America Beat Italy in Soccer Last Week

I have been eagerly awaiting my father-in-law's reaction to the news that the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team beat the Italian National Team last week.  He hasn't said a word about it to me.  


I asked my husband yesterday if he had spoken to his father about it at all.  My husband said his father had mentioned that the Italian papers were giving credit to the American keeper and that it should have been a tie.  What that says to me is that no one is questioning the U.S. goal in any way.  It also tells me that we have a world class goal keeper.  Huge.  
Keep up the good work, Mr. Klinsmann.  

Nonno Told on Me

Last Sunday evening, my father-in-law reprimanded me as harshly as he ever has, which is about as harsh as a loofah, because another parent coached my daughter's soccer team for me that day. My excuse was that my daughter couldn't play. The surgeon who repaired her two hernias the week before told us that she should sit out of sports for two weeks. 


With his normal friendly smile on his face, my father-in-law asked me, "What kind of coach are you? Your kid can't play and you don't show up?" 


I said, "Another father offered to coach knowing the situation with the surgery.... And (feeling suddenly super guilty).....  they're only six years old." 


My sister-in-law was laying on the couch next to us.  She said to me, "Why didn't you just lie to him?"


My parents are visiting from California this week for my daughter's birthday. At soccer this Sunday, my father-in-law told my Dad that I ditched my coaching responsibilities because my own child couldn't play, blatantly telling on me. 

The Voyage: Go Jump In the River!

Each professional soccer team in Italy has a dedicated souvenir shop somewhere within its home city. For a true fan, known as a tifoso, the store is the happiest place on earth, second only to the team's home stadium. For my father-in-law, back in Rome for the first time in 20 years, and quite possibly the last time in his life, his pilgrimage to his team's store was of the utmost importance. 


A policeman directed him to follow the river out of the city until he finds a staircase that leads to the river. My father-in-law found out later that he had been steps away from the store. His own cousin had set him up. The policeman was the president of the fan club for the rival team.

Nonno's Soccer Practice

On the first nice evening of the year, glorious things happened in the little side yard on the corner of the Compound. Nonno's moves are not to be missed.  

Football's Next Star: A Critique

A commercial for a new reality show on Fox Soccer Channel caught my attention while I was watching Italian soccer on Sunday with my father-in-law. The show is called "Football's Next Star." Leave it to the British to attempt to apply Reality TV to soccer. I was thrilled and made a point to watch. 


The show brought a bunch of young British footballers to Italy to battle for a spot on the prestigious Italian professional team Inter Milan. Before the first episode was over, it was obvious that the young brits were going to fail to appreciate or assimilate into Italian culture. Poorly designed reality TV. 

Football's Next Star: A New Reality TV Show

My father-in-law is obsessed with soccer. I am too, but not even close to the same level. I can't compete. His home town team is in the highest division of professional soccer in Italy, the Serie A. My home town team belongs to the MLS, the lowest form of professional soccer on the planet, and wasn't even created until after I left that home town for college. Almost everyone he knows plays and/or loves soccer. I ended up a soccer player because I was a girl and couldn't play football.


I asked my father-in-law a couple of questions on Sunday as we were watching a great match between two of the best teams in Italy's Serie A, Roma vs. Juventus. I wanted to learn more about Italian soccer. He said after today there are six games left in their 36 game season. The top six teams each season get to play for the European Championship. The game we were watching was an important matchup because Roma is in sixth place and Juventus is in seventh place. 


At halftime of the soccer game, I saw the commercial for the new reality TV show called, "Football's Next Star". I had seen this commercial once before. I was encouraged by the fact that the show does say "football" and not "soccer" and it appears to be filmed in England.  We'll see.