Oktoberfest in Munich Projected to Break Beer-Consumption Records--Step it Up, America!

The Oktoberfest granddaddy of them all started last week in Munich, and the awesome Der Spiegel newspaper is happy and sad.

Happy: More visitors who are drinking more beer, and buying more of the iconic Mass glasses, one-liter steins of fun.

Sad: The rise of--and who says you can't learn anything from reading our infernal rag--something called Bierleichen or "beer corpses."

It's a term referring to "people who have drunk themselves into a state of unconsciousness," as Der Spiegel helpfully notes. Skoal!

This record-breaking consumption has happened despite the Oktoberfest grounds being smaller this year than last.

Other great stats:

-60 oxen and 26 calves consumed
-Fried chicken sales up five percent.
-Lost children reported to authorities: 93 from 56 last year.
-25 people arrested for shucking the Mass glass or using them as a weapon during a fight.

And the best one, of course, is the 63,000 empty beer glasses "that visitors had tried to smuggle out of the tents as free souvenirs."

Oktoberfest festivities are just starting in the United States--step it up, Old World Village. Go for it, Phoenix Club!