Chronicles of a 2007/09 Season Ticket Holder

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

Yeah, it seemed strange to me that Blasi hadn't scored a goal yet...God knows he could have a good 3-4 goals already with Napoli this year.

Similarly, I'm never necessarily homesick or appreciative of Naples until you get the stadium experience in there. Then, Naples is the only place on Earth that exists to me. Based on your reaction, I would have to say that the thread perfectly transmits my state of mind to those who read it...

Gotta be honest. The loss at Palermo has cooled my sympathies for the club just a little bit...not to be a poor sport, but it was a loss that left me - or rather, us - with a bad taste in the mouth, so let me think about it just a little bit.

Absolutely, positively going to the Torino game. It's gonna take a concerted effort by a number of public authorities to ever keep me away from the San Paolo for any reason. Let me know if you will be there.

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

Feel a tremendous nostalgia in my heart.

The nostalgia of the feeling of driving home from Armando's house after the game. Especially a game which we won. The feeling of embarking on that series of wierd overpasses which take me from Via Epomeo all the way to the Tangenziale en route back to Pozzuoli, where I live. The high of the win, and finding some sort of post-game commentary on the radio and hearing Marino's voice praising the team after the win, thinking "******** yeah, after all those years of our Dark Ages, finally a management that has a clue as to how to give us the team we deserve."

It's a solitary drive, but never once did I feel an ounce of loneliness along the way. Never mind that it's a dark drive in winter. With the game ending around 5pm, it may as well be the Sunday night game as far as the Sun is concerned. And the thrill of ending up going the opposite way of the flow of the post-game stadium traffic gives me a joy in an immature, silly way. Like I just figured something out that is making my life so much easier than everyone else's, from being so clever. Which is quintessential Naples. That, my friends, is the Neapolitan dream.

Thank you to the entire staff of Societa' Sportiva Calcio Napoli for allowing me to live a dream.

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

"Imagine the bad luck of having the Sunday night game played here on the coldest night of the year!"

That's just about the best candidate for Quote of the Week. Walking towards the San Paolo last night, I really felt that the wind was going to pick me up and perhaps not carry me away, but at least throw me underneath some dude's car and that would be the end of me. Randy Grice. Born in Pozzuoli 25 October 1974. Died in Naples 9 December 2007. How did he die? Well, let me tell ya. He was walking towards the San Paolo before a game when a gust of wind rolled in and threw him underneath a 1983 Fiat Panda with no rear fender.

But the weather kept a few people away from the stadium. Donatella who had bronchitis. Last we heard she was at home watching some NBA game on TV 20 minutes before kickoff. And Franceschiello who rolled in without his kids immediately before kickoff.

There were just enough desertions in the Tribuna Nisida to allow Annalisa and I to sit with the group in rows 18/19 instead of having to make the trek up to row 24 where we normally sit. The desertions started adding up before we even made it out of Armando's house. His son Attilio was "in company" and didn't want to go. So lethargic were the fans in making their way to the San Paolo that those of us riding in Armando's car (Armando himself, Anna, Attilio's friend Sergio, and myself) were the first of our group to arrive in the Tribuna. And it wasn't until shortly before kickoff that the others started arriving, starting with Fabio. Even Annalisa arrived in the dying minutes before the game, panting.

"What, did you just get done doing the pregame warmup?" I teased her.

After learning to let go of several superstitious rituals last time around, other taboos were soon to follow them on the way out. Annalisa and I agreed to stick around with the main group with no particular care or concern for the potential (superstitious) ramifications of such a decision. Maybe it was just a little bit of apathy left over from the Catania game, too. And we're all just a little worn out from the holidays. Who knows.

Right before kickoff, a few dudes were crawling all around the Tribuna handing out these starlights to all of us sitting in certain rows, in order to eventually form a big vertical stripe along the entire height of the stadium in that section. Well of course mine wouldn't light up...but got it going eventually.



