Blog Entries

Only today have I finally settled down. Up until last night, I was still drunk with joy. Between the game against Milan and the emphatic win at Juve Saturday, there was a veritable overdose of everything that is good in the world running through my system. In a way it was almost a waste having these two games/results so close to each other. But what a ride it has been, and what a birthday week did Napoli give me this year!

The come-from-behind 3-2 at Juve was historic, if nothing else because Napoli wins in Turin don't happen very often but when they do, they usually leave a...

I still feel like running around like a chicken without a head.

If you're lucky, there are experiences in life that give you an incredible natural high which is really not all that different from the feeling of having had a couple of drinks "too many," or some sort of toxic substance that floats your boat. I can think back, for example, on a particular U2 show from a couple of years back. The show ended with Bono screaming out lines to Patti Smith's "People Have the Power" over the climactic final notes of "Bad," which just so happens to be my favorite live U2 song. Walking out...

As much as I don't like league games played in August, Sunday was (overall) a great night. As much as half of Naples (and Italy) was still out on vacation, the San Paolo was ready for Napoli's home debut of this 2009/10 season. And Quagliarella got to play his first official league match at San Paolo - while wearing his hometown shirt.

Important note: there was another debut Sunday night, and as of that night our cast of characters officially grew by one. My American friend Andrew, who recently moved to Naples and is a longtime soccer fan, got a season ticket and will be experiencing...

Many of you will be familiar with my intimate accounts of my time at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. Well, I recently had the opportunity to check out the Chelsea-Hull City Premiership opening match up close and personal during a very recent week-long vacation to London centered around the two U2 gigs at Wembley Stadium (no, I'm not gonna be comparing the concert experiences in the two countries...only soccer today).

In many ways, the stadium experience in the two countries couldn't be more different, a product no doubt of the existing differences between the two societies. So...

Liverpool has made a 20 million pound offer for an Argentine striker from Napoli.



Well, not quite, but he could be good. It is actually this man:



Eziquiel Ivan Lavezzi.

Let that name ring through your head.

Lavezzi is 24. He went through Boca Juniors youth side before going to Estudiantes. He scored 17 goals in 39 appearances. He then was signed by Genoa, but never...

I picked up the phone nervously, dreading to make the call.

"Anna, I'm calling to let you guys know that I can't make the game today. I have too many things to do. I would rather just go to Napoli-Chievo (the last game of the season)..."

It wasn't true. I had nothing of particular importance to do last Sunday. My day had to that point been characterized by a Hamletian internal debate - to go, or not to go?

Napoli-Torino. Three games left in the season. For most teams, since, Napoli-Inter exploit aside, Napoli's season had apparently ended in January....

This was my first game at San Paolo in a long time. The last had been against Lazio, and I can't even remember exactly when that was (OK, 8 March, I cheated by looking at my earlier blog entry...). So much has happened in my life, heart and soul since then.

I left Naples. I went far away. About as far away as you can get just about. Southeast Asia. Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. A trip that changed my life and shattered 34 years of Euro-centric perspectives and life experiences. It's a cliche' but few words are more appropriate: I left my soul somewhere in Asia. I don't want...

It wasn't really my fault. It was a confluence of factors that made me do it. But I didn't have much of a choice.

Rather than go to the San Paolo for a chilly Sunday night game, while sick and needing to get ready for a lengthy trip to Southeast Asia, I chose to sit at home and avail myself of the technological breakthrough that allow fans like me and everyone else the luxury of following their team from the warmth and comfort of their own home.

It has nothing to do with the Emancipation Proclamation I composed after the Lazio game. Truthfully, I really wanted to...

"Randy, I wasn't even that upset. I had already given up hope long before."

That was my friend Mina earlier today. Casually ran into her on base (she's the other resident Napoli megafan on the NATO base where I work). Her words perfectly mirrored my sentiments on Sunday.

Up until that conversation, I was planning on kicking off this blog entry with the following pic, the only one I took Sunday at the stadium:



The Curva B banner says it all. Meritiamo di piu'. "We...

It's been a while since I found a word that permeated throughout the mood of a particular game. Day. Experience. Bittersweet is the word that resonates this week.

For starters, the weather has been crappy in Naples for days/weeks, to a point where there was concern about what state the San Paolo's pitch would be in. And while it hadn't really rained much at all on Saturday, it suddenly decided to start pouring down about two hours before kickoff. "Great, I wonder who is even gonna make it out to the stadium now...many would be tempted to sit and watch the game in the comfort of...