Playing for Pizza

 

Ever hear of an author by the name of John Grisham?  He likes to write conspiracy theory books about lawyers in the south.  Although highly entertaining, after a few of his books I can barely separate one plot line from the next.  Every once in a while he pops out a book that goes against his established formula including one of my all time favorite books, The Painted House.  A couple years ago he decided to mix his formula up a bit and write a standard Grisham book, but set in Italy with a broker/lobbyist rather than a lawyer.  The resulting book, The Broker, was published in 2005.  It was followed two years later by Playing for Pizza, a short novel inspired by his observations while researching The Broker. 

Playing for Pizza isn’t deep or philosophical. It is an entirely entertaining fish-out-of-water story about an arrogant American football player who goes from a fat NFL life to playing for the Parma Panthers, in Parma, Italy for meager compensation. It is a feel good story where ego is swapped for loyalty and love of game/life reemerge surrounded by beautiful architecture and plates of pasta.

All that feel good stuff aside; it is a story about American football in Italy. Know who plays for the Ferrara Banditi, the local team here in Ferrara, Italy? Husband. That’s who. The Banditi are a flag team and the average age is…well, not young. There are two father/son duos on the team. There is tackle American football here as well, but Americans who played college…or HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL (really HS?) are not allowed to play. Just as well, every time Husband plays tackle ball there are serious injuries involved. Turkey Bowl anyone? 

The Ferrara Banditi

Husband playing Flag Football

Yesterday was a triple header for the Banditi.  The day started in typical local fashion.  Everyone arrived at the meeting spot 15 minutes late then we all had coffee.  Love it.  We caravanned to the field two hours away, passing through a bike race.  I mean we drove right through it. 

Back to Football!  This was sort of a big day for the Banditi because if they won two out of the three games they would be in the playoffs.  The team was expected to win games one and three.  Game two they were playing the league defending champs.  The Banditi were not so much favored in that one. 

The first game went great.  Husband had brought along two American buddies for their first ever Ferrara football experience.  I can’t wait to hear how they were feeling today.  The team had it all together.  They played well and posted a W. 

One of the two action shots that came out (game 1)

The other one (game 2)

The second game, the one against the defending champs…wow. It wasn’t pretty. It was like watching a tv show where some things were slowed down and others ran at a faster speed. Unfortunately, the things that were unnaturally slowed down were the Banditi and the unnaturally speedy elements were provided by the team in red. The whole team was made up 17-21 year old genetic hybrids. There was this girl who played defense against the quarterback. She was like a damn spider monkey that had been trained by gypsies. It was unreal. He would barely get the ball back into throwing position and she had already pulled not one, but both of his flags and checked his prostate. If this chick worked as a pick pocket, she would be independently wealthy in under an hour. Unbelievable. I’m not sure, but I think on one play she had a little extra time and Zoolander-ed the qb’s underpants. She was that good. Oh and the other players didn’t suck either. If one of the Banditis missed a pass, they got it and ran it in as easily as playing catch. I stood slack jawed on the sidelines the entire game in awe of the beauty that was the red team’s game. It didn’t stop me from trying to derive plans to derail them, most of which started with, “okay, we get a keg of beer…” The Banditi did not post a W on this one.

The third game was supposed to be a W with the Banditi being the clearly superior team. Well, I mentioned the outstanding skills of the lady in red from the last team, this team that played in Brocos colores, also had a lady of note. She ran by one of Husband’s American buddies not once, but twice. The second time for a score. She wore the number 69 and fellows; she gave but did not take. It was touch and go for a while, but in the end the Banditi pulled off a W securing their place in the playoffs. Way to go! There are still six games left in the regular season, but having the pressure off is not a bad thing. An even better result than a spot in the playoffs was Titus getting to see the game played live. He really seemed to like it. Here, watch Titus Football.

There were four teams yesterday and round robin play. The teams were all so happy. Everyone really seemed to be there for the love of the game. I wouldn’t call it a spectator extravaganza, but it was more than entertaining for me. More entertaining still was the ride home when Husband’s leg started spasming while he was driving. I laughed despite myself yet again.  

Matthew, Titus and Eva passed out water, but Matthew was clearly the most dedicated water boy.

On the way home we stopped and ate dinner.  Pizza.  Thanks for the Idea Mr. Grisham.