Another choreography saw a large number of blue and white balloons being released. Of course, on a windy night like last night, the balloons were bound to end up all over the field. Here are some Parma players trying to clean up the mess.

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

One thing about sitting with the group during a game: Fabio never shuts the ******** up and talks continuously over the course of the entire game. You know how it sucks when you watch a sporting event live where you don't get to enjoy any colorful commentary? Well, with Fabio that's something you don't have to worry about, and frankly he is far better than any TV commentator could ever hope to be. Comments on how good Parma is, on how much Reja is worthless, what a nice pass that was, these guys are gonna beat our asses, look how organized they are, Reja is ********ing up, I can't believe he hasn't made a change yet, how can you play with three central defenders against a team that attacks with two strikers on the wings (Atalanta)? You start off defeated like that. Cupi is awesome. He is our best defender. Look at that, he just saved us again. And he wasn't supposed to play anymore before he signed for us. Guys, Napoli is gonna get beat down in Milan. We always lose after the holidays, and we'll be playing in San Siro and Pato is supposed to finally play his first game. Guys, bet good money. We're going down. It's a sure thing.

I used to tease Fabio cos he never got a single prediction right. Won't go into the details, but if his track record remains unchanged, you can count on a big Napoli win in San Siro in January. Bet good money on that.

Well, by now you have all seen the goal, so not much to say about it except that it was so amazing that seeing it live once without the benefit of instant replay was ok. Somehow seeing the replays today kinda ruined it for me. It was a perfect moment in time best left unrecorded...

On a side note, it's worth pointing out that shortly after the goal, a fact became obvious to me: Zalayeta is second behind only Trezeguet in terms of goals scored in Serie A if you don't count penalty kicks.

Wow.

"Zalayeta has almost scored more goals this year then in all those years with Juve! How many goals did he score, 9?"

Dunno the exact figure, but Fabio may have been on to something.

To celebrate the goal, we had to have a shot of Caffe' Borghetti. Down it went with little effort. Just like the shot of whiskey Armando insisted I have at his place before leaving for the stadium.

"It's a cold night, you need to have it!"

Who am I to argue?

And another superstitious taboo was broken. I ate a slice of casatiello offered all around. Yes, I actually consumed food during the course of the game and you know what? We didn't lose. Next thing you know, I won't need to wear my Samoa Rugby Union shirt in order to see Napoli win a game at San Paolo...

To wash down the casatiello, here came another shot of Caffe' Borghetti. Hey, it's a cold night.

"We are the types that if we argued with our wife and Napoli won 4-0, we would argue with our wife every Sunday!!!"

OK, so maybe superstition will never be completely exhorcised from the stands of the San Paolo...

Also at halftime, we got to see a picture of the dude in front of us with Blasi, stored on the dude's cell phone. He had apparently run into him somewhere downtown before the Atalanta game. "'Be careful in Bergamo!' was the last thing I said to him, appropriately enough...!"

Before the second half kicked off, a sudden wave of rain poured in, causing everyone sitting on the opposite of the stadium as us to retreat behind cover. "I hope the wind doesn't change direction, and may no one in the Distinti think anything bad of me!"

"Is it done raining already?" I blurt out at one point?

"Randy, don't complain!"

"No, I'm just sayin'. The more it rains now the less likely it will rain on us when we leave..."

But one thing the rain made apparent to all of us is how much better the San Paolo pitch is compared to that of San Siro. It really did hold up well in the rain...

So the second half came, with the usual insults to Reja for failing to make the appropriate changes when the time came.

"It's a law. Reja thinks it is against regulations to make a change before the 25th minute of the second half." Fabio is probably the greatest Reja basher out there.

But not as big a Reja basher as the famous outspoken guy who normally sits next to Annalisa and I in row 24 is a Iezzo basher. You know, the guy who yelled out "e mo voglio pure o quart'!" after Domizzi's second penalty against Juve. Him. The guy has spent a season crucifying Iezzo. "Iezzo, when the ******** are you gonna come out?"

