BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG, Germany -- I'm writing this week's column while speeding through the Baden-Württemberg countryside on the Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national railway network. Green leaves are filling up the trees and there are discernible signs of spring blossom wherever you look.
This is my favorite time in the German football season. Der Endspurt (the final sprint to the line) played out in better weather amid delightfully long days is what we all yearn for in the dark days of winter.
Bayern Munich against Borussia Dortmund -- der Klassiker, as it has come to be known -- tends to be a April feature in Munich on the Bundesliga calendar (Saturday, coverage begins at 11:30 a.