The German Bundesliga begins its 51st season tomorrow when Borussia Mönchengladbach visits defending champion Bayern München. Bayern is coming off a "triple" in '12-'13: winners of the Bundesliga, the DFB (German Football Federation) Cup and the European Champions League title.
At the other end of the table are Eintracht Braunschweig, returning to the First Division after a 28 year absence, and Hertha Berlin, back after a brief period of relegation to the Second Bundesliga. Eintracht has special meaning as the site of the first European game I ever saw in person. My high school had an affiliation with a school in Braunschweig, an old Hanseatic city between Hannover and the Harz Mountains. My family hosted the first exchange student from the school and after college I visited his family in 1968 and saw Eintracht play. When my son and daughter lived in Berlin in 2001 we saw Hertha play Bayern in the Olympic Stadium on a cold December night in a fast-paced, exciting match that ended in a 2-1 Hertha victory and 50,000 fans singing Nur Nach Hause (gehen wir nicht).
I'm hardly an expert on European soccer and the differing styles of play but have always enjoyed the Bundesliga's all-out, up the middle go for the goal play. Here's to the next 50 years.
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