Well, the guy seems to make his way around the Tribuna to a point where they are familiar with his antics even down in rows 18/19. "Lisa look, there's our friend" I pointed out to Annalisa when he first came walking up the steps before the game, characteristically only a few short minutes before kick off (and sans kids, yet more desertions...).

Our friends were laughing about his contempt for Iezzo and joked that they would get him an autographed picture. "To my number 1 fan."

"Friend, what's your name?" the guy who met Blasi asked him as he walked back past us before the second half kick off.

"Antonio."

I can see it now. A smiling picture of Iezzo. "To Antonio, my number one fan."

Anyway, back to Reja's belief that subs before the 70th minute are illegal...Calaio' was the first to warm up, followed shortly thereafter by Hamsik, who was being very brilliantly replaced in the lineup by a solid Bogliacino.

"If Reja takes Bogliacino out, I'm going to kill him."

So Calaio' was the first to come on, replacing a Lavezzi who will miss out on the Siena game due to a harsh yellow for kicking a corner flag away from a play. And shockingly, Calaio' came on with roughly a good 20 minutes to play...

Meanwhile, Hamsik kept warming up right beneath us. Running back and forth between the bench and the corner flag nearest us. Over and over.

"Hamsik has run more in warming up than Zalayeta has all game!" was a spontaneous exclamation that simply couldn't stay inside of me.

Parma too made some changes, and Fabio kept going on about how well organized they were, attacking without conceding spaces, and how they were the best team to have come to San Paolo so far. And in between compliments to Parma, he found plenty of room to hurl insults at Reja...

"Why can't we ever win 4-0?" A comment that was actually thrown around much earlier in the game, but so appropriate in the dying minutes, with the fragile 1-0 lead seemingly made smaller and smaller with every Parma incursion into our quarter of the field. "This year we are going to suffer" was the Quote of the Week for week 1, and well, it fit yesterday too, though in a different sense. This was the suffering of being up 1-0 thinking that the lead is going to go away any minute. Against Livorno we had the suffering of having to wait until the 85th minute for the winner. Against Reggina it was the suffering of waiting until the 90th minute for an equalizer. Yesterday, it was the suffering of a 1-0 lead vanishing in the dying minutes that gave new meaning to that term - dying minutes. Death, like Parma's equalizer, lurks just behind the corner.

Mercifully, it wasn't our time yesterday and we all stood up in relief after the second of the ref's triple whistle to end the game. Another three points, still holding on with Atalanta and Palermo in the standings, and the ghosts of the 5-1 loss in Bergamo buried along with the days where we had 15 points in the standings. Up we come to level 18.

Most of you have seen the Fiorentina's "third half" gesture against Inter, where they applauded Inter off the field in rugby style. And you may have heard that the Italian (and now Spanish) league made the very sportsmanlike gesture mandatory beginning in January. Well, last night it came about very spontaneously between Napoli and Parma. And it was nice to see a (small) contingent of visiting fans present, with absolutely no incidents or even insults exchanged.

The "third half."

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

On a final note, no account of yesterday would be complete without acknoledging once again the magic of being at the San Paolo. Once again, after a period of great confusion and alienation which saw me feel completely out of place in this town, all it took was a trip back to the stadium to see our magic Napoli to put everything right, if only for 24 hours.

When someone told her we almost didn't think she would show for the game, Annalisa responded "please! I need the stadium!" before listing a series of things bumming her out. Amen, sister...amen.

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

[youtube]3cQF-yyaT_w[/youtube]

About 1:15 into it.

Thinking about what to do about pics of the gang...have a Christmas dinner coming up with some of them...

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

It's official. Sunday after the game the majority of the crew and I are heading up to a place near Benevento for a dinner together. Great photo opportunity.

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

I dunno, but we are going to a bed and breakfast/agriturismo place in Taurasi which my friends rave about. Should be a good time.

