lucaze

Thanks a lot for all your kind words and your touching messages. I'll do my best to post you a couple of picture of my dad playing. Thanks again Luca

Early this morning Marino Zerbini, the 1st base of the Milano baseball team in the 60s, passed away. He was a great glove, an incredible fighter, a wonderful man, a fanstatic teacher and my father. He put me on his glove when I was still a kid maybe hoping to follow his step. Unfortunately I didn't and I was not able to bring him to States to see a game live as he always wished. I will follow the Fish and the wonderful game of baseball more than even in his honor. Thank you for sharing with me the passion of this game. Luca

After that Mlb discovered that Italy has the largest number of baseball and softball players in Europe someone in the States should have been surprised. So last year Mlb sent a delegation to see the quality of italian baseball: then the big announcemente of a possible future agreement and most of all a mlb game to be played in Rome in 2005. I thought that as most of the promises here in Italy would have been forgotten but I was wrong!! You guys are not like us!!! If you make a promise you'll do your best to keep it!! So did MLB!! Yesterday another Mbl delegation arrived to Milan and went immediatly to meet the president of the italian baseball federation, Riccardo Fraccari. This period was also proposed because in these days the final of the Italian Series is taking place between Bologna and Grosseto (by the way, Navarro rules!!!). After a long meeting Clive Russel for Mlb and Ricardo Fraccari for Italian Federation signed an important agreement. Not all the points of this agreement have been reveiled yet but for sure Mlb will create 3/4 Baseball Academy Schools in the italian areas where baseball is more popular. These Academy will grow up players from 8 to 18 years old and will be composed only by american coaches. The final aim is hopefully to build up future good prospects for Mlb and of course good players for the Italian national team. Still to be confirmed the rumoured Mlb game in Rome: but it seems to be something more that just an idea (Marlins and Boston were named to be part of the game last winter during the first Mlb - Italy meeting). Just another curiosity: after the meeting on the website of the italian baseball federation a Marlins logo appeared with this sentence: "A CRUISE WITH THE FLORIDA MARLINS". http://www.baseball-softball.it/documenti/...n_i_marlins.pdf That's an offer for a one-week cruise in the Carabian Islands celebrating the 2004 WS Champions: the article says Marlins players will attend the cruise! While waiting for a "real" Italian Mlb player (Simontacchi is Italian, played for Italy at Sydney but he's not born here!) I will update as soon as I have more news!!

AC MILAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a wrap of the South American World Cup Qualifiers from last night: Colombia 1-1 Paraguay Ecuador and Chile finish off this round today in Quito. 587904[/snapback] :mad : I'm so dissapointed at the outcome.Colombia wasted 3 clear chances during first half to put away Paraguay.The game should have been at least 2-0 in favor of Colombia instead of 1-0 in halftime. 2nd half Paraguay made some adjustment which is why they tied they score with 10 minutes left while Colombian Coach decided to sub a player who was playing very well. I don't see how they classified to the World Cup.Hopefully Ecuador-Chile ends up a draw which will give me some new hope. Colombia need a Coach who can insert confidence into players and play like their talent level is at which is top 3 in South America. 587961[/snapback] Did Gamarra play for Paraguay?? He never show up for Inter this season yet and I am wondering where the hell he is!!

the list for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year came out today. this is a long list, but only 3 make the final cut. the award is given out the 20th of December in Zurich, Switzerland. heres the list of the men nominated: Adriano (Inter de Mil?n). Roberto Ayala (Valencia). 583028[/snapback] Is this Roberto Ayala the argentinian player who played for Milan some years ago?? If so I can't believe he's in this list!!! 585188[/snapback] yes sir, the same Roberto Fabian Ayala. 585262[/snapback] Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was simply awful at his milanese years!!! What could he have done to be nominated in this list!??? He was a terrible defender and was really hated by Milan fans (and beloved by Inter fans!! Ronie had fabolous plays and goals against him!!).

the list for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year came out today. this is a long list, but only 3 make the final cut. the award is given out the 20th of December in Zurich, Switzerland. heres the list of the men nominated: Adriano (Inter de Mil?n). Roberto Ayala (Valencia). 583028[/snapback] Is this Roberto Ayala the argentinian player who played for Milan some years ago?? If so I can't believe he's in this list!!!

