WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : MARRIED . . . WITH SOCCER

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

June 27, 1994 12 AM PT

Were those naked Germans in the water fountain? Almost.

After a recent game in Chicago, an American fan reported seeing many male German soccer fans, stripped to their underwear, splashing about in the Buckingham Fountain.

Another group of Germans took pictures.

The Chicago Tribune broke the story in its Sunday editions.

Apparently, the fountain is a big hit in Germany because it is used in the opening credits of the popular television show “Married . . . with Children.”

The show is popular in Germany.

Chicago cops soon dispersed the Germans who, rumor has it, might have tipped a few beer steins before their wading game.

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Chris Dufresne was the Los Angeles Times’ national college football/basketball columnist from 1995 to 2015. He also covered skiing at the Winter Olympics and wrote extensively on most sports. He is a multiple national award winner and was named 2011 California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. A Los Angeles native, he started at The Times in 1976 as a truck loader and literally worked his way up (two floors to be exact).

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