Campioni Del Mondo

This post was meant to be a little essay on science fiction and, specifically, the movie Alien. But as I sat down to write, the only words that kept coming to my mind were:

FORZA ITALIA!!!

And so it goes.

Warning: This will be a sports-themed post, so turn away all you anti sports people! :D

Forza Italia.

Forza.

I have been a fan of the Italian National Team for just about 12 years now. It started in 1994, which is just about the time I got interested again in the wonderful game of football. I joined the cult a little too late to catch the entirety of the 94 World Cup, but I somehow managed to catch the final game on a replay. IT wasn't a particularly memorable match between Brasil and Italy, but I was engrossed right away. Even back then, I could see that the BRasilians were more gifted technically and the Italians better defensively. But what caught my attention was one player in particular:

Roberto Baggio.

This tiny man with a tiny pony tail ran himself ragged over the enitre pitch... while injured, I must add. When he stepped up to take the final penalty, you could see in his eyes that he had nothing left. But he tried. He tried so hard. He was the talisman of his team, their unofficial leader. And when he blasted his kick over the bar and handed the trophy to Brasil, the anguish on his face was torture to watch.

This man had passion.

I would see that look again and again so many times on so many players, but Roberto Baggio's was the first one I saw. In that one moment, I became an Azzurri (which means "blues" in Italian) fan and I followed their fortunes religiously from that point on.

As the likes of Roberto Baggio and Roberto Donadoni and Franco Baresi faded, new Italian heroes came rising into power. Paolo Maldini. Francesco Toldo. Dino Baggio. Christian Vieri. Powerful players with powerful passions. And while my friends all looked to the brasilians and french for inspiration, I stubbornly stuck with my Italian Infection.

I began to look at the club sides, narrowing my preference to two traditional powerhouses: Juventus and AC Milan. Over the years I would fluctuate between preferring one over the other, my choice always resting on one telling factor: Who had the better Italians?

In club football, you can have an entire English club made up of Frenchmen, or an entire Italian club made up of Brazilians. I still had loyalty to the Azzurri, and so I tried to stick with the club which had the best of them.

For a time, that was AC Milan. Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Roberto Baggio, and Roberto Donadoni all called Milan home in the mid 90's. And so, for a while, I was a Milan fan.

And then, someone decided to flood the Milan team with Brazilians. So I looked to Juventus.

Ravanelli. Perruzzi. Inzaghi. Vieri. Vialli. This was a Juventus team full of Italian might. But there was one player in particular whom I focused my idolatry.

Alessandro Del Piero.

In each "little generation" of the Azzurri, there was alwasy one player I liked more than any other. In the aftermath of the 94 World Cup, it was Roberto Baggio. After that, it was Paolo MAldini. But after the Euro 2000 Finals, when MAldini retired, I focused entirely on the man who would be my main football hero for many, many years.

The Juventus number 10 is a master of his art. You can take your Romario's and Rivaldo's and Ronaldo's. Me, I'll pick Del Piero first and foremost.

And so it went. 1998 saw my allegiances lie fully with Juventus, so much so that when I look back at my Jersey collection, I have about 5 Juve jerseys to my 2 Milan jerseys. My commitment to the bianconeri was got re-affirmed when the signed Gianluigi Buffon, my favorite goal keeper. As their fortunes rose and fell, I stuck with them.

My allegiance shifted very slightly back to Milan for a little while due to the ascendance of yet another Italian hero in their ranks in 2003: Andrea Pirlo. Pirlo is, in my opinion, the best midfielder on the planet. Sure, Ronaldinho is more skilled, but Pirlo does more than the Brazilian wzard. He defends!

So recently, I am ashamed to admit, my Azzurri heart is divided in two. On one side is the Black and White Juventus heart, supporting Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, and Alessandro Del Piero. On the other, the Rossoneri side, I'm supporting Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Andrea Pirlo, and Genarro Gattusso.

It felt wrong having two allegiances, but for one month of 2006, those allegiances wouldn't matter so much anymore.

For one month, the red and black of Milan met the Black and White of Juventus...

For one month, the color of my blood ran blue.

To be continued.