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

After the Christmas break, and 4 days late, I'm ready to post my Napoli-Torino commentary. Not like you guys didn't have better things to do around Christmas, anyway.

Well, if superstitious traditions were slowly but surely thrown to the wind in recent games, Sunday they were put in a headlock and beat senseless, then dumped out to sea.

So as I mentioned earlier, we had arranged to go to Taurasi to have dinner after Sunday's game. In order to make things easier, Donatella asked me to pick her up at her place on the way to Armando's since we would all be riding together to the restaurant. Donatella always drives to the game on her own. And Donatella is plausibly the most superstitious Neapolitan out there.

Donatella, for example, never watches games on TV at home. "My Sky brings bad luck" she always says. As a matter of fact, I don't think Donatella has watched a single Napoli away game this year because of this belief, nor Napoli-Parma which is the only home game she missed at the stadium (remember we found out she was watching the NBA instead that night...). And if it's worth anything, my limited experiences with Donatella's Sky confirm that it, in fact, does bring bad luck: we watched Scotland-Italy in the rugby World Cup at her place and Italy lost by missing a late field goal which otherwise would have seen Italy through to the playoffs for the first time in its history.

Donatella's Sky indeed brings bad luck. And Donatella riding with me and meeting up at Armando's house for the first time could potentially bring bad luck as well.

Impervious as to the potential consequences, off we went to Armando's house with my car weighed down by the numerous Christmas presents Donatella brought for everyone. As soon as we get there, Armando invites us to sit down and eat some snacks. The mood in his house was jubilant and festive, in accordance with a game which immediately precedes Christmas. I had only eaten some leftover casatiello at home, and wasn't necessarily planning on eating anything else before the big dinner in Taurasi, but the sight of the food on the table coupled with a glance at the clock told me to get food while it was there for the taking. So we sit down and start chowing down on this pizza focaccia bread thing, and after taking a single bite, the world collapsed on me.

"Cazzo!" Shit!

"Randy what's wrong?"

"Cazzo!" Shit!

"You forgot your ticket?"

"No, worse."

"You can't go to the game?"

"No, worse."

"What?"

Pregnant pause.

"I'm eating pizza. Napoli always loses when I eat pizza."

"Randy, don't talk nonsense, and besides, this will bring good luck and Tony is also coming, and you know he always brings good luck."

Right on cue, Tony comes walking in. The only other time he came to a game this year was when we played Sampdoria and won that emphatic win, with the brilliant goal from Hamsik, etc. My soul immediately set at ease, I proceeded to make quick work of the pizza bread and archived the matter. Armando poured me a huge glass of wine, and there were some pastries from Umbria on the table. Tony had brought a big sandwich with eggplants, which proved to be too much for him.

"Have some with me, guys."

Donatella - "No thanks, that pizza filled me up."

"You gotta have it! Otherwise you're gonna make Napoli lose!"

Me (trying to put additional pressure on Dona in order to avoid having to eat it myself) - "That's right Dona, you're gonna make Napoli lose and you can't let that happen."

Dona had some (did I mention she is the most superstitious Neapolitan out there?).

There was still some sandwich left. "Randy, have some."

"No thanks, I'm full."

"You're gonna make Napoli lose!"

...had some of the sandwich...

Before leaving Armando's, I informed everyone about you guys requesting pics, so we managed to get a couple. Not nearly enough, but I'll work on getting more over the course of the following games...

So with the addition, of Donatella, there were now 6 of us riding in one car. Taking Armando's old Fiat whatever-it-is was not an option. Luckily, Tony's car was a bit bigger, and while still a Fiat we managed to fit the 6 of us in there.

From L to R, Anna, Dona, Tony, Attilio's friend Sergio, and Armando, and Tony's Fiat (Attilio was in France visiting his sister and didn't make the game), who was all excited about taking the pic: "come on, Tony, these pics are gonna go on the internet!"


