“In some parts of Germany, this past Monday was the most important day of the year – Rosenmontag. The name translates as Rose Monday and is the day the English know as Shrove Monday. Rosenmontag is the high point of the German carnival season and a bank holiday in the strongholds of this particular form of organised merriment, most of which are dotted along the Rhine. In Mainz, Cologne and Dusseldorf, literally millions of people take to the streets (and bars) dressed in fancy and elaborate, and sometimes bizarre, costumes to – as they stubbornly maintain – party, celebrate and have fun.” ESPN

“Three months is a long time in football. Back in October when Schalke 04 won at arch rivals Borussia Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley Derby, life looked rosy for the Royal Blues. They were third in the Bundesliga, seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich and just two behind surprise package Eintracht Frankfurt. Now they`re in freefall, a huge 22 points behind runaway leaders Bayern and ten behind champions Dortmund.” Bundesliga on Eurosport2

“Jupp Heynckes is one of the few people who probably has to employ a cleaning lady just for his trophy cabinet. Even as a professional footballer he has won almost every trophy there is in European football. The striker has scored most of his goals for the club that belongs to the city of his birth: Mönchengladbach. He scored 218 goals for Die Fohlen which combined with the 25 goals he scored for Hannover, where he spent three years, made him the third best goal scorer in the history of Bundesliga. Whilst being at Gladbach he won the German Bundesliga title for four times, the DFB-Pokal once and the UEFA Cup during the 1970s. He was also successful with the German National-team and can proudly call himself European Cup and World Cup champion.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Not long ago, the German national team was so short of decent center forwards that manager Berti Vogts had to dig out a German grandmother for (Brazilian-born Leverkusen striker) Paolo Rink and personally intervene with the government to secure Sean Dundee’s fast-track naturalization — even if the South African ended up never wearing the White and Black.” SI

“Bayern Munich officially announced last week that they had hired Pep Guardiola to manage the illustrious club next season. Bayern’s interest in Guardiola wasn’t a secret. Last June Sport-Bild cited news of a meeting between then-sporting director Christian Nerlinger and Pep’s brother and agent, Pere Guardiola. But the news has shocked many pundits in the UK, who believed (somewhat arrogantly)that Pep was destined for a job in the Premier League.” Think Football

“Tottenham Hotspur supporters should be brimming with excitement after it was announced that Schalke’s Lewis Holtby will join the club at the end of the summer. In Holtby, Spurs will get a tremendously versatile and engaged player. His fitness and workrate along with his technical qualities and creativity have allowed him to play a multitude of roles and positions successfully so far in his young career. It’s rare for a young player to be as well equipped and adaptable at such a young age but it speaks to the maturity and quality of the player and the potential ceiling he can reach in his career.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“It was the year of broken dreams. First, Bayern Munich wrote nine out 10 chapters of their own fairy tale, before running into a horror twist at the very end: losing the Champions League final, in its own stadium, against an ultra-defensive Chelsea, on penalties. A month later, it was Germany’s turn to get it all wrong against Italy in the Euro semifinals. In purely domestic terms, however, German football shone.” SI

“Earlier this week Markus Babbel, who in spite of the grim sounding title is still very much alive, was let go from his position as head coach at Hoffenheim after less than a year on the job. The Sinsheim outfit (3-3-9) currently sit on 12 points from their 17 matches which is good for 16th place in the Bundesliga above only the 1 win apiece Augsburg and Greuther Fürth. Sporting Director Andreas Müller said of the decision: ‘Our increasingly threatening situation and the negative trend have left me no choice’ adding that ‘It is important to make the cut’ and ‘We have to hit the re-set switch and start a new beginning’ ; words which sound quite similar to the ones then Sporting Director Ernst Tanner spoke about Babbel’s predecessor Holger Stanislawski 10 months ago.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Germany has traditionally been solid at the back and has produced some great goalkeepers in the world of football. Sepp Maier, Herald Schumacher,Bodo Illgner, Andreas Koepke, Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, All of them produced moments of magic in German Football. Quite notably, the competition for the number one keeper for 2006 WC on home soil between Kahn and Lehmann only made both of them better keepers.” Bundesliga Fanatic

Bayern Munich in a hurry to put last season’s disappointment behind them
“Who cares about the finishing time in a title race that no one’s ever really been too bothered to win? The biggest surprise of this midweek round of fixtures perhaps wasn’t so much Bayern Munich securing the (purely ceremonial) title of ‘Herbstmeister’ (literally: autumn champions, even though it should be ‘winter champions’, ‘end-of-calendar-year champions’ or maybe let’s-just-make-up-our-own-little-honour-sponsored-by-Arsène-Wenger-champions’) in record-busting fashion with three games to go, but the fact that somebody in the DFL’s stats basement had been keeping a record of these inconsequential efforts in the first place.” Guardian

