The dancin' cheeseburger welcomes the newcomer
- Jun 22
- 2 min read
The world and Texas have now spent a few weeks getting to know each other. For instance, the Dutch have introduced themselves in the form of one of the most rockin' buses you'll see on the highway.
In turn, we've introduced the the Dutch to dancin' cheeseburgers and helped them calculate just how good the good times should feel.
Visitors from the Netherlands say they've also learned they have a much longer commute. The Dutch Orange Bus was shipped across the Atlantic to Galveston and then driven to DFW for their match here.
The bus then adjourned back down to Houston for their next match... where Texas heat won the battle. One of the operators of the bus says she really did learn everything's bigger in Texas, explaining she learned the drive from DFW is longer than the Netherlands is wide.
You can hear in the podcast (also available on Spotify!), the mayor of Arlington saying Japan vs Netherlands was also his first World Cup experience.
The Dutch let Japanese fans ride on the bus, and fans from Japan brought their own trash bags so they could clean up the stadium after the match.
Arlington Police sent numbers of arrests after that first match: one person was arrested for trespassing, another for public drunkenness and the third arrest was for counterfeiting. They specified each of those arrests were actually people from Texas.
But these matches haven't been entirely free of controversy. When Team Czechia was training in Mansfield, fans who made the trip said we brew good beer, but the kolache we serve is only "Czech-ish."
One fan explained poppy seed is really the only kolache that was close, and that was because "poppy seeds you can't really mess up."
Many would also still like to be called the Czech Republic.
But visitors say Texas has welcomed them. One fan from the Netherlands said they went to a country bar, and the band started singing western songs with Dutch lyrics.
I discussed this situation with Dirk Nowitzki the other night. He went to the Japan/Netherlands match and says that was his first World Cup experience. He didn't get to go because he was, you know, playing for the Dallas Mavericks at the time. And both the Mavs and Germany broke his heart.
The kolache is still delicious; so is our barbecue. Plus, Dirk explains even though Fort Worth and Dallas are only 30 miles apart, they'll give you completely different Texas experiences.
Comments