Capital Summertime Ball 2024

[DC]

I very much hope that was a joke.

I can't stand when people keep referring to Hitler and the 2. world war when talking about Germany. I usually don't feel a great connection to Germany as such, but when people judge Germany based on what happened more than 60 years ago I kind of feel very much German and can get quite angry.

a lot of people still don't know that he was actually austrian, or born there at least. the sad fact of life is that a lot of it revolved around germany and thats where he grew in power, when he started to turn sour he went against a lot of germans too. so people who know what really happened felt sorry for the general public of germany.

in the later years the rivalry between england and germany went into sport, and it got bitter with the football. but since we got our own back and beat them 1-5 in 2001 things have cooled down. even though they beat in a friendly us last year. i remember people cheering for them here when they beat portugal in the world cup 2 years ago, becuase at least they played with dignity instead of diving everywhere (ronaldo).

[Guest CancerForTheCure]

whoa whoa whoa! I like this historical debate!

My personal opinion (just a reminder - there is no political correctness for me on this issue as I'm Polish - I can say whatever I like ) is that Hitler was not as bad as people think he was. He was a very good dictator, he did everything he was allowed to by Chamberlain who STILL thought he could appease him after the war started and there is no evidence he had anything to do with the Final Solution (he obviously did, but that's very clever of him to make sure there was no evidence of it). Stalin was much more cruel as he killed off a lot of his own people. In fact, we (Polish people) preferred to have Germans in our country as the Soviets were acting just like animals, killing little children and raping Polish women. Also, had Mussolini been more of a gambler, he would have done the same thing as Hitler (not sure about the Holocaust, but in terms of Lebensraum). Also, anit-semitism was very wide-spread across Europe (also in England). Hitler was definitely f*cked up, but as a dictator, he was very successful.

In terms of Hitler going against Germans, I don't think that's true. He LOVED true Germans, he hated opposition. The SA, SS, and Gestapo were, however, a different story. "If only the Fuehrer knew" was a very popular saying at the time. Again, I'm sure Hitler accepted a lot of those things but there is no evidence.

I hate Hitler with a passion, but I try to look at it objectively.

[Danishgirl]

I hate Hitler with a passion, but I try to look at it objectively.

Ooh, me too. You're right that he was a successful dictator - he got what he wanted. The thing is, most Germans hate him too. I have no problem with people saying something bad about Hitler and all that, I mean it's well deserved. The thing I don't like is when people let their anger out on the Germans of today.

But as long as you know the historical stuff, and you know what Hitler actually did, it's okay to say that was bad. People just have to realise that Germany of today is nothing like that. Sadly, rather many people don't seem to know.

Just a little thing about Hitler that I find a bit strange. He loved blond hair and blue eyes - those people were the better people in his opinion. But Hitler himself was dark. Also, he didn't like the Jews for different reasons, they had treated him bad in his past. But actually, as far as I remember, his own grandfather or -mother was Jewish.

Anyway, the reason I don't support Germany this year is that, because I live here, I know how annoying they are at times like these. They make songs about how they are going to win this time (for the World Cup: "54, 74, 90, 2006", this time "Helden [heroes] 2008"). They are too self confident and they definitely act as if they've won it all long before it's even started. It just gets too much for me - and I hate with a passion when my classmates get to run around shouting "Finale, oh-oh! finale oh-oh-oh-oh!"

[Guest CancerForTheCure]

Hitler was very complex-ridden and he wanted Germany, and the Germans to be everything he was not - successful, good looking, better than "Untermenschen" etc. He wanted to expand Germany and the Aryan race but he himself was just supposed to be the "messenger", if you like. It was his task to do it, but not for himself, for the Volksgemeinschaft.

In terms of the German people, they haven't got much to do with it. Even those at the time, liked Hitler for economic reasons, but quite a lot of them opposed anti-semitism and they risked their lives during the boycott as well as later on. Most had to keep quite as opposition was not allowed.

From the psychological point of view, those who physically followed the Fuehrer's orders were simply obeying authority (at least some of them, some were just sadists). I would advice you to look at Milgram's experiment where the great majority of people gave very strong (fake, but they didn't know that) electric shocks, which would have killed the other participant, because they were told to do it by the experimenter.