“Mustafa Amini stands in the middle of a cage. Rest assured, this isn’t what it seems. Contrary to appearances, the Borussia Dortmund youngster isn’t the club’s captive. This isn’t some draconian punishment for a poor performance, ill discipline or threatening to grow back that outrageous auburn afro. No, this here is an experiment and Amini is a willing guinea pig. Why? Because, with time, he might leave the cage a Footbonaut. That’s the name of the new state-of-the-art training machine Dortmund unveiled at their Brackel training ground back in late September.” The Score (Video)

“The Hannover and Germany keeper committed suicide on November 10th 2009, leaving a massive hole in the heart of those who loved him, both family and friends as well as the football community. We revisit the tragic moment and pay tribute to the great man and player on the three year anniversary of his passing. The news of Enke’s depature sent shockwaves through the German football world and united the German public in a sobering manner. The national team cancelled a planned friendly against Chile after the team had spoken to the DFB officials. Team manager Oliver Bierhoff had trouble holding back his tears when he had to explain the decision to the German media.” Bundesliga Fanatic (Video)

“Max Merkel faced difficult and painful times after he was born in Vienna in 1918. Not only due to the political and economic struggles at the time, but also because of the fact that he just turned pro when the second World War broke out. This did not only change the lives of almost every European citizen, it also seemed to put the young Austrian’s career to an end. Shortly after the war, however the defender managed to win the league title with Rapid Vienna four times in eight years. The one time capped Austrian national team player ended his career in 1954 and started an impressive career as a Coach.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Another weekend of firsts in the Bundesliga. Surprise package Eintracht Frankfurt lost their first league match of the season to a Borussia Mönchengladbach side who won their first match in seven competitive games. Last year’s promoted side Augsburg meanwhile won their first match of the campaign and early strugglers Hamburg continue their upward run with back to back clean sheets for the first time since last year. This year’s promoted Fortuna Düsseldorf also lost their first match of the season in Mainz while Bayern München equalled a Bundesliga record of seven wins from their first seven matches. Here are the standout performers of matchday 7…” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Bayern Munich has long prided itself on its youth development, and with some justification: half of the first-team regulars that made it to the Champions League final in May came through the club’s academy system. But they don’t always get it right in Bavaria.” SI

“Part one of the English week kicked off this weekend and in usual fashion, it did not disappoint. Eintracht Frankfurt are 4 from 4 while Hannover’s unbeaten run finally came to an end in Hoffenheim. Bayern again separated themselves from the pack with a convincing win in Schalke and Dortmund’s historic unbeaten run finally came to an end. Plenty of talking points and excitement along with a string of wonderful individual performances. Here is the creme of the crop…” Bundesliga Fanatic

“I have spent the best part of whatever little free time I have had over the last few months to brush up on my sporting literature. Being in London for nearly two months this summer provided me with the otherwise elusive ability of being able to order things on Amazon. Such First World pleasures remain beyond the scope of my Third World residence and thus, suffice to say, when given the opportunity I did what any self-respecting human being would do — I pigged out. Any and all free time was spent discovering every possible use of Amazon’s all-purpose search function. Names were dug up from the depths of memory, and glossary’s were trolled in search for references to excitable yet obscure sports books I had committed to read.” Bundesliga Fanatic

amazon: A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke

“The second week of the new Bundesliga season proved to be even more exciting than the first, full of great individual and team performances, goals, and its share of upsets. Bayern München further laid down the marker as the team to beat with one of their most dominant performances in recent memory while defending champions Dortmund stumbled in Nürnberg. Promoted side Eintracht Frankfurt continue to be the surprise package of the new season with a convincing win of their own in Hoffenheim and Hannover got a memorable away win in Wolfsburg. Bremen came out on top in the nordderby and Greuther Fürth recorded a historic first ever Bundesliga win.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Opening days always feel a little uneasy. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the United States or Germany, watching football or baseball. I’m not talking about nerves, either. Nerves are obviously part of it: The players look anxious, as do the fans, who have spent the offseason consuming transfer news and carefully calibrating expectations.” ESPN

“With the 50th Bundesliga season just days away, Bundesliga clubs are still fine tuning their squads and making adjustments where needed. With most transfers out of the way already, here are some of the best moves made by clubs in the league ahead of the 2012/13 season, players who might not have stolen the headlines but who could turn out to be the best bargain buys of the season.” Bundesliga Fanatic