055 non sono 2 sensa 3

Wow!

What a great day in sports.

Auburn beats Florida 9-3
Auburn beats JMU 16-3
and Italy beats France in a shootout!

First and foremost, congrats to the 10-2 Tigers, I'm so proud & wish I could have been there. The last 2 games will determine whether we repeat as division champs - Alabama and William & Mary. The JMU victory is especially sweet - anybody remember this a few months ago?


For the World Cup final last night, Diana had some friends over, kinda like a Superbowl party, but instead of beer and chips, there was wine, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, proscuitto with melon, bread, salmon, cherries, coffee, & gelato.

Just before the game started, the network broadcast a montage of Italy highlights over the last month. The background music was the theme from Braveheart with all the bagpipes, which I guess is oddly appropriate. It was strangely exciting to hear this Scottish music loud and in stereo from our TV, the ones from our neighbors in the building, as well as the ones across the street, all while watching the Azzurri score goal after goal on screen.

So, the game began, and things looked pretty grim for the Azzurri at first, with France scoring on a penalty kick only about 7 minutes into the game, but Italy scored on a corner kick before the end of the 1st half to tie the game at 1-1. The second half of regulation was scoreless, as was the 1st OT, and the 2nd OT. So the game was decided on a kick off, 5 tries for each team, France misses the 2nd attempt and Italy wins it all!

I went out into the streets with everyone else in town, on foot, in cars, and on motorcycles, everyone clad in Italian flags and colors, singing songs, setting off fireworks and smoke bombs, standing on top of public buses, everyone yelling CAMPEONI DEL MONDO, some people spray painting "campeoni del mondo", chanting, HONKING, air horning, clapping, taking off clothes, jumping in fountains, throwing beer in the air... a little crazy.

It was not at all similar to the Superbowl, but definitely similar to the Auburn-Alabama game, but in a much, much larger city.

I took a lot of photos and movies, but when I went to download today they disappeared from my camera again. I'm starting to worry that my memory card is corrupt. The exact same thing happened to this guy. If anyone has any ideas about how to remedy this, I'm all ears.

Anyway, here's a photo I found online at Piazza del Popolo, where I was at, to give you an idea.


And similar celebrations at the Fontana di Trevi:


And here are the answers to the TV show quiz.