[dstrkzn]

I watched the Switzerland - Czech Rep game, Libor Sionko is in my dream team thought he played alright Pity he was useless at ibrox. The game just showed switzerland have no chance and and the czech republic ha no chance of getting past the quarter finals.

Portugal 3-1 Turkey i reckon

[Emma]

We did the sweep at work today, and I really wanted Germany -- yet I ended up with Greece and Poland..looks like I lose.

[Geezer7348]

darn, my sister asked me to fill out a euro 2008 sweepy form for her for work and I got the first score right at 1-0 to the Czechs , wish I had placed a bet on that one, as for the Portugal V Turkey game I had them down to win 3-2 although my sister will still get a point as I had the right winners down.

[dstrkzn]

Yeh you lose emma :|

But on the otherhand not to promote gambling but Im got back £8.15 from bets on the matchday one At least with euros and world cups you know what to expect

Another day of correct predictions. Won a few pound on a double, and then another couple on Germanys win. I love it when its totally predictable.

[dstrkzn]

Typical the french are the first to make me lose a bet :|

[Emma]

I see Poland lost...

[Guest CancerForTheCure]

I see Poland lost...

shhhh!!! :*

I hoped no one would find out

Actually, a Polish player scored for the Germans so as long as it's the Poles scoring it's alright....

[Geezer7348]

quite surprised at Italy getting stuffed by the dutch, definately didnt have that down on my predictor :|

[Emma]

shhhh!!! :*

I hoped no one would find out

Haha sorry, are you Polish?

quite surprised at Italy getting stuffed by the dutch, definately didnt have that down on my predictor :|

Yeah me too. I was upstairs revising and I came down and was like: "2-0?!" What's gone wrong?

[Emma]

shhhh!!!

I hoped no one would find out

Actually, a Polish player scored for the Germans so as long as it's the Poles scoring it's alright....

Ach, reminds me of Liverpool so kindly scoring to let my beloved Chelsea through to the Champions League Final :

[Guest CancerForTheCure]

Ach, reminds me of Liverpool so kindly scoring to let my beloved Chelsea through to the Champions League Final

well it wasn't exactly like that he was on the German side He was born in Poland, but plays for Germany. He scored both goals and now he's gutted. He wants to do the same to Croatia and get both Germany and Poland into the quarter-finals. How cute is that

[Emma]

shhhh!!! :*

I hoped no one would find out

Actually, a Polish player scored for the Germans so as long as it's the Poles scoring it's alright....

well it wasn't exactly like that he was on the German side He was born in Poland, but plays for Germany. He scored both goals and now he's gutted. He wants to do the same to Croatia and get both Germany and Poland into the quarter-finals. How cute is that

Aww, I see! And yeah that is sweet! I missed that match (n)

[Guest CancerForTheCure]

Aww, I see! And yeah that is sweet! I missed that match (n)

To be honest I didn't watch it either :oops: I have a good excuse though!!! And I knew we'd lose anyway.

[DC]

holland were incredible, van nistelrooy still doing this well into his 30's as well.

[dstrkzn]

Both results yesterday stunned me. It makes me think France have no chance if they cant get past Romania how are the going to pick up enough points against Holland and Italy? I was expecting an Italy 1-0 but that was shocker, Van Bronkhorst Scored

[Guest CancerForTheCure]

Haha sorry, are you Polish?

Oh sorry, I missed that! Yes I'm Polish

[Danishgirl]

Aww, I see! And yeah that is sweet! I missed that match (n)

I didn't exactly miss it, but I didn't watch it either. Our neighbour was watching it, though, and I could hear his comments through the open window. "Argh!" and "Poldi schon wieder!" (Poldi is short for Podolski, That's Lukas Podolski the Polish guy who made a goal for Germany).

I'm gutted Germany won.

[dstrkzn]

Spain/Sweden Double - £4 that makes up for yesterday :|

[dstrkzn]

Spain Russia More money won.

Holland are amazing.

[Guest]

Am I wrong to find Cesc Fabregas attractive? His amazing ball skills have a tendency to make me whimper...

[dstrkzn]

Your Definetly not wrong. I was about to start a list but er