Echte Liebe: The Borussia Dortmund spirit

When people think of Borussia Dortmund, what do they think of? Well, certainly a lot of things. They probably think about our high octane offense, or maybe about how we lose all our players to Bayern. Some people will even think of Christian Pulisic or Marco Reus, but certainly, almost everyone will think of and admire their world-class fans.  Some have even gone as far to call them the greatest fans in the world. Their support stems solely from the club mantra and culture; Echte Liebe. This translates to ”real love’ in English, but only covers the surface of what the club is truly about.

I’ve been writing for BVB Buzz for over 2 years now and am extremely proud of how the site has grown and what we have done for uniting Dortmund fans across the globe, especially in America. I remember at the beginning of all this when the wheels just started growing and am truly amazed at how far we have come. Much of that really comes down to our followers continuing to support us and helping us grow, so I sincerely thank each and every one of you for that.

That being said, this post is going to be a bit different from the rest of my articles because it’s a lot more personal for me. Very recently, a close family member of mine, my uncle, passed away. It has been a rough time for my family dealing with it and thought the best way to make sense of all it would be to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard in this sense I guess. So here it is.

Sports have always been a huge part of my uncle’s life. Growing up in Massachusetts, becoming fully engulfed within Boston’s sports teams is just a part of living. This may seem like a pretty easy thing to do these days now that the city of Boston seems to be raising a banner every other month, but things weren’t always this way. As crazy as it seems, there actually was a time before Tom Brady and Bill Belichick created a monopoly over the NFL. And people forget that the Red Sox failed to win a single World Series for a whopping 86 years. During that time, Sox fans were forced to witness their arch-rivals, the New York Yankees, win 27 championships. This cementing their place as one of the most successful dynasties of all time. Imagine watching Schalke overtake Borussia Dortmund and go on to become the best team in the world. And then imagine that lasting for 90 years. Yikes, talk about a nightmare.

With everything going on, it led me to start thinking about the impact that supporting a sports team has on people and their relationships with other fans. I like to think that being a Dortmund fan is like riding a rollercoaster with a blindfold; there really is no way of telling what’s coming next. From looking down upon the rest of Europe 2013, to fighting relegation with Klopp in 2015. We then had to watch the brilliant yet psychotic Thomas Tuchel do his best to self-destruct the club in 2016. Which brings us to the present and ultimately watching Favre orchestrate a masterclass against one of the best defenses of our generation in Atletico Madrid, putting four goals past the Spanish giants in the Champions League during this exciting 2018 season. (We don’t need to talk about what both the dreadful Peters’ did to this team in 2017. Ever.) It’s been wild, but even through the hard times, my support for this club has only grown.

The reason my support continues to grow is the fact that this fan base has an undying belief in this team. It truly is world class. I remember exactly when I first became a Dortmund fan in 2013. I turned on a Champions League match to watch Cristiano Ronaldo play, only to be shocked to watch his team get blown out 4-1 by some German team named Borussia Dortmund. This team that I have never heard of had the craziest atmosphere in their stadium that I had ever seen, their manager was some goofy haired lunatic jumping up and down on the sidelines, and their style of play was breathtakingly fast.

I was transfixed from that moment on. I dived straight into the deep end and never looked back, even though the bad times. Shockingly enough, my love for the team grew even stronger when things weren’t going well. Particularly in 2015 when Dortmund was bottom in the Bundesliga mid-season, fighting relegation. Dortmund had officially hit rock bottom but there was still a bright light. The fans. As loud and proud as ever, doing whatever they could to help Dortmund win. The most memorable moment for me came when things had looked their darkest for Dortmund. Relegation seemed like a real possibility and nothing was getting better. I remember the camera panned to a large banner in the yellow wall that reiterated their undying support for the club and finished with the message, “and if you fall, we will fall with you.” I was blown away. Not because of the touching message, but because I knew that if Dortmund was to be relegated next year, that the banner spoke the truth, the stadium would be just as full and loud as it always has. It was then I knew that I was a part of a special fan base and began to realize how meaningful sports could be to people.

This brings me back to Boston and my family over there. My uncle really was a typical Boston sports fan. Very knowledgeable of the game and wasn’t ever afraid to voice his displeasure with his team. Whether that meant criticizing Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. for striking out for the millionth time in a row in the middle of the season, or voicing his frustration as he watched Tuukka Rask get torn apart by Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Whatever it was, it always came from a place of endearment and love. Because that’s just what the culture is there. It’s cutthroat, but that’s just because we really want the best for our teams and it’s the only way we know how to do it.