So yeah, I mentioned that numerous superstitions were blatantly disregarded this time around. As we walked towards the stadium, Anna came to a chilling realization: "I forgot the Caffe' Borghetti!!!"

"We can buy some..." Numerous vendors sell individual shots for 1 Euro each. Armando was this close to making a transaction when Tony stopped him, claiming to know a guy who would hook them up. In any case, the two of them needed to meet someone outside the stadium in order to let them borrow Attilio's season ticket, so the rest of us filed in about an hour before kickoff.

Slowly, the rest of the crew arrived (at least those that made it).

"It's funny how you get to know all the faces around here" someone commented. Interesting timing for that statement since shortly thereafter, this young couple who had missed the previous 3 games showed up.

"We were worried about you guys! Everyone was wondering what happened."

"I was sick with bronchitis! We missed 3 games!"

The conversation had a tone of sincere concern, and for the record, we didn't otherwise know who these people were...!

Annalisa showed up too, and we spent the customary few minutes hanging out with the crew before going up to our spots. "You gotta stay here, Annalisa, you sat next to me last time and we won!" Fabio insisted.

"Yeah, but we also won when Randy and I were sitting up there!"

Dona, Anna, and Annalisa before kickoff:

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

On our way to the stadium, we talked a little about the Coppa Italia game against Lazio on 17 January. "You guys wanna go?" I enquired. Surprisingly, the level of interest just wasn't there. "It's gonna be late, it's cold, it's 25 Euros which is ridiculous, etc. etc. We can all get together and watch it at someone's house (presumibly not Dona's)." The conversation crossed over into a criticism of the club, where season ticket holders were only given a week's time to confirm if they wanted to keep their seats, and questioning several other decisions made by the front office. The mood was certainly not conducive to wanting to give the club more money...

A few days before the game, I had read that Torino intended to wear their third kit for this game in honor of one of the first Turin clubs. The kit was this orange and black abomination. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't necessarily that bad of a kit, but on Torino, fabled for its legendary granata shirt, orange and black just doesn't work.

Mercifully, the pic below gets posted too small to allow you to make out the Torino kits...


"Why do teams always pick the ugliest kits to wear in Naples?" You may recall the Catania away aka "let's all try to look like the photographers on the sidelines" kit from last month.

Annalisa had apparently vomited that morning and wasn't certain of making it until close to game time, and definitely wasn't going to go to dinner. The night before, her, Dona and some others had stayed up late at the Eldo Napoli basketball game, even going out to dinner with the team after the game and not getting home until late. I was seriously worried that the Torino kit was going to break her once and for all...

"Crap, I didn't update my fantasy soccer team!" Annalisa has a tradition of never using any of Napoli's opponents on her team. She forgot to bench Di Michele. There goes another tradition...

So the game was seconds from starting, and the guy Antonio who hates Iezzo already hurled the first of many insults at the poor guy.

The game went on rather uneventfully until Trefoloni decided to invent himself the famous penalty kick. Rosina scores it, silences the stadium, but the noise level picked up almost instantly as he jogged to the corner flag closest to us while being mobbed by his celebrating teammates.

No use telling you that the mood at the stadium wasn't the greatest from this point on, and is partly responsible for my lack of pics.

"Annalisa, I gotta tell ya...I know why Napoli is losing. I ate pizza today."

"What?!!! What were you thinking??"

"It's not my fault! They offered it to me! Even Donatella had some!"

"That's no excuse!"

"But look, it wasn't really pizza...I mean, it was more like a pizza bread deal. That doesn't count as pizza."

Annalisa was unconvinced.

"But hey! Look! You are wearing glasses! See? That's a change! And on top of that they are red and black (like Milan)!"

"Don't try to blame it on anything else, when you violated such a fundamental, cardinal rule! You had pizza when we played Palermo and we lost..."