the list for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year came out today. this is a long list, but only 3 make the final cut. the award is given out the 20th of December in Zurich, Switzerland. heres the list of the men nominated: Adriano (Inter de Mil?n). Roberto Ayala (Valencia). Michael Ballack (Bayern M?nich). Milan Baros (Liverpool). David Beckham (Real Madrid). Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus). Caf? (Milan). Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United). Deco (Barcelona). Didier Drogba (Chelsea). Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona). Luis Figo (Real Madrid). Steven Gerrard (Liverpool). Ryan Giggs (Manchester United). Thierry Henry (Arsenal). Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Roma). Oliver Kahn (Bayern M?nich). Kak? (Milan). Frank Lampard (Chelsea). Henrik Larsson (Barcelona). Roy Makaay (Bayern M?nich). Paolo Maldini (Milan). Pavel Nedved (Juventus). Alessandro Nesta (Milan). Michael Owen (Real Madrid). Robert Pires (Arsenal). Ra?l (Real Madrid). Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid). Ronaldinho (Barcelona). Ronaldo (Real Madrid). Wayne Rooney (Manchester United). Andriy Shevchenko (Milan). Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United). Theodoros Zagorakis (Bolonia). Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid). if i had to pick 3 finalists from this list, i would probably go with: Thierry Henry Luis Figo Deco its still really early, but so far those are my three. last years winner was Zinedine Zidane, who is going for his 4th POY award. 583028[/snapback] Very difficult choice!! Here are my three nomines: Adriano (Inter) Andriy Shevchenko (Milan) Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! What about for the Marlins exibition games in Rome?? Well, I will do my best to be there or the opening games: promised!! I wanna be back to Miami and see the Marlins live!!!!!

another embarassing loss by Madrid, this time at home to Deportivo, 0-1. everything was looking up after the Roma game, but apparently this "crisis" is not over. oh well, another week, another game. we shall see. on a lighter note, Roma puts a halt to their misery by tying at home to Inter, 3-3. the South American trio was in force for Inter, as all three goals were scored by Cambiasso, Veron, and Recoba. Totti, De Rossi, and Montella did the damage for the Roman side. 581668[/snapback] Well, real a poor game for Inter. Leadin 1-3 away against a poor Rome could not get more than a tie. Big disappointment: that was the best moment to play against Roma at Olimpico. Both teams has poor defense and score a lot (inter 11 goals this season) but already got a lot of goals against (inter 10, roma 12: roma just 19 last season!!!). I don't wanna Inter is the italian real madrid (meaning laughed for his awful defence!!) with all the players just attacking. Juventus is ruling and had just 1 goal against!!! That should mean something!!! Still wondering why the hell Inter gave Juventus that wonderful present named Cannavaro!!!!! Still wondering why the hell to Juventus!!!!! Still wondering why the hell Real said they did not need him!!!!!

Thank you so much from Italy too!!! It was such an exciting season and it's a shame we did not make the postseason!!! But I enjoyed a lot and can't wait for opening day 2005! This season I watched a lot of games, many live at impossible hours!!! I still believed till the very end!!! I am sure next season we'll make it!!! LET'S GO MARLINS!!!!!!! And thanks to all of you for sharing the season with you!! Luca

THE EMPEROR, AGAIN!!!

Juventus beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv (marlins fave team) 1-0 on a goal by Camoranesi narrow margin against the weaker team in the division but a win is a win ... 1-0 and thats 2 straight clean sheets in the CL :thumbup GO JUVE 575632[/snapback] Great manager Capello!!!!! Best person for Juventus ! I wish he could have been Inter manager instead of Mancini....

