Ball(er)Men Reloaded: Of Birds and Friends
Created: 06/10/2022, 23:00
By: Andreas Mayr
The German gang is growing: (from left) Andreas Mayr and Len Werle welcome Heiko Oldörp to their ranks.
©Andreas Mayr
The German globetrotters are back: Merkur employee Andreas Mayr and fellow journalist Len Werle are once again traveling to the NBA basketball league finals.
Episode three of her diary from San Francisco.
Boston - We say San Fran bye.
Okay, it had to be, at Len's express request.
If you find it funny, you can laugh now.
We give permission.
Our route takes us across the continent to Boston on the east coast.
4331 kilometers from arena to arena.
Over six hours on the plane.
Jetting back to Europe (from Boston) is quicker.
Just to be able to classify it better.
The flight is at night - to save a day in a hotel.
You already know where you can save money, the Germans.
At the airport they meet Miguel from Portugal.
In the NBA circus he belongs to the dinosaurs.
The journalist from the sports newspaper A Bola has been flying to the States since 1993, has seen practically every important throw in the stadium over the past 30 years and has an exclusive story for at least every second one.
If you ever get bored, get in touch with Miguel.
He talks even when he's not asked.
His stories are amazing.
In 1992 in Monaco he was indoors when Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson fought with the US dream team in preparation for the Olympics.
Basketball nerds call this training game "The Greatest Game Nobody Has Seen".
Miguel was there.
He had stayed the night before at Nice train station because there was no hotel to be found.
The NBA is also reported in Iceland, responsible for it: Kjartan (left) and Tomas.
©Andreas Mayr
In game three at the Boston Garden, Len walks in front of two Icelandic colleagues, Kjartan and Tomas.
The two brothers report for national television (we assume - the only station in the country) from Boston.
And because they can't find an expert right now, they just drag Len in front of the lens.
With his shoes (for those in the know: the Air Jordan I OG Brotherhood), his blue suit and canary-yellow T-shirt, he looks like he knows what sport it's about.
At home in Iceland, says Kjartan, even small fishing villages with 2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants provide a team.
Because they make so much money, they fly in three or four professionals from all over the world.
The minimum salary in the country, says Kjartan, is around $3,000.
His brother Tomas currently lives in Los Angeles and found out during a genetic test that
that he is 0.3 percent German.
At school he took German as a foreign language and collected autograph cards from SC Freiburg.
His greeting is easier to understand than that of the average Mittenwalder.
Tomas wouldn't have such bad chances in a naturalization test.
At work: Andreas Mayr in conversation with Daniel Theis from the Boston Celtics.
© Len Werle
The German gang has a new member, although with a heavy heart they can't take in Kjartan and Tomas just yet.
The new man has lived in Boston for 15 years, has an American wife, but only speaks German with his two children.
Heiko Oldörp walks through Boston with his camera, microphone or laptop.
The man is multi-talented and supplies everything in Germany from sports shows to NDR, television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.
He has found his niche as a sports journalist with a focus on the USA.
Although Heiko could easily start as a tourist guide.
He guides us through Boston, probably the most European city in the States, a mixture of Dublin, London and Hamburg.
His son attends school with a descendant of the captain who piloted the Mayflower to the east coast.
The ship,
that brought the Pilgrim Fathers here from England in 1620.
Boston is what Americans call a "Walking City".
It's only 20 minutes from the harbor to downtown in the park, the oldest public space in the USA.
Whereby you can easily throw these predicates around here.
Hardly any city is older.
First of all, Boston is green these days.
And that is only secondary to the approaching summer on the coast.
Boston populate people in green jerseys.
There are few buildings without green banners and flags.
A city in green.
And the Celtics lead 2-1 in the final series.
The holidays are approaching.
Whereby you can easily throw these predicates around here.
Hardly any city is older.
First of all, Boston is green these days.
And that is only secondary to the approaching summer on the coast.
Boston populate people in green jerseys.
There are few buildings without green banners and flags.
A city in green.
And the Celtics lead 2-1 in the final series.
The holidays are approaching.
Whereby you can easily throw these predicates around here.
Hardly any city is older.
First of all, Boston is green these days.
And that is only secondary to the approaching summer on the coast.
Boston populate people in green jerseys.
There are few buildings without green banners and flags.
A city in green.
And the Celtics lead 2-1 in the final series.
The holidays are approaching.