Your Field Correspondent isn't going to pretend to know a lot about the Italian soccer leagues, but we do know this: Juventus, which is based in Turin, is the New York Yankees of the top league, Serie A.
The club, which wears distinctive black-and-white striped uniforms for home games — picture a field full of basketball referees, in white shorts — has won a record 29 championships. Or, actually, 27, since two were revoked after a recent scandal over a scheme to schedule favorable referees for its games.
Not that there's anything remotely negative to be found at the team's site, Juventus.it (click on the little British flag if you're not fluent in italiano). No, it's all happiness and light as the club stomps through Italy's second division, where it was demoted this season for the assorted sins of the fathers. (If you think we were kidding about the Yankees comparison, take note: Big percentages of the crowds at the second-division stadiums are rooting for Juventus, sort of like the way displaced New Yorkers fill empty seats in Tampa or Arlington.)
Even if you're not all that interested in soccer, it's entertaining — much of the English site reads like it was written in Italian and then translated, very literally, by a computer.
Take this example, from coach Didier Deschamp's analysis of Juve's recent 1-0 victory on the road at Pescara:
"He wanted grit, determination and unkindness. In Pescara, Deschamps got what he wanted from the team. It wasn't easy to find the right spaces to break Pescara's defence, but in the end the three points arrived, thanks to a move by two players coming from the bench."
And just to let you know that athletes around the world can be just as colorless
as the ones here, a quote from Alessandro Birindelli, who scored the game's only goal:
"I'm really happy. It was a difficult match, and the goal let us unblock the game, and the little tension that was growing. It wasn't easy to find spaces against very well closed rivals. A goal I dedicate to all my mates. This is a great group, and everybody's making the right contribution."
We walked through the Juve/Nike store during a recent trip to Turin (you may remember a little thing called the Olympic Winter Games there) and were stunned at the amount of gear there, but there is worlds more at the online store.
Among the hottest sellers — the Juentus board game (which, thankfully, is not Juve Monopoly, but a trivia game called Calcio che Passione , roughly translated as "Soccer Love"). Other big sellers include game jerseys, emblazoned with a big advertising patch for Tamoil (the new versions, which will a sport — and we're not kidding here — a logo for New Holland tractors, are coming soon).
There also is a place to send your love letters to the team. Not players, but the team (sort of that "Go Spurs Go" mentality). The webmasters assure us that "We will read every one, so make sure that you show us your usual tremendous support."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA040607.02D.COLking.page2.387a92c.html
-----------------------
I guess he could use other info...
The club, which wears distinctive black-and-white striped uniforms for home games — picture a field full of basketball referees, in white shorts — has won a record 29 championships. Or, actually, 27, since two were revoked after a recent scandal over a scheme to schedule favorable referees for its games.
Not that there's anything remotely negative to be found at the team's site, Juventus.it (click on the little British flag if you're not fluent in italiano). No, it's all happiness and light as the club stomps through Italy's second division, where it was demoted this season for the assorted sins of the fathers. (If you think we were kidding about the Yankees comparison, take note: Big percentages of the crowds at the second-division stadiums are rooting for Juventus, sort of like the way displaced New Yorkers fill empty seats in Tampa or Arlington.)
Even if you're not all that interested in soccer, it's entertaining — much of the English site reads like it was written in Italian and then translated, very literally, by a computer.
Take this example, from coach Didier Deschamp's analysis of Juve's recent 1-0 victory on the road at Pescara: "He wanted grit, determination and unkindness. In Pescara, Deschamps got what he wanted from the team. It wasn't easy to find the right spaces to break Pescara's defence, but in the end the three points arrived, thanks to a move by two players coming from the bench."
And just to let you know that athletes around the world can be just as colorless
as the ones here, a quote from Alessandro Birindelli, who scored the game's only goal: "I'm really happy. It was a difficult match, and the goal let us unblock the game, and the little tension that was growing. It wasn't easy to find spaces against very well closed rivals. A goal I dedicate to all my mates. This is a great group, and everybody's making the right contribution."
We walked through the Juve/Nike store during a recent trip to Turin (you may remember a little thing called the Olympic Winter Games there) and were stunned at the amount of gear there, but there is worlds more at the online store.
Among the hottest sellers — the Juentus board game (which, thankfully, is not Juve Monopoly, but a trivia game called Calcio che Passione , roughly translated as "Soccer Love"). Other big sellers include game jerseys, emblazoned with a big advertising patch for Tamoil (the new versions, which will a sport — and we're not kidding here — a logo for New Holland tractors, are coming soon).
There also is a place to send your love letters to the team. Not players, but the team (sort of that "Go Spurs Go" mentality). The webmasters assure us that "We will read every one, so make sure that you show us your usual tremendous support."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA040607.02D.COLking.page2.387a92c.html
-----------------------
I guess he could use other info...
Buy on AliExpress.com