and it happened, the Galacticos were in full force today, coming from 0-2 down to beat Roma 4-2. amazing game for anyone that had a chance to see it on ESPN2. Raul seems to be officially back to form, scoring 2 goals and landing a PK for the 3rd. Figo, our best player all year, continued to amaze, scoring one goal off a PK, and dishing out 3 assists. hes been rock solid all year, despite being the oldest starter on the team. Zidane and Ronaldo looked out of place for most of the game, and Beckham contributed most of his efforts in the 1st half. Roberto Carlos redeemed his piss poor 1st half with a stunning goal in the 2nd. it might be a little early to say that our crisis is over, but after todays dominant performace, im excited. mostly for the re-emergence of Raul. kid has been playing lights out lately. 575629[/snapback] I watched the game last night and even if I don't like Roma at all I have to admit they dominated first half!!! Could have been 0-3 easly!! Panucci and Totti could have scored easily. My babe Ronie did almost nothing, Zizu too, Spice boy was just changing his position (why the hell is he playing in centre and not on wing???). And have you seen Real players faces after the 0-2?? A real team as (unfortunately!) Milan would have umiliated them. Roma was simply in the best position but they decided to stop and simply control the game!!! What a mistake!! However Real defence is embarassing!! Galacticos needed Cannavaro near Samuel. And considering how Roma is playing and that Bologna dominated Roma for 90 minutes last Saturday I was not surprised to see that comeback!!! Roma is in a deep crisis!!! But no problem for them: they will play against us next weekend and Inter is the best doctor for every ill team!!!

Adriano didn't play so well yesterday...he even missed the game winning goal, all he had to do was tap in a header...Martins had a great game for Inter though...finally rai international showed a good game. Fiorentina lost at home against Sampdoria 0-2, and I couldn't even see the goals because we are the only team that hasn't cut a TV deal with Sky...Palermo ties 1-1, and oh surprise, there was an offsides that wasn't called on Juventus' goal... 574371[/snapback] Yeah, big problem Fiorentina not signing with Sky Italia for the rights of home games!!! I hope they do soon. But it seems that Telecom Italia will take over the rights and broadcast Fiorentina games on the terrestrial digital tv soon. For all of you in the States you should be able soon to receive the new Sky Italia channel called Sky TG24 via Direct Tv (I was told but maybe you better check out). On the channel (already available in Europe) there are complete and long highlights of all the italian games with review and interviews as soon as the games are over taken from all the Sky Sport main channels. Enjoy!!

Adriano didn't play so well yesterday...he even missed the game winning goal, all he had to do was tap in a header...Martins had a great game for Inter though...finally rai international showed a good game. Fiorentina lost at home against Sampdoria 0-2, and I couldn't even see the goals because we are the only team that hasn't cut a TV deal with Sky...Palermo ties 1-1, and oh surprise, there was an offsides that wasn't called on Juventus' goal... 574371[/snapback] I am still wondering how Adriano could have missed that winning goal!!! Well, maybe he was just tired. Hopefully he will score in Champions League tomorrow night! Mr.ObaOba Martins was great and I am sure with his great talent and speed he will be the perfect patner to Adriano instead of Vieri. By the way Inter owner, Mr. Moratti, said Vieri is not in a good form and should be out to make place to someone else. Today Vieri informed the press he was injuried last afternoon during training and will not go to Belgium for the Champions League game!!! What a coincidence!

another shameful loss today. this time a 2-1 loss at Athletic Bilbao. we better get our act together soon, and i mean soooon. on a high note, Raul scored a goal for the first time in 6 months and looked very dangerous all over the field. hopefully he is out of this funk hes been in for the last year. if he is, watch out, dont forget what he has done in the past. this Tuesday is the Champions League game vs. Roma, who lost to an undermanned Bologna team. also, manager Rudi Voeller offer to resign after the loss. this sucks, but hopefully it will give Madrid the edge, as we need the win BADLY. 571995[/snapback] I was at work last night and my tv station was broadcasting live Roma, Real and Juventus games. I was watching Real (you know I miss my baby Ronie) but I was surprised to see them how they play. Real played much much better last year!! I have no idea how Camacho worked in the preseason but there should be something wrong with him. Maybe it loaded the players too much but I could hardly recognize the talented players Real has!!! My baby has lost weight (he says thanks to his new girlfriend!!) but still not in a good form!!! Roma was simply horrible!!! Lucky enough to play against 9 Bologna players (2 sent off!!! The first one Cipriani got 2nd yellow card and could have been penalty for Bologna!!) could do nothing at all. Montella, defenitely the Roma best striker so far, was sat and was sos funny to see him just talking and talking and arguing with 2nd coach during the game at one side of the bench! Well, Voeller resigned and I think that's good for Roma!!!! Palermo showed how Juventus is not unbeatable!! Palermo fans showed Juventus fans how to support their team: in Torino there were 16.000 Juventus fans (most of them with season tix!) and 12.000 Palermo supporter coming from everywhere in Italy and Europe!!! Still unclear to me why the hell Juventus is still playing in a city where they think Torino is the only team of the town!!!!????? Anywhere else in the universe that team would have been already moved from ages!!! This afternoon Inter vs Parma and tonight an interesting Lazio vs. Milan

