In this, the final episode of my Amsterdam adventure, I make a lot of Amsterdammer friends in the midst of a city delirious with the home team’s success.
After the crowd at our new favorite pub dispersed, we made our way to Dam Square. We had about an hour to kill before Katherine and Anita arrived. Of course, we set out in search of Ajax shirts for Will and me. We walked to a Foot Locker and asked if they had Ajax shirts. The store employee at the front, basically a bouncer, shook his head and pointed to Aktie Sport down the street. He clearly did not want drunk Ajax fans in his store.
In Aktie Sports, I saw the blue “change” jersey, but not the red and white shirts that the team had worn during the game and that eighty percent of the fans were wearing that day. We asked the helpful staff whether they had the home shirts. The young men said that Adidas had not yet released the home shirts for the following season, and that the prior season’s shirts were no longer on sale. (more…)
We still hadn’t determined the score of the game when Ajax scored a goal. The pub erupted. Everyone was high-fiving, tussling hair, hugging and jumping up and down. Will figured out that Ajax is leading 3-1. Based on the time the game started, we knew that it was nearing the end.