"..yeah, I know...and against Inter...and Cagliari...but I'm telling you, it wasn't pizza! It was pizza bread!"

"That's ok, just wait until I present this before the Council. Then you will be punished, but not because of any wrath coming from me, but rather from Donatella (the most superstitious person in Naples)!"

"Donatella was there, and she had it too!"

"Doesn't matter. The pizza thing only applies to you. Donatella has nothing to do with it."

Sigh. It's official. We're gonna lose.

"But it was pizza bread...just some bread with this tomato thing on top...and some oregano..."

From that point on, the longer the game went on and the longer Napoli kept trailing, the more did that pizza bread feel like a brick in my stomach. It was slowly sapping away at all my strength, leading me to believe that it was also sapping away the strength of all our players as well...

Several minutes after the bogus Torino penalty, I get a text message. It was from Gazzetta dello Sport. This new service I signed up for where they send you text messages with news of your team. Apparently they also send you texts during the games: "36th minute...great protests by Napoli, the foul wasn't there: Domizzi had cleared the ball with his foot..."

I immediately decided that the service was not a good call. Knowing that it really wasn't a penalty only made it worse.

Then, we get awarded a penalty. "The ref saw Sky at halftime and felt bad, so he's hooking us up!" someone around me proclaimed. Domizzi lines up, and I barely had time to get my camera set to video mode to capture the moment that...I record a miss. There goes that brick in my stomach again.

The usual insults to Reja (not even worth pointing those out anymore), and talk quickly centered around who would come off: Lavezzi or Zalayeta. Those in the Lavezzi camp were proven right, as Napoli now lined up with Zalayeta, Sosa, and Calaio' in attack.

At one point, Hamsik did something particularly nice which inspired Annalisa to declare "he's gotta be related to me. He is definitely related to me."

A few minutes later Hamsik did something even nicer - he scored our equalizer! In the rabid joy of the moment, I managed to find a minimum of mental sobriety: "he has got to be related to you!! He is definitely related to you!!"

"That Slovak flag would be really useful right now..." Yup. Still waiting on that thing.

But the day wasn't done. There was still time for me to feel that brick in my stomach yet again. Regardless of the equalizer, everyone's mood had been completely stomped by Torino's bogus penalty call, and even more so by our miss (yes, for the record, it was a bogus call as well and recognized as such...). But the worst moment for me came in the 94th minute. With the score still tied at 1-1, a cross came forward to Sosa, who headed it forward to Calaio'...keeper beaten with a header...!!!!.....POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy shit, guys. Can you imagine what would have happened had Calaio' put that ball in?

"San Paolo would have collapsed if Calaio' had scored that...the whole stadium would have collapsed."

"That's just plain bad luck. Poor guy can't catch a break all season, never gets to play, puts in an honest effort when he does, could have turned his entire season around with that goal, given us a tremendous Christmas present, but it didn't go in." Not sure if anyone actually said all that in one statement, but it was on the minds of 50,000 people Sunday afternoon. It could have been a fairy tale moment, here in a town where success only came in the form of a fairy tale called Diego Armando Maradona. Here in the most superstitious town in Italy and probably the world. But alas, there were no fairy tales this Christmas eve.

Even this morning in the shower, 96 hours after the incident, I kept thinking to myself what it would have been like had he scored it. Kinda like reliving the last minute of the Euro 2000 final, and every time you replay it in your head you somehow think that it will go differently, that Wiltord won't put it in, that your memory of the event is in fact incorrect and Italy actually did win that cup. And every time you wake up to the bitter realization. While Calaio's quasi-goal wouldn't have made as big a difference as that cursed final, it will remain at least with me for some time.

Hamsik interviewed by Sky after the game:


We file out of the stadium and get ourselves organized for the car trip back to Armando's. Annalisa exchanged Christmas greetings with everyone as she wasn't going to the dinner.

"Hey we'll talk, cos I too want to go to the Coppa Italia game against Lazio..." Earlier, I had asked her if she was interested in going. "Of course!!" she responded.

