Fasten your sear belt

We were then definitely in the waiting area. I was finally able to sit a bit with my bad knee. The players found themselves (as we did) in the surrounding restaurants/bistros etc. We had a few really short exchanges of words there…. more like a greeting. Then came the cheerleaders. Each with a sponsored suitcase set in pink and blue. The announcement was made in advance that the fans should ideally not bother the players. They had to prepare themselves mentally. As far as I can tell, everyone stuck to it. Not as far as the cheerleaders were concerned. Sometimes they were quite rudely accosted. But alcohol probably played a role in some of that. The cheerleaders then went outside to take a few photos in front of the plane. It was a pity that nobody informed us (although everyone knew that we were there as photographers). Not even our dear colleagues. The excitement was probably too great. In the end, we boarded the plane. To be completely honest, we hadn’t had any huge advantages from the flight with Rhein Fire so far, but it was definitely funny. The players, and staff, then the guests in boarding order. Then came the first real ray of hope… with the name “Jim Tomsula”. He actually stood at boarding and greeted every passenger warmly and thanked them. He also recognized us and it was really lovely. Thank you Jim! First the players with their bags. Then the cheerleaders with their suitcase sets. And that was a bit intense. Because they practically filled the storage space right up to the back with their suitcases.

We then had no more room for our equipment and I had to take one of our camera backpacks on my lap (for the time being). Fortunately, the rows of seats weren’t too tight for me anyway and my bruised knee wouldn’t have hurt. We sat right next to the Guardians. There were two in a row of three in front of us and one of the Guardians next to us in the center aisle of the row of three. I felt a bit sorry for the flight attendant, as she had to let herself be picked on quite a lot. I then got myself the obligatory seatbelt extender. The two in front of us kindly took the photo bag between them in the empty seat … or on the floor in front of them, as the helmet (part of the fairing) had taken its place on the seat. In general, apart from shallow, bawdy jokes and conversations about alcohol, the second most important topic was the disguise. 80% of the flight was characterized by who had drunk how much and when, who was going to drink how much and, above all, what was now being ordered to drink. One part was about expert tips on the upcoming weekend and betting on it. I don’t want to talk everything down now. But in the end it reminded me of the fan train with the Kickers back then. If you’re not full of rockets yourself, you realize that a) you don’t belong and b) the only way to get there is by drinking. A bit like Ballermann but in Madrid and with fire 😉 So let’s go to Vallehermanios 6! CONCLUSION: Finally, normal people! And without Jim Tomsula I would have had mainly negative aspects so far.

In a separate article: Football is Family … but only in bubbles!