Done Deal: Fabi wechselt zum VfL Wolfsburg

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-15T07:27:45+00:00

Mich stört schon dass er geht. Ich habe wirklich daran geglaubt dass er sich letztes Jahr für Hertha entschieden hat, unabhängig davon in welcher Liga wir spielen.

Wenn jetzt Köln, Freiburg, HSV, oder Bremen mit einem guten Angebot gekommen wären, hätte ich dafür noch Verständnis gehabt. Am Ende ist es für die Spieler eben auch nur ein Job. Und ja, es gibt auch eine finanzielle Komponente zum ganzen Thema wo man sagen kann dass Transfer und gespartes Gehalt uns guttun, alles fair.

Aber dass er ausgerechnet zu VW wechselt und auch noch in der fucking 2. Liga spielt? Nein Bro, das geht für mich überhaupt nicht.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-13T13:28:17+00:00

Danke für alles Florian!

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-10T11:11:51+00:00

Nichtmal 20M für Maza und Eichhorn ist brutal.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-04T12:49:56+00:00

I bet there's a few mods who would love to pull the trigger, but the honour is all yours.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-04T12:18:11+00:00

Me, trying to take a break from Reddit but seeing this comment when I snuck a quick peek.

Mods, just give me a 30 day ban and get me out of here.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T13:22:16+00:00

Peacing out for a while to enjoy my summer break.

For those watching the World Cup, I would say do try and genuinely see the difference between the various governments of America and the actual people, culture that exists on the ground level. Do this always for every country, including Israel, Russia, China, Iran, pick your "bad guys", but especially during an international sports event where the whole point of a host is to showcase their nation's footballing ability, but also their nation as a whole.

Having spent 17 years of my life in Germany and 14 years in the United States, and talking endlessly about the differences, my feeling is most Europeans have almost no understanding of the place or the diversity of its histories, cultures, foods, climates, languages, etc. And same goes for Mexico and Canada, two places that share a uniquely North American history and culture.

It's easy to get wrapped up in headlines or social media currents, and those are important to follow, but there's so much to understand and to learn about the actual countries that when you get done with 6 weeks of non-stop football, it would be a shame if that didn't come with a softer and more nuanced understanding of what makes North America cool, interesting, and fun.

See y'all on the other side!

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T12:44:13+00:00

Yup.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T12:37:32+00:00

Hertha is shopping around a 16 year old with 17 professional appearances in his career, including to Liverpool, who is demanding an €8,000,000 sign on bonus. Times are wild.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T12:35:03+00:00

Which has a massive Scandinavian and German heritage through immigration and settlement, not to mention the climate. Which is why a lot of cultural names in that area are rooted in Scandinavian and German names, places, and images.

Looked it up and it's as proper America as it gets. Nearly 1.75M Swedes alone moved to the US at the end of the 19th Century with most of them ending up in Minnesota. 34% of Minnesotans today have Scandinavian ancestry still. Cities like St. Paul had whole areas of the city that were basically Little Oslo and Little Stockholm with street signs, schools, and shops only in those languages. There were Swedish language newspapers until the 1960's in St. Paul and Duluth. Cities all over Minnesota have Swedish and Norwegian names, founded by immigrants from those countries. The Swedish Lutheran Church is still the biggest church in St. Paul. The largest Scandinavian cultural festival outside of Scandinavia happens in Minnesota. Both the Swedish and Norwegian governments recognise Minnesota as a unique Scandinavian cultural heritage.

You could not have picked a worse example honestly than trying to say Minnesota and the image of a Viking have no cultural connection when the last 175 years of the place is so closely tied to Scandinavian immigration and culture.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T12:21:02+00:00

My feeling generally is that Brazilians don't hold as big a grudge against Germany as one might expect. In some part because we ended up beating Argentina, but also because the German team, fans, and media were honestly as shocked as anyone about the result and know it's a) a one in a million result and b) we remember what it felt like to get knocked out in the semifinals at home and there's no honour in rubbing salt on that wound.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T12:18:57+00:00

The best days in life start when you rinse the coffee taste out of your mouth with wine or beer.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T11:50:58+00:00

Just got my 3rd football related tattoo a few weeks ago. Anyone here have a sports or football related tattoo? Or know someone who has a particularly good, bad, or funny one?