That's my girl.

Fabio would be joining us for the car ride home, which now made for 7 people in Tony's car. 7. And yes, we made it. Tony driving. Armando and Sergio in the passenger seat. Anna, Donatella, me, and Fabio packed into the back seat (and on top of that, Fabio had some issues with his ribs). We had to take our coats off cos the car door wouldn't close otherwise...

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

A quick commentary on the dinner is worth writing, particularly because of an amusing (after the fact) misunderstanding.

So anyway, the 7 of us make it back to Armando's, and by now it's just Armando, his wife Mena, Donatella, Fabio, and myself getting ready for the dinner. We were supposed to pick up Gaetano on the way, and the others would join us in separate cars.

Fabio as usual had his head deep into the numerous games he bet on, constantly talking to someone on the phone and even checking foreign scores. Armando commented that Attilio would be going to the Toulouse game in France that night.

"That's right, they kick off at 6" was Fabio's casual remark about that game.

"Fabio, you even know when Toulouse is kicking off?!! You are sick!!" Donatella expressing her surprise (displeasure?) from the opposite end of Armando's apartment.

We pick up Gaetano and off we went to Taurasi, which is over an hour away.

"Guys, I'm not trying to say anything, but two appearances by Tony at the stadium and two goals by Hamsik...if this keeps up, next year I'm gonna buy him a season ticket with my own money!" The pizza brick wasn't as heavy by this point...

So we make it up to Taurasi, deep in the heart of Campania somewhere. Not even sure where. We pull up to the restaurant parking lot, and all the lights are shut off. Not a good sign.

"Let's call and let them know we are here..."

To make a long story short, the guys at the restaurant thought the reservation was for Sunday at lunch. Not dinner.

"We are never open on Sunday evenings."

Panic. Please don't tell me we drove all the way out here and won't even get to eat at this place.

Armando talked to them, insisting he had confirmed the date and time with them twice, and finally got them to say "OK, we'll be down there in about 30 minutes..."

We had the entire place to ourselves! Not that it was a very big restaurant anyway, but still...

Me and Armando hanging out at the restaurant while waiting for the others to show up:


Of note, I'm wearing the now famous Samoa Rugby Union shirt which has brought us luck since the first time I wore it - Napoli-Juve on 27 October. However, if I do make it out to Napoli-Lazio in Coppa Italia, I'm gonna go for something completely different. Kinda like clubs field "alternative" lineups in the cup, I'm gonna wear an "alternative" outfit for the occasion and if it goes well, then I can get away with not always having to wear the rugby shirt for every game...

Oh, and here is Donatella's present to me. A plaque that reads:
"Here resides a Napoli fan. Before knocking, inform yourself on the result of the latest game"

• If Napoli lost, then kindly go ******** off.
• If Napoli tied, come in but don't make any comments, distract me!!
• if Napoli won, then you are invited to the party with generous prizes being awarded!!

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

I neglected to nominate a Quote of the Week! Well this week it's gonna go to something which Armando said to me twice Sunday, and not for the first time.

"Randy, your place is here! Why would you ever go back to the States? Stay here with us!"

And truthfully, I really believe that what he is saying is correct, albeit usually only on game days when I get to see everyone...

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

Though this involves an away game, it's worth mentioning here...

Donatella wanted me to report to all of you that today Eldo Napoli beat Milano in basketball (thanks to a last-second 3-pointer that gave us a 1 point win), and that the win was thanks to her "very powerful" lucky horn that "once again did its job." I invited her and other friends to my house next Sunday to watch Milan-Napoli, and Donatella informed me that the "holy relic" will be transported to my house with full honors in order for Naples to triumph over Milan in soccer as well...

 

Re: Chronicles of a 2007/08 Season Ticket Holder

And something which I neglected to mention...on Friday...the famous SLOVAK FLAG ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!