THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[maro]

[Zoff82]

[Italiamia]

Jesus, you take a few days off and people are having nervous breakdowns. Shield, have a drink, don't be so sensistive, and relax.

There is not much to say right now quite frankly. I am disgusted that this Chivu situation has not been resolved and I am trying to make an honest assessment of what we have in terms of a team capable of winning something. Moreover, I am very disappointed with Totti's decision to formally retire from the national team.

I am thinking that it's time for Cassano to get his shit together, grow up, and offer Italy another option. Although, it looks like he is a man without a team right now. No major team wants him but it seems obvious enough to everybody that he is going to return to Italy. I don't know why I continue to follow Cassano's plight. I suppose I always liked him really despite his maniacal behavior and constant disruptions. We were all right about him however. We all said his mental difficulties were going to prevent him from realizing his full potential. Since he left Roma, that has certainly been the case. I know I have said this before, but I hate it when Rosella is right about something. I don't want to say she was prescient, but she was right when she said...."Cassano will come to regret the day he left Roma..." Whether he has the capacity to appreciate how far he has fallen since he left Roma is another question.

Anyway, I reget to report that I know nothing right now. When Totti said he was not returning to Italy for physical reasons, I thought is was a bit of a stretch considering the season he had this past year. But, I learned that because he never gets a rest, he has been relying on injections for pain more regularly so he can play from week to week. This is something he would never say publically I suppose. But it is certainly not hard to immagine that being the case. From what I understand, while he has recovered from the injury, he must be vigilant about his fitness and he must do individual training specifically designed to help his ankle. Whether that individualized training involves getting a huge tatoo on your arm is a question for Totti. But, he has been told by Professor Mariani that he is one tackle away from a career ending injury and he must be careful.

Whether this is a legitimate excuse for not sucking it up and playing for Italy starting in September, through the Euro 2008, is subject to debate. I know how valuable he is to Roma. We all know that do we not. But even with his ankle, I cannot fathom why he would not want to contribute something over the next 12 months. Certainly he can accomodate the national team. He continues to take a beating from the Italian press. I am not so sure it is not warranted to a degree. If he is capable of playing, then he should play. But it has to be undconditional. If he is called up, then he must show up with the rest of the team despite the opponent or the venue. Anyway, it's all over now, but he looks bad I think and all this has done is give his critics more ammunition about his 'disdain' for the blue shirt.

[RomaShield27]

Ha nice... plan worked perfectly. Have a little hissy-fit, throw a small tantrum, have a minor 'nervous breakdown', and the crowd awakes and returns to the Colosseum. Yep, over 25 posts and the return of some well distinguished gentlemen in the hours since I've last been on. Thats more like it. Plan worked nicely indeed. Shit, late for football... think I'll be Phillippe Mexes tonight and break some legs...

[vtec]

just don't be christian chivu and break your own.

[maro]

Or Ahmed Barusso and do both?

Avvocato, a fine post with which I agree wholeheartedly. Of course, I'm more personally disappointed that Francesco has retired from the Azzurri rather than in any sense reproachful. I'm happy enough to respect his decision; it is something that perhaps the Catalans would understand most instinctively - Totti is Roman before he is Italian. And yet it's sad for me that he won't be strutting his stuff on the International stage for the next year. It would have been nice for those fans most loyal to him to have seen him give proper cause to shut up the doubters. We are all left, no doubt, with a sense of unfinished business.

The Cassano debacle is such a tragedy. I, of course, was one who thought he'd do pretty well at Real - I thought their culture of a group of individuals might allow him to express himself more than a properly collective team would. Certainly we've all known for a long time that his temperament was the one thing between him and true footballing greatness. I was watching a compilation of his glory moments (it was over on theoffside) and almost all of them, of course, were in giallorosso. Watching him link up with Totti and Mancini made me pretty sad. If the footballing gods offered me one unconditional gift, it'd be to see FanAntonio return triumphantly, harmoniously, happily to Roma. Alas, of course, the footballing gods work in much more oblique ways.

[maro]

Which means, of course, that I owe you a bottle of fine rosso, Avvocato. Populusque, how many goals do you think Monty will get for Samp this season? I'm picking fewer than 50 but more than 3.

[maro]

Shield, you cunning cnut. Who would have thought you had it in you? There was I thinking you were just feeling glum after Sergio Garcia was robbed yesterday.

[Italiamia]

[maro]

[Italiamia]

How about Rosella's conciliatory tone concerning the fans and Chivu. She came out today in support of the player. I find this funny, and of course, duplicitous. On one hand she tells the player he is going to be sold and will not respond to any salary demands over 2.5 million euros net, and further, orders Elena Turra and Cristina Mazzoleni to leak to the press that Chivu is a greedy bastard. So now, she is a friend of Chivu. What really pisses me off is that Chivu does not want to leave Roma and we most certainly could have extended his contract for less than a million euro more than Roma is offering.

What Chivu should do is take the 2.5 million, and ask for the incentives contained in other player contracts. He would make 3.5 at a minimum. Then what would the bitch do I wonder.

Hey Maro, what do you think of when you hear the word Rome? Foro Romano, Pantheon, Via Appia Antica, Ara Pacis, Colosseo, Arco di Constantino, Domus Aurea and Colonna Traiana?

Now we can add Il Museo del giocattolo. Yes gentlemen, a museum of toys. Toys! I wonder if they dug up some of Cleopatra's toys when she vistied Roma. Of course, historians cannot agree whether she actually fucked either Caesar or Marc Antony in Rome itself. So, I suppose we will not see Cleopatra's toys in this museum. I suppose there is some historical basis for having a toy museum:

A Roma Cesare, visto il declino di interesse dei Romani nei confronti dei giochi, decide di assecondare un'idea di suo figlio Bruto: far venire 100 vergini nel Colosseo e sverginarle tutte in un pomeriggio. L'idea piace a Cesare e cosi' il tutto viene organizzato. Arriva il giorno della prova e il Colosseo e' pieno di gente fino in cima. Tutti urlano e incitano Bruto. Entrano le 100 bellissime vergini, poco vestite e tutti urlano ancora di piu': "Brutus! Brutus!". Brutus si fa la prima vergine, poi la seconda, la terza... la decina. Tutti sono in visibilio e urlano: "Brutus! Brutus!". Brutus continua: 11, 12... 20... 30... 40... 50 e la folla ancora piu' esantata: "Brutus! Brutus!". Cesare li' vicino si vanta coi vicini: "E' mio figlio, in fondo". Brutus continua: 60 vergini, 70, 80, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 e qui si ferma esausto crollando a terra. Guarda suo padre e dice: "Strano, mi ero esercitato tutta la mattina..."

[stefano]

[stefano]

[SPqR]

[vtec]

[Italiamia]

[maro]

[Jamoldo]

[maro]

[vtec]