Thursday, 4/4

Wanna see where I'm gonna be in three weeks?

Well, technically, Loraine and I should, if things go to plan, be arriving in Leipzig three weeks from today. We won't be paying a visit to this temple (the picture of which was shot off of our TV last weekend), known as Red Bull Arena, for another two days after our arrival in that fair city.

But let's just call it three weeks and leave it at that.

And actually, if you wanna be really technical, this magenta circle on the next version of the picture shows EXACTLY where Loraine and I will be three weeks and two days from today--

We chose those particular seats for a couple of reasons—one, they're across the field from the team benches, which means that we can keep an eye on the comings & goings of the RB Leipzig team and their coaching staff during the match. The seats are also near the end zone “Fan Zone”, where the team's most passionate fans spend the entire match pounding on drums and singing soccer songs, and we kind of wanted to experience what that would be like.

We'll just have to make sure we bring Tylenol with us for the headache that's sure to ensue after spending two hours sitting near singing & drum playing soccer fans.

The final reason we're sitting in those seats also has to do with the “Fan Zone”. After the match is over the team walks over to that end of the stadium and salutes the people who gave them energy, cheered for them, and (hopefully) propelled them to victory. While we won't be as close as some people, we're hoping for a glance of the players we've watched the past couple of years.

That's why we're sitting where we're sitting.

And we're hoping they do win. Leipzig is currently in third place in the Bundesliga (coming off a 5-0 shellacking of Hertha Berlin), while the team they're playing, SC Freiburg, is sitting in 11^th. Believe it or not, Five Thirty Eight, the website that forecasts US elections and sporting events, also does European soccer matches, and the last time I checked there was a 67% probability that Leipzig would win (as well as a 22% probability the teams will draw). So that gives us an 89% probability that we won't walk away from those seats totally bummed.

Let's just hope fivethirtyeight forecasts the game better than they did, say, the 2016 election.

So that's where we'll be in three weeks and two days. I'll be writing more about the trip as a whole; in fact, one of my hoped-to-be-completed projects this weekend is a preview blog for our trip site, which I'll also post here (assuming I ever get it done). But because several of you were curious following the whole epic adventure of procuring those seats last week, I figured I'd share this now.

Three weeks. Two days!!!!

(jim@wmqt.com)