World Cup Baby Boom

There is really no better way to say it: nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel. Germany's former national coach Sepp Herberger used this succinct phrase -- which, literally, means "after the game is before the game" -- to describe his forward-looking soccer doctrine: As soon as one match is over, it's time to concentrate on the next one.

This assertive and forceful phrase has long entered German national consciousness as a token phrase of optimism and defiance. The Germans have taught themselves that no athletic defeat -- no matter how humiliating and depressing -- can be so crushing that one shouldn't move on. That's what sports are all about: cherishing hope that after all the pain and sweat, fractured bones and lost opportunities, a time of glory will come. One day. Maybe.

Last summer, during the World Cup, German soccer fans got to hear this phrase used and abused on almost every street corner. There is something about international sporting events that turns every average Joe into an expert. Everywhere you went, you could hear the same mantra of achievement and anticipation -- from the fathers impatiently picking up their kids from day care, from the pizza joint guys hooking up oversized plasma monitors for your viewing pleasure, or from all those fans meandering the streets of Berlin in pursuit of cheep beer. Germany was pushed into a state of constant, electrifying expectancy.

What's in a phrase?

People who use stock phrases, sayings and proverbs do not always understand them. In fact, it is quite possible that some German soccer fans -- especially those who believe in the magical connection between soccer and beer -- took this phrase to mean something else: nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Vorspiel, or "once the match is over, it's time for foreplay."

The German language -- normally an incredibly analytical tool for expressing profound thoughts on 'being-there-in-the-world' and existential angst -- is a little sloppy as far as sex and soccer are concerned. If you grow up using the same word -- Vorspiel -- to describe a curtain-raiser and foreplay, you are practically destined to think that the World Cup was nothing less that a preparation for an altogether different ball game.

So it happened. The Germans let loose. Eventually, they didn't win the World Cup, but they decided to bare it all anyway. And have fun like there was no tomorrow.

World Cup Baby Boom

Everybody did it in his or her own way. Within 90 minutes of the first match Germany played, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, went from being the queen of lifeless frowning to the people's princess of boundless jubilation.

The rest of the country, apparently, watched, cheered and then got busy in the sack.

"More births nine months after such an event are surprising only at first sight," said Rolf Kilche, who is a head of a large birth clinic in Kassel.

"The attitude to one's own body and the role of the hormones are often underestimated. If you're in a good mood, you are more likely to get pregnant."

The beginning of a healthy trend

These days birth training courses in Germany are getting overbooked. Some hospitals are even planning to offer additional courses in March and April.

"It's happening," said a representative from the Friedrichshain maternity clinic in Berlin. "We'll have a lot of work in the next few weeks."

Kilche is expecting a 10-15 percent increase in the number of births for the month of March.

"The excitement of the soccer games apparently lingered on and got chanelled elsewhere after the final whistle," Kilche said.

This may all be just a beginning. Earlier this month, the German national team beat Poland in the handball World Cup final in front of a home crowed, unleashing another wave of national euphoria, spiced by the best hormone-booster known to man: tournament victory. Guess what we can expect nine months down the line.