A rare real life post! Also, Team Teamgeist.
So, for those of you who care, let me tell you a bit about my love life.
A (my fiance) and I met our freshman year during orientation week. We were dating within the next month or so, went totally crazy for each other, and basically acted married our entire college career. (In one memorable horrible incident, he lost the vote to lead the local Nerd Society because members were worried I would overly influence his decisions, which was horribly untrue, but ah well...) Both of us were decent students and ended up joining an undergraduate research grant group in biomathematics (he's a biologist). I sucked at the research thing, but he completely rocked at it, so I quit after the first semester while he stuck with it through graduation.
So when senior year came around, we went applying to schools and jobs like everyone else. A wants to do the classic academia route, so he decided to try applying directly to doctoral programs. I suggested applying to programs in the NY area because it's where I was from. He got into a program (and even got full tuition and a small TA stipend!) I was not so lucky in my hunt, and so finally (and belatedly) decided to stay in the same school for my Master's. This of course means that A and I will be long distance at LEAST for the first year (I may transfer back to NY if my grades are good enough).
A decided to visit this week to see me one last time, and left earlier today. It's...been hard. Empty-feeling. A little depressing. I've been listening to music for much of today; I also went to church (which isn't too rare for me) and both things have helped quite a bit.
***
In COMPLETELY UNRELATED news, have a football rant.
Notes about me before I start: I led a couple of student organizations in my high school and undergraduate days, as well as was heavily involved in the local Nerd Society (I was fairly close to being in a 'council of elders' situation, much like the one in die Mannschaft consisting of Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Mertesacker, and Friedrich.) All of this means I'd like to think I know what it takes to lead a group of similarly-minded peers, though of course the expectations are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT for professional footballers. I paid a little attention to WC06 and a pile of attention to WC10, but my knowledge of things like Slapgate is secondhand.
My concern is not for who wears the armband, but the future of the team in general. We need a leader who is capable of bringing out the best potential in our generally young and amazing team. We've shown we have the talent it takes to finally, finally win and won over a lot of hearts. Any player who can keep the team united and ensure we do the best we can is a player that I will approve of. For all I know, someone else entirely (another member of the council of elders, perhaps?) could have what it takes.
Now, let's analyze the options we have: Lahm, Herr Schweinsteiger, and Ballack. To warn you, I do love Lahm the most as a footballer and a person (we have too much in common), but I am trying my best to be fair.
From what I can tell, Lahm's entire leadership style can be summed up in one word: delegation. Lahm knows he's not capable of everything, and trusts his teammates to take up responsibilities if need be. He also knows he's a defender (and one on the wings, at that), far from the center of play. I see Lahm as being a captain who does most of his work off the pitch and thus out of the public eye: ensuring everyone knows their place in the tactical situations Jogi has laid out, giving constructive input during training and tactics sessions, and ensuring everyone knows what to do - BUT letting them do it themselves with little push from his part as things actually unfold. I also see him knowing that Schweinsteiger is in a GREAT position to make plays and generally be 'the boss' if the situation requires, so he left on-pitch things to his vice captain. I kind of like this setup, and I don't think it detracts from Lahm being a captain at all - it's just a very unusual style for football.
That being said, Schweinsteiger has REALLY done a great job as the on-pitch boss. He's becoming less and less impulsive and hotheaded, and he is an amazing playmaker. If he can take on the off-pitch responsibilities as well, I think he'd make a lovely captain in the future. I think he'd be a little more pushy than Lahm, just because of his personality, but that may or may not be a bad thing (maybe someone needed to tell the team "get some balls and just push alerady!!" in the Spain game?)
Ballack's style I know the least of all of them, unfortunately. We have seen that he has a bit of a temper and has the worst agent EVER (we need to throw Becker off a cliff), but we also know that he is an INCREDIBLE footballer who lost the chance to play what may have been the best WC of his life on a stupid injury, which is horribly unfortunate. Again, I'll bring up that more aggressiveness than Lahm may have been a good thing for us; I'll also say that Ballack would be the one player who wouldn't be intimidated playing against "star teams" like Spain after his years at Chelsea, a unique experience no other current Mannschafter can bring. The problem is that there is just no way to know how Ballack will act with the current squad until they start playing together again.
I would not eliminate ANY of them as "useless" or "out of place", and I would seriously consider ALL of them for the captaincy. Honestly, as long as the future wearer of the armband remembers that it's the name on the front of the jersey that counts, I will be happy.
