One for the Money

Last night, my beloved team landed in New York City, their first stop on their tour of North America the East Coast of America and Toronto, Canada. (Yes, I’m still bitter that they won’t come to the West Coast.) After meeting fans this morning in New York, they will fly to Toronto, where tomorrow the Most Successful Club in the World Most Successful Club in Europe will face the Most Successful Club in Greece, Olympiacos (also the reigning Greek champions.) Hopefully, Milan will not be embarrassed, as this is definitely the most winnable game of the ICC Tournament for them. But with Inzaghi’s admission that the team he’s got right now would have to win with their grit and determination this season (translation: he does NOT have the quality he needs to win,) this North American tour is all about the money.

Ummm... where are the West BEST Coast games?

Friendly Fire

This week saw Milan play two friendlies, one on Wednesday against Lega Pro side Renate, and the other to fellow Lega Pro side Monza. While both were victories for Milan, they were hardly the 10-0 thumpings that Allegri’s Milan used to inflict upon their victims. Still, like they tend to do each summer in these friendlies, the young players shone. And as the players who played in the World Cup get ready to return and meet the team in New York for their US tour, here’s a little spotlight on some of the new and younger players as they head into the friendly fire…

Niang and El Shaarawy in the match vs. Renate

How Level Is the Playing Field?

Taking a slight detour from obsessing about Milan today to talk about three different footballers who struggle with three different disabilities. These are not visible, obvious physical disabilities, but they all belong to a group of disorders known as “invisible disabilities.” Often, people suffer silently, but these three players live in the spotlight, which can be a blessing or a curse. However, thanks to their examples of taking their “weaknesses” and turning them to strengths, they can be an inspiration, not only to their fellow athletes, but to the world.

Hard to believe his daily struggles

Schadenfreude

After Conte suddenly quit as Juventus manager on Tuesday, the rumors of Allegri to Juventus bubbled up almost immediately. It was hilarious to think of as a Milan fan, but I didn’t take it seriously. Surely with other options, including ex-Juventus star Zinedine Zidane, who recently left his tutelage under Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, Allegri would be their last option. And maybe he was, who knows? But as rumors became news and then he was officially unveiled by the club, the schadenfreude took over and left Milan fans everywhere giggling in delight.

This is old news, but who's trolling who now?

Podcast: Finding the Right Milan DNA

It’s that time of year. The squad returned to Milanello and were also presented at Casa Milan amongst a day of festivities and over 2,000 fans. The Curva Sud started the season off right with an open letter to the club, too. The mercato is now in full swing, with a number of Milan players already out on loan or sold, and a few new faces, too. So much change, but most heartening for fans were the words of Mister Inzaghi, who talked about the importance of “finding the right Milan DNA.” And that is exactly what I think fans want the club to achieve this summer in training, in the mercato, and especially as a team.

Is the right Milan DNA here?

Honor the Shirt

Mister Inzaghi was presented on Thursday at Casa Milan, and his press conference was like a salve to the soul for Milan fans. Amongst so many other things, he said, “My motto has always been 'Honor the shirt'. This has to be our motto now at Milan." Clearly, he hadn’t seen this season’s shirts, or he might have chosen a different motto. But his words and ideas and the respect he has for the club, management, the players, and the fans make him the ideal person to lead this Milan away from the past two years and back to success.

Calcio’s Greatest Shame

My first memory of Italian “justice” goes back a number of years when I read a little writeup in an American paper about a rape trial in Southern Italy. Everything pointed to the man’s guilt, but he was exonerated of all wrongdoing by the all-male court, who cited that the young woman’s pants were too tight, therefore he could not have removed them by himself, therefore it was not rape. Reading about this enraged my sensibilities, not only as a woman, but also as an American. Sadly, it is not hard to find injustice here, but at least the system usually fails because of human error or perhaps a legal loophole that actually requires intelligence and effort to find, rather than making up rulings at will. However, reading about that case prepared me for my shock from the ever growing laundry list that is Silvio Berlusconi’s resumé of legal allegations and the complete lack of justice for the man who gained much of his wealth and power due to Milan’s successes on the pitch. And yet, as ill as that always makes me to think about, he is hardly calcio’s greatest shame.

While the players were basking in victory, their world was crashing down around them

Justice

I am not a horrible person, despite what you may read about me on Twitter or elsewhere. But I did thoroughly enjoy the complete mauling of Brazil that Germany handed them yesterday. Why? Because for me, it was justice. Or at least Karma. I don’t usually enjoy a rout, it’s not good sport. But I enjoyed this one because of all of the unsporting behavior of Brazil’s players, federation, and even fans this World Cup. Their sense of entitlement knew no bounds, and even more than Uruguay’s horrific support of Suarez’ insane behavior or some of the very frightening referee decisions that impacted this tournament (like Dzeko's goal wrongly called offside), Brazil ruined what has otherwise been an amazing World Cup to me. So judge me if you must, but I thought that yesterday’s semifinal was justice.

When you start out like this, Karma will come back to haunt you

Y'all Ready for This?

If you look up the word passionate in the dictionary, chances are you’ll find a picture of Pippo Inzaghi. Well on Wednesday, our favorite passionate player-turned-coach comes back to Milanello in charge of the First Team. Having only ever been sent off once as a player in his career, he has already been sent off at least three times in his career as a youth coach. Passion, indeed. So despite the douchebaggery that prevails in our management, it’s hard not to be excited for the many faces and emotions of Mister Inzaghi. Y’all ready for this?

Exclusive Transfer News

Now that the mercato is open, rumors are a dime a dozen. Fans and journalists alike apparently will not sleep until every last player is linked to Milan and every last Milan player is linked with a move away. But I’m impatient. I don’t want to wait until September to find out what’s going on, so with a little help from my wise young children, we’ve taken the liberty of predicting Milan’s entire mercato for you now. You’re welcome.

Quit while you're ahead