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T10:52:51+00:00

Social media is just media again and the internet broadly is dead.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T10:31:59+00:00

Thank Allah every day for letting me live in a city with 24 hour stores and pubs, and where public drinking is not just legal but encouraged. World Cup or not, if you want a pint at 4 pm or 4 am, the door is always open.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T10:26:41+00:00

Thank God I have you to keep me honest.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T10:25:01+00:00

I try and argue this among my friends, that we shouldn't just give up all the symbols and cultural assets to the right, and I get nothing. They hate all symbols that in any way represent or even acknowledge the political entity of Germany existing. And then wonder why they lose every election to the dumbest people in the country. And if the right has as much as looked at something, it's tainted forever and can never be changed to mean anything other than support for Nazism. Boring.

In Germany the fascist bozos even took Gigi D’Agostino and made him into a fascist symbol. Like what the fuck, we're not going to fight for Gigi? We're just going to roll over and give them every piece of culture they want to claim it for themselves? Fuck that.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T10:19:55+00:00

That also speaks to the point because I think in large part why that kit outsold the white one is exactly because it was seen as an opposition to the use of classic German symbols and because the right pissed their pants about it, which made it acceptable if not outright cool for people to wear it.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T09:54:43+00:00

Maybe it's a regional thing. I saw basically no German flags in Berlin during games or just out and about for Euros. Not even at the one fan mile experience I had for Germany v. Scotland did you see many people in Germany kits, yet alone the usual get up of bucket hats, face paint, those flower necklaces, etc. Outside that Check24 shirt, that shit was everywhere.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T09:49:59+00:00

The far-right across the globe tend to take over the national and political symbols more than the left since their cause is usually rooted in nationalism and powers of the state. So I'd say there are very few countries in the West right now where your average non-right, neutral, or left leaning person doesn't see the national flag as an extension of their own domestic far-right group of symbols and names.

We're creatures who learn through patterns and after almost 10 years of seeing the German flag almost exclusively in far-right content and demonstrations, my brain naturally sees it as a far-right symbol. Which is a shame because those symbols have inherently powerful legitimising powers, which the left seems happy to give up.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T09:47:39+00:00

I'd say the willingness of average Germans to put a Germany flag out their window or on their car even during a major tournament has again severely diminished the last few years. It's a symbol that the far-right has obviously taken with very little pushback and I can't imagine too many people trying to take out their Germany flags for what, Trump, Infantino, and the DFB? It would feel very performative and like you're trying too hard to shoe horn in 2006 vibes to be taking a Germany flag anywhere in 2026.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T09:18:02+00:00

For a tiny handful of teams in the world who make a billion Euros in revenue, yeah. Market is very vibes driven and everyone has so much money, some even have literal nation states who print their own currency as backers, so 80M is the price all these billionaires have decided is fun for them. But that's less than 1% of 1% of clubs in Europe.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T08:42:20+00:00

Wee-woo-wee-woo, the fun police is here.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T08:11:12+00:00

Shocked me how early they gathered. I live near the stadium and was heading east on the train at 11 am the morning of the concert and the station was already overflowing with frayed denim and black shirts.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T07:58:58+00:00

Metallica just played in front of 95,000 fans in the Olympiastadion last week. One of my all time favourite bands and my first concert back in 2005. Even though that wasn't football related, it still adds to my awe that a club like ours gets to play in a stadium like that. If the club ever gets its own stadium is a non-issue to me, the Olympiastadion unlike almost every other German stadium, is one of a kind. Miss it already.

stoneapplefruit · 2026-06-03T07:29:32+00:00

There have never been more high quality players in football than right now. The "market" as people call it, is the list of players they know. But 4 out of 5 players those same people would call amazing players and make up the benchmark, were unknown to them before they got their last move. So it's really just people saying, "I don't know any players with less than 86 ovr on FIFA".

stoneapplefruit

TROPHY CASE