One of the sports I do is gymnastics. The other day, the head of our squad told us he had written a letter to the parent company brewing the beer (Berliner Kindl) we always drink in the locker room after practice, Radeberger Gruppe. He had attached the receipts from the last 35 crates of their beer we had been consuming over the past few months and asked them, if they wanted to sponsor us. After all, he had written, we are proud to have several National Champions in the over 30 age brackets.

Radeberger Gruppe replied that they had been considering our submission carefully, yet, because of the large number of such submissions they get, they always have to be very selective in which of these submissions would be considered. Unfortunately, it was not possible to consider our submission. They emphasiszed that the decision was in no way to be taken as a criticism on the quality of our particular performance. As a token of appreciation of our interest in the products of the Radeberger Gruppe, they enclosed coupons for two crates of Berliner Kindl!

If all my rejections came with two crates of brew, I'd be such a happy scientist!