Podcast: Relaunching

Football is potentially making a comeback soon, and with that possibility, there is a ton to talk about. How will Serie A return? Will it finish this season after all? What will transfers be like? Beyond that, there is more news about Maldini, the possibilities of the Milan project, and even the coach going forward. To discuss so many complex topics, I asked Rui to join me and look at relaunching Milan.

Will we see the dressing room ready to go again soon?

Killer Italian Drama

If only Italians were as serious about making decisions as they are about their food. We have seen it so many times, where indecision and a lack of clarity about authority have fueled political drama that makes soap operas look boring. No one wants to be the one responsible to make the decisions, yet everyone wants their opinion to be decisive. We already saw how this dysfunctional style of government likely cost lives at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak. That is some killer Italian drama.

Italians are used to drama in football

The Importance of Keeping Maldini

Even before Gazidis actually sacked Boban, we all feared that Maldini would follow. Whether he would wait to be sacked also, with the rumors of Rangnick coming in to do his job, or if he would simply leave the club as a man of principle, we feared the worst. However, an interview this past week with Maldini, in which he stated that he never thought about leaving, gave us some cause to relax and possibly consider Milan going forward. Above all else, fans know the importance of keeping Maldini.

Singlehandedly keeping the Milan in AC Milan

Alessandro Nesta: Grace Under Pressure

Milan lost players like Shevchenko and Kaká to money deals, where they were sold for a huge sum in order to balance the books. This is a thorn in the side for many Milan fans, from an era that rained trophies and success. But we forget that we were also on the receiving end of a money deal, too, a player that came to us from Lazio. He was a player who also helped it rain trophies for Milan, and an amazing defender, as well. That player, of course, is Alessandro Nesta.

Graceful defender

How to Survive a Sports Famine

This is not a tutorial, I think it may be what they will have to read at my funeral. Without sports, I feel like I am dying, and not just my soul, either. This is literally the longest I have ever gone without sports in my life. I think I might have been better off sacrificing food for this long, because this is no way to live.

Empty stadium, empty heart

Podcast: Milan, Money, and the Masses

Although football has been gone for weeks now, there is still plenty to talk about, especially to discuss how and when it will come back. Another discussion is players’ wages during the time of shutdown, and there is always Milan drama to discuss, too. For this discussion, Susy, editor of Football Italia, joined me to try to make sense of these trying times.

How will football come back?

POLL: How and When Should Football Come Back?

We are all missing football so much right now. All sports, in fact. I’m pretty sure I could watch a marbles tournament right about now, and I would be completely engaged for hours. I found myself attracted to the TV screen like a moth to light when my kids were playing football in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games this past week. I am desperate, I think I would watch just about anything at this point.

Closed doors? Or no football?

At Home Ultras

We are the At Home Ultras. Some of us may never be able to make the pilgrimage to the San Siro, or perhaps we save for years just to attend one game. If we are really lucky, we might attend a summer friendly if the team come to our town. Our voices will never be heard in the stadium cheering and singing for our team. We may not make the incredible coreografia that the Curva Sud are known for. But we bleed red and black, and we watch every game, no matter what time it is where we live.

In lieu of a stadium

Dear Football

Dear Football,

I have loved you since I first watched the ball moving around the pitch. With twenty-two players, two giant nets, and a referee, you seduced me with your speed, intensity, and passion. I watched inspired formations come to life to do battle with the other team. The players’ strategic positioning and fluid passing was simply beauty in motion.

Breathtaking tackles

No One Like Pirlo

Before Juventus aged Andrea Pirlo ten years in just a couple of seasons, he was the clean-shaven Maestro of Milan’s midfield. Quiet, hard-working, and blessed with absolutely sublime skills, he was the artist to Gattuso’s destroyer, and the pairing could not have been more perfect for Milan. His exit was an actual travesty, exponentially so because he went to Juventus for free, and Milan has literally never been the same without him. Nine years later, and there is still no one like Pirlo.

Ten unforgettable years... for Milan fans

Certain Types of Names

After years of patchwork transfer markets and Galliani free transfers, the sporting side of Milan has vastly improved since the return of Paolo Maldini. Even more so when Zvonimir Boban was brought in as Chief Footballing Officer last summer. If you have paid attention to the interviews with the players they have brought in since then, pretty much all of them have talked about answering a call from either Maldini and or Boban or both, and that having them at the club was what made them choose Milan. Even on the latest podcast, Milan goalkeeper Asmir Begović mentioned that he was at the club due to “certain types of names” calling him.

Certain Types of Names

Podcast: Chat with Asmir Begović

The worldwide pandemic has brought everything to a halt, especially sports. With Milan players staying inside like everyone else, it gave me a chance to chat with Milan goalkeeper, Asmir Begović. Unlike the stereotype of a goalkeeper, he is not just standing around waiting for something to happen. We talked about keeping sports alive at this time with his own podcast, Season of Sports, his career, playing for Milan, and more.

Goalkeeper, Podcaster, Philanthropist, Businessman, Milan player

Milan, Interrupted

It has been almost a month since Milan restlessly gave up three points to a relegation zone team behind closed doors. And it was the day before that when Gazidis, amidst all of this mess, fired Boban (of which the result may have some correlation.) That left Maldini’s position in question, too. Then he and his son Daniel tested positive and had symptoms of COVID-19. That brought us back to the harsh reality of why football stuttered and then just stopped in the first place: as of this writing, over 13,000 people in Italy have died, most of them from the region that Milan is located in.

Telling the truth is a part of Milan's DNA