A (my fiance) and I met our freshman year during orientation week. We were dating within the next month or so, went totally crazy for each other, and basically acted married our entire college career. (In one memorable horrible incident, he lost the vote to lead the local Nerd Society because members were worried I would overly influence his decisions, which was horribly untrue, but ah well...) Both of us were decent students and ended up joining an undergraduate research grant group in biomathematics (he's a biologist). I sucked at the research thing, but he completely rocked at it, so I quit after the first semester while he stuck with it through graduation.
So when senior year came around, we went applying to schools and jobs like everyone else. A wants to do the classic academia route, so he decided to try applying directly to doctoral programs. I suggested applying to programs in the NY area because it's where I was from. He got into a program (and even got full tuition and a small TA stipend!) I was not so lucky in my hunt, and so finally (and belatedly) decided to stay in the same school for my Master's. This of course means that A and I will be long distance at LEAST for the first year (I may transfer back to NY if my grades are good enough).
A decided to visit this week to see me one last time, and left earlier today. It's...been hard. Empty-feeling. A little depressing. I've been listening to music for much of today; I also went to church (which isn't too rare for me) and both things have helped quite a bit.
***
In COMPLETELY UNRELATED news, have a football rant.
Notes about me before I start: I led a couple of student organizations in my high school and undergraduate days, as well as was heavily involved in the local Nerd Society (I was fairly close to being in a 'council of elders' situation, much like the one in die Mannschaft consisting of Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Mertesacker, and Friedrich.) All of this means I'd like to think I know what it takes to lead a group of similarly-minded peers, though of course the expectations are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT for professional footballers. I paid a little attention to WC06 and a pile of attention to WC10, but my knowledge of things like Slapgate is secondhand.
My concern is not for who wears the armband, but the future of the team in general. We need a leader who is capable of bringing out the best potential in our generally young and amazing team. We've shown we have the talent it takes to finally, finally win and won over a lot of hearts. Any player who can keep the team united and ensure we do the best we can is a player that I will approve of. For all I know, someone else entirely (another member of the council of elders, perhaps?) could have what it takes.
Now, let's analyze the options we have: Lahm, Herr Schweinsteiger, and Ballack. To warn you, I do love Lahm the most as a footballer and a person (we have too much in common), but I am trying my best to be fair.
From what I can tell, Lahm's entire leadership style can be summed up in one word: delegation. Lahm knows he's not capable of everything, and trusts his teammates to take up responsibilities if need be. He also knows he's a defender (and one on the wings, at that), far from the center of play. I see Lahm as being a captain who does most of his work off the pitch and thus out of the public eye: ensuring everyone knows their place in the tactical situations Jogi has laid out, giving constructive input during training and tactics sessions, and ensuring everyone knows what to do - BUT letting them do it themselves with little push from his part as things actually unfold. I also see him knowing that Schweinsteiger is in a GREAT position to make plays and generally be 'the boss' if the situation requires, so he left on-pitch things to his vice captain. I kind of like this setup, and I don't think it detracts from Lahm being a captain at all - it's just a very unusual style for football.
That being said, Schweinsteiger has REALLY done a great job as the on-pitch boss. He's becoming less and less impulsive and hotheaded, and he is an amazing playmaker. If he can take on the off-pitch responsibilities as well, I think he'd make a lovely captain in the future. I think he'd be a little more pushy than Lahm, just because of his personality, but that may or may not be a bad thing (maybe someone needed to tell the team "get some balls and just push alerady!!" in the Spain game?)
Ballack's style I know the least of all of them, unfortunately. We have seen that he has a bit of a temper and has the worst agent EVER (we need to throw Becker off a cliff), but we also know that he is an INCREDIBLE footballer who lost the chance to play what may have been the best WC of his life on a stupid injury, which is horribly unfortunate. Again, I'll bring up that more aggressiveness than Lahm may have been a good thing for us; I'll also say that Ballack would be the one player who wouldn't be intimidated playing against "star teams" like Spain after his years at Chelsea, a unique experience no other current Mannschafter can bring. The problem is that there is just no way to know how Ballack will act with the current squad until they start playing together again.
I would not eliminate ANY of them as "useless" or "out of place", and I would seriously consider ALL of them for the captaincy. Honestly, as long as the future wearer of the armband remembers that it's the name on the front of the jersey that counts, I will be happy.