Last Call!
This is the final call to sponsor Campionatul Mondial de Bere - Romania 2006. Please check the proposed beer groupings for the upcoming contests. If your favorite beer has an asterisk, that means it is in danger of not being included. Imagine the horror of thousands upon thousands of people reading about some other beer, instead of yours. Surely, you can see the gravity.
Beer Groups will play their matches during the hot month of June, with winners advancing to the final playoffs in a bracket series battled out during the sweltering month of July.
How to Sponsor a Team
- Blow a couple euro. Pocket change, y’all.
- Some of the beers are not here in Brasov, so send me one. At the very least, 2 bottles of the missing beer.
- 3 or 4 bottles if you expect your beer might make it into the Mondial Bere playoff tournament.
- 6, if you think the beer can go all the way to the championship round.
- Definitely only one bottle, if you’re sending skunk beer to make the referree hurl.
- Courier, Poşta Romana, Okazii, Microbus, Train.
- Contact the Sponsorship Director today!
Why You Want To
- Internet blogging community. Hello?! ‘Nuff said.
- You’ll get a swell thank you email from me. Awww.
- Romerican will advertise your site (company, blog, charity) to tens of thousands of people. Ding, ding, ding!
- If desired, I’ll autograph your bottle and send it back. Oooo, teh h0tness!
- 72 virgins. Yiff.
- New: If you’re a regular reader, I’ll trade you some beer from around here that you can’t get in your town. Gulp.
When It’s Too Late
- Your irrevocable, pinkyswear confirmation must be on our desk by the morning of Monday, 5 Jun 2006. That is the day we are set to release the official, final schedule for all beer groups.
- We’ll do our best to accommodate the slowness of your donkey cart, but the team really must arrive no later than 12 June 2006 or they will be automatically disqualified from the competition and be forced to hang out with sweaty fans instead.
Where
- Once the final beer groupings have been set, the calendar for the June games will be published. Currently, the organizing committee is pretty darn sure that most of the duels will go mano-a-mano in a Braşov venue. However, venues will confirmed on a rolling weekly basis in order to accommodate any changes in location.
- Meanwhile, the final calendar for the July playoffs will be released later in the month of June. Current speculation between oddsmakers at various pubs indicate there may very well be events in Alba Iulia, Braşov, Bucureşti, Cluj, Targu Mureş and/or Oriunde.
Don’t delay! You won’t get another chance for an entire year.
Update: 1 Jun
June 1st, 2006 at 10:18 am
I’d like to join but, I’m strickly forbidden to send alcolhol via mail. There is a rather nice tasting beer here made from a fruit. Other than that, there is no other beer here.
Sounds like great fun, though!
John
June 1st, 2006 at 10:44 am
Thanks, John. You’ll have to keep in touch as this thing progresses. One can never be quite sure if or when it might take a friendly exhibition game across the Balkans. I wonder if you know a local friend who doesn’t have restrictions on sending beer? If not, at least let us know what that beer is.. I’m interested in searching for more info on it.
June 1st, 2006 at 12:50 pm
ulte niste adrese
office@bere-alutus.ro
office@bdg.ro
office@beresm.ro
contact@brauunion.ro
office@martens.ro
irina.iliescu@interbrew.ro
ursus@ursus.ro
marketing@beretreistejari.ro
June 1st, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Heh. Let’s not forget the beers from SC European Food SA! marketing@europeandrinks.ro
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:27 am
I value your comments and insights highly, but I had to double check this one.
I asked a Romanian friend:
Is the following pronunciation statement really true: “Sarmalele is the
articulated plural form of sarmale, yet they are pronounced the same way.”?
He responded:
no! first, both sarmale and sarmalele are plural forms. indeed the only
diference is that sarmalele is articulated with the enclitic definite article
“-le”. as the romanian language is phonetic, it is virtually imposible for two
words that are spelled differently to be pronounced the same way. therefore sarmalele has a syllable more than sarmale.
Cheers, and don’t eat too many sarmale!
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:04 am
Thanks, Iefty. Ask your friend how to pronounce the name of the band “Sarmalele Reci” and he will never say “sarma-lay-lay” …but will always say “sarma-lay” even if it is supposed to be sarmalele. I guarantee it.
This one bothered me for two years, because I would say “Sarmalele Reci” …only to get strange faces from the native Romanians asking me, “Who? What did you say?” and whenever I pronounce it without the (extra) “le” then they understand me because I’m saying it just like they do.
No one has ever explained this to my satisfaction. In fact, they usually fumble for any kind of answer while contemplating their navel. (Once upon a time, I wore yoo-dub purple like yourself. I could have asked at red square, but I didn’t care/know about such things back then.) Ask your friend about the band… and stayed tuned to the mother of all beerathons!
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:34 am
Shocking! -ro27j8no
June 4th, 2006 at 8:29 am
ROmerican, I beg to difer. We are a nation that doesn’t use extra letter unless we plan to use them. So yes, it doesn come out as sarma-lay-lay. The puzzled looks are further proof that sometimes we tack on too many thinkg to the end of a word.
June 4th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Well, now, how I can argue with you? I know you know your own language as well as anyone possibly could. Which puts me in a corner.
All I can say is that I’ve enjoyed Sarmalele Reci for 2 years… and every time I pronounce the name Sarma-LAY-lay, then every Romanian I’ve ever known as a passing acquaintence, long term friend, or otherwise significantly been involved with has always gotten very confused to the point of not understanding what I was talking about. Only when pronounced as SarMA-lay, did they stop laughing at my (continuously) ridiculous attempts to massacre the language.
I asked a couple folks today and they said you should be right, but you’re wrong. So, what kind of hornet’s next I have stirred up? It’s not a regional thing, is it? Some strange thing that only has to do with this band? I don’t get it. And it’s been two years.
Just when I thought I was sure I finally got it, you come along and knock over my canoe. You can bet I’ll become obsessed with this again, asking everyone I know all over from the start…
June 22nd, 2006 at 7:21 pm
SINGULAR
—
sarma - unarticulated
o sarma - articulated (undefinite article)
sarmaua - articulated (definite article)
PLURAL
—
sarmale - unarticulated
niste sarmale - articulated (undefinite article)
sarmalele - articulated (definite article)
—
r++
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:55 pm
da, da…. but pronunciation!!
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:56 pm
And, by that, I mean the band… bah! Bah! You can tell me about it next time.
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:57 pm
[...] The very first person to respond to my cry for help was a silently lurking reader stationed in Targu Mureş, through no fault of his own. He had promised to ship a quantity of regional swill to this guinea pig in good time. A quick back and forth of electronic mail revealed he was much wittier than your average bear. [...]