My first exposure to this culture was with the first sports team I ever fell in love with, the Boston Red Sox. In a way, the Red Sox are the heart and soul of Boston. The pre-game buzz surrounding Fenway Park is always electric and it seems like the streets surrounding the ballpark are filled with Sox fans for as far as the eye can see. My dad, who also grew up in Massachusetts, has shared a special bond over the Red Sox with my uncle. This led to me growing up becoming a huge fan. Not because I knew much about the team, but even at a young age I could tell that my family was apart of something special and I felt so lucky. I just knew this wasn’t your typical baseball team, there was something unique here.

When I first became a fan, the Sox were pretty much America’s underdogs. They hadn’t won a world series since 1918 and were constantly getting put in their place by the New York Yankees. I remember those early 2000’s, it seemed like every time we were with my family back in Boston we were complaining about how the Red Sox blew it again. A memory that will haunt me forever is the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees. It was Game 7 and it seemed like the Red Sox were finally going to beat the Yanks and make it to the World Series. However, as the Red Sox often did back then, they blew it. Aaron Boone, a former subpar third-basemen and current subpar manager, hit the walk-off home run in the 11th inning to win it for the Yankees, sending them on to face the Miami Marlins in the World Series. I was heartbroken. I could not believe my beloved Red Sox could cause me so much pain. A little dramatic, but I was fully invested in this team, just like the rest of my family was.

We ended up visiting my family in Boston later that week, and of course, we were all bummed out over what happened. In fact, the only joy we got was sitting around the family room and watching the Yankees lose to the Marlins in the World Series. I still remember being on the couch with my dad, my uncle, and others, experiencing pure joy just watching the Yankees lose. Looking back on it now, it’s crazy to think that another teams failure could bring so much joy to us. But that’s just what the Red Sox did to you. That’s just how much we cared.

And we cared all that much more next year when the Red Sox finally won the World Series. Once again, they had to get past the Yankees, doing it in dramatic fashion as always. They then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series in four straight games. The Boston Red Sox were World Series Champions for the first time in 86 years. It was one of the best days of my life. To this day this memory remains my favorite moment as a fan of any team. As it probably still is for Red Sox fans everywhere. My family was beside themselves, and they were constantly sending us whatever championship memorabilia they could get their hands on because they knew how much it meant to all of us.

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And I don’t think I know anybody who loved the Red Sox more than my uncle. He had been apart of the fanbase for so long that the team had become a part of him. I remember one time watching the game on TV and seeing my uncle seated in the seats behind the catcher. These seats were super expensive and this was only for a special occasion, but remember thinking to myself, “He can’t look more at home than he does now sitting in that seat.”

Just last week, the Red Sox were once again crowned World Series Champions. They cemented their place in history as one of the best baseball teams of all time, winning 108 games in the regular season, as well as going 11-3 in the playoffs. Oh, not to mention they steamrolled the Yankees in the process.

Unfortunately, real life doesn’t take any breaks for the World Series, and my uncle passed away before seeing the Red Sox win it all. But that doesn’t change anything. I like to think the Red Sox won this one for everyone who has been with them through thick and thin. Everyone whose heart sunk when Boone hit his home run in 2003. Everyone who watched this team underperform year in and year out. They won it for everyone who has been apart of forming the culture of this amazing fan base, just like my uncle was. A fan base that, like Dortmund’s, will forever keep that undying faith and support. Perhaps he didn’t get to watch the Red Sox win this one, but I like to think he was still sitting at that seat behind home plate at Fenway Park, with the perfect view of everything.

So what is Echte Liebe? It’s more than just a catchy club motto. It’s a way of uniting people from all over the world through a common love, sports. Because at the end of the day, sports matter, plain and simple. People form lifetime connections and memories over sports and that’s not something anyone can ever take away. I still remember like it was yesterday when Malcolm Butler got a goal-line interception in the dying minutes of the 4th quarter to win the Patriots their fourth super bowl. (Nice play call Pete Carroll.) In the purest form of joy, I jumped out of my seat, knocking my friend over next to me right on to the ground. But I didn’t care, I felt like I was on top of the world and in that moment of time, nothing else around me mattered. I didn’t have to worry about what happened yesterday or what tomorrow might bring, I was able to fully live in the moment. And those are the experiences you will always share with your fellow fans. Those special moments. Moments that last seconds in real time that live on forever through our memories with those we share it with. And that, when it’s all said and done, is truly what I think Echte Liebe is all about.