams prepared for the World Cup. Exercises were held in preparation and it was an intense sight to see! In my opinion it’s just a sport but the supporters seem to think different. Yet despite this strange sight I couldn’t help but smile. While Americans find passion in baseball and football Europeans find passion in their soccer (football) and they come together to celebrate that. Will I always be that American missing her baseball and football or can I learn to appreciate this part of my new world and even find it to cheer on a club and talk shop?!

Netherlands, Netherlands football clubs, expats, FIFA World Cup, Soccer, football, baseball