Well, I have just discovered Rafael is playing in Italy in Parma. He just had decent season in the italian league with many ups and downs but he got injuried just before the playoff and likely is season his over. http://www.baseball.it/2004_specifico_giocatore.asp?ID=794 I remember he played for the Fish for 2 seasons (I think to remember 98 and 99) and at the time he was considered one of the Marlins best prospect. I can't remember anymore the trade which bring him in Miami: anyone can help me remember? :whistle

JUVENTUS WINS ... JUVENTUS WINS ... JUVENTUS WINS still unbeaten :thumbup 570378[/snapback] FORZA PALERMO Still mad Inter gave Juventus such a champion as Cannavaro!!!!!! Is anyone still asking why Inter is winning Nothing since ages????

Finally a win for Inter tonight!!! Again the Emperor saved us! Atalanta - Inter 2-3 Still laughing to see Messina coming to Milano to beat AC Milan 0-2

figured to just have one thread dedicated to soccer and futbol soccer. we can all just rant and discuss in this one area vs having separate Serie A, Champions League and Liga threads. im starting off with the obvious news of the day for me, Jose Antonio Camacho abandoning Real Madrid after 4 games. if he wants to leave, ill open the door for him. i dont think that a coach should ever abandon a team in the middle of a mess like were going through right now. screw him. happy to see a low key guy such as Mariano Garcia Remon take over he ship from here on out. game tomorrow vs. Osasuna will be the start of a new season (after 3 games anyway). HALA MADRID!!!!!! 565616[/snapback] You can have Cuper.He's a good man and great skill. He brought a very impossible team like Inter to a 3rd place (losing scudetto to the very last game!) to a semifinal Champions League and again a 2nd place in the league. And doing this Inter would stop paying him....

SEASON IS NOT OVER!! I BELIEVE IT :notworthy If now why being up every nigh till late to watch the Marlins!! No way, it's NOT over

i remember last year when the Roma - Lazio derby game had to be called off due to the fans acting up on the field. a policeman had allegedly killed a young boy before the game. something along those lines. 561421[/snapback] Well, the news of the policeman killing a young kid start appearing during the end of the first half of the game you mentioned. It was a false news but both organised suppoter parts decided to stop the game: some entered the field and asked Totti and other players to stop because the news. Later on it was discovered that there could have been even more behind: something like a blackmail to one or both teams for who-knows what reason (or simply to show they can stop a game if they want!!!). It seemed something pre-game prepared or similar but never found out what really happened. It was the darkest moment of the last season SerieA. Fans in Milano are a bit better: we had bad moments in the past years but since a while Inter and Milan fans did not make any similar thing happen. It seems Roma will lose 0-3 and the field suspended for 6 home games!!!

In the afternoon before the game Cassano left the Roma camp after arguing with coach Voeller! Then at the end of first half down by 0-1, with one player setoff for a stupid play, someone from the audience hit the poor refree with a coin or a lighter (causing lot of bloods on the refree face!): game suspended, automatically lost, likely forced to play somewhere else next Champions League home games, huge fine. And today on the financial side, Roma lost almost 10.0% immediately after the opening in Milan Piazza Affari. Really bad day for Roma!!!

Tuesday 14 September 2004 Arsenal - PSV Eindhoven 1 - 0 Panathinaikos Athens - Rosenborg 2 - 1 Celtic Glasgow - Barcellona 1 - 3 Shakhtar Donetsk - MILAN 0 - 1 INTER - Werder Brema 2 - 0 Valencia - Anderlecht 2 - 0 Porto - CSKA Moscow 0 - 0 Paris Saint Germain - Chelsea 0 - 3 Wednesday 15 September 2004 Deportivo La Coruna - Olympiakos Pireo 0 - 0 Liverpool - Monaco 2 - 0 Bayer Leverkusen - Real Madrid 3 - 0 Roma - Dynamo Kiev Susp. for refree hit by a coin from audience Ajax - JUVENTUS 0 - 1 Maccabi Tel Aviv - Bayern Munich 0 - 1 Fenerbahce - Sparta Prague 1 - 0 Olympique Lion - Manchester United 2 - 2