Here is a riddle for you:  What is black, white and red all over? 

Answer: The goalkeeper for THW Kiel!

Ha, just a little handball humor for you to start out a blog.**

Today was day 1 of the EHF FINAL4.  The first match was between the Russian team Chekhovskie Medvedi, out of Moscow, and the Spanish team FC Barcelona Borges, out of, well, Barcelona.  To start out before the matches, there was a little show at center court.  They turned the lights down low and had a colored light show, lasers of green and red shooting across the arena, blinding some unlucky few.  I felt like I was at a rave where the party was bumpin’.  Then, out of nowhere, these welders showed up and started creating a trophy.  It was dark aside from the green and red lights and the welder’s sparks from working the metal.  When they were finished, there was a replica of the championship trophy at center court.   I stared dumbfounded at the artistic abilities these welders showed at the beginning of a sporting event.

As they were announcing the team members, each member ran out of a giant blow up handball to the cheers and jeers of the crowd.  Simultaneously, giant plumes of fire erupted from the endline of the court in accordance with the player’s emergence from the handball.  The fire was very hot, as fire often is, and we could certainly feel the heat as we were sitting in the front row.  The heat of the match would soon follow.   The first match started out with FC Barcelona pretty much dominating the first few minutes of play.  The Russians, while trading goals with the Spaniards as the match continued, would never quite recover the original four goal deficit.  FC Barcelona proved victorious and stamped their ticket to the finals for tomorrow.

The second match featured the hometown favorite THW Kiel of Kiel, Germany against BM Ciudad Real, another Spanish team hailing from Ciudad Real.  They are really very clever with their names.  This game was close and tempers were flaring as it was a rematch of last year’s final.  You could have cut the tension in the arena with a butter knife.  Although Ciudad Real, who also won the Championship last year,  led for the first 57 minutes led with their attempts to slow down the game to their pace to sedate the crowd, THW Kiel pulled forward after a late surge in the last minutes to win.  They scored the go-ahead-goal with 10 seconds left on the clock and a massive celebration continued.  The four boys, about aged 10, sitting next to us embraced each other in celebration. 

If there is one piece of information I could tell someone who doesn’t know anything about Handball, it is the following:  Handball is an intense, fast, physical sport, where rules are more like guidelines.  The out of bounds line, for example, doesn’t seem to be an actual line, just more of a guide.  You can’t go much farther than…around here…ish.

I found myself cheering for Ciudad Real throughout the match, opposite of the 17,000 fans around me.  I like the underdog and they were my favorite team out in the tailgating area outside the arena.  They spoke Spanish, which I understand far better than German and Russian, so I was able to communicate with them.  Additionally, they acted more like soccer fans than any of the other teams, which means they came dressed in flag capes, constantly sang their team songs, and in general were a rowdy bunch.  I am sad to see that they did not make it to the finals. 

Watching Handball at this level of play, especially while sitting behind the goal, is exhilarating.  The player’s control of both their bodies and the ball makes it extremely entertaining, but I am left with a few questions as a new handball observer.

1. How do penalty shots work?  I don’t know when the players get the 7 meter shot, nor what the rules of the shot entail.  What I do understand, however, is that a penalty shot is essentially a free goal for the team shooting.  Not one shot was blocked by the goalie in the two matches.
2. How does subbing work?  It seems they kind of just run in and out whenever they want to.  I am sure there is a rhyme and reason to the madness—some players are better at defense or to give breaks, but I will have to focus more today on the intricacies of subbing
3. What is the difference between a whistle and a penalty with a yellow card and a two minute penalty?  Some of the two minute penalties looked pretty tame to me.  I could generally figure the following things are penalties, but not always a two minute one, a yellow card, or 7 meter shot: 
   1. You can’t punch people in the face
   2. You can’t take people’s shirts off
   3. In general, you can’t hold on to the shooting arm to prevent the player from shooting

And now that this blog looks like a high school note outline, I am going to get back to writing.  The final today features FC Barcelona and THW Kiel at 6 p.m. Koln time.  Both seem to be fast paced teams, but Kiel has the obvious home field advantage.  As much as I like the Spaniards, I think I am going to have to give THW Kiel my favorite to win this match and become EHF Champions.  Frankly, the crowd is what kept them in the game last night.  They were not better than Ciudad Real, and without the little mistakes Ciudad Real committed (mis-passes and turnovers) that were caused by the raucous crowd, I think they would have won.  I don’t think THW Kiel could have recovered in the last five minutes of the game without the crowd heavily on their side.

Prediction:  THW Kiel: 33                        FC Barcelona: 29

**If you don’t get this, don’t worry.  THW Kiel wears white and black uniforms and their mascot is the zebra.  Their goalie wears red and often gets angry, so angry that his face turns red.