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January 28, 2004
SURREAL: Panthers' punter gets German lesson
By Joe Menzer | JOURNAL REPORTER
HOUSTON
Punter Todd Sauerbrun of the Carolina Panthers had just settled in for Super Bowl Media Day at Reliant Stadium when a reporter asked him to describe the craziest event he had witnessed on the day.
Sauerbrun said nothing had happened yet that he considered out of the ordinary.
"I just got here. This is great. I love it. I'm just enjoying the hell out of this," Sauerbrun said as he looked around at the media horde.
Just then, a crew from a German television station arrived on the scene and, thrusting a microphone in Sauerbrun's face, rudely interrupted. A television reporter in thick German accent and Sauerbrun then engaged in the following conversation:
German reporter: "Do you know what your name means?"
Sauerbrun: "No. Why don't you tell me?"
"Sour water."
"Sour water? Really. That's interesting. I never knew that."
"So where are you from?"
"I'm from New York; Long Island."
"You ever play soccer?"
"All my life. I never played football until high school."
"Very good. Can you do us a favor and tell our German fans that this ball is different from a soccer ball?"
"Why, they can't see that?"
"They don't know that yet..."
"Football is not round. It's oblong."
"You need to say it in German. You need to say, 'Dare bal ist nickt roond.'
To make sure Sauerbrun didn't miss the point, the cameraman held up a hand-printed sheet of paper with the sentence spelled out in German.
"Dare bal ist nickt roond? OK, there I said it."
"OK, thank you very much."
"Now I speak German. That was very interesting. Now I'm fluent in German."
And now he knew that nothing remains ordinary for very long on Super Bowl Media Day.
• Joe Menzer can be reached at jmenzer@wsjournal.com