World Cup Roundup: Italy's Azzurri Sing the Blues

For those of you who might be interested in how the 'World Champs' could have fallen so far, so fast, from grace, I proffer a roundup of the Mia Colpa circulating in the media and in the street:

• Coach Lippi - who has, in a rare moment of humility, taken all of the burden upon his shoulders.  Perhaps he should have watched a bit more Seinfeld or Dallas, and gone out while he was still on top [Coach of the World Champions 2006].

• The players - The coach could barely make a team of Italian players seeing that their strongest team is almost totally foreign (see a previous blog entry here).  Add to this the fact that Italian players do not stray far from mamma's apron strings to venture out in teams far afield, and you've got a B-string team as your national squad. So, most players came from Torino's Juventus, not Italy's no. 1 team.

• The histrionics - I admit, this didn't cause them the loss, but it sure as hell showed the immense lack of sympathy worldwide for our Azzurri once they went down.  While Italians are loved the world over, judging from Twitter, sports sites, and every media outlet on the globe, their team certainly is not.  

And, I don't think it's a case of sour grapes.  While Italy is not the only team to grab various body parts and convulse on the pitch (Slovakia's goalie wins the Oscar yesterday), they have the moves choreographed as well as a Verdi Opera.  If only they would put as much finesse and forethought into their passing.

• The players' age - The team in the end, is old and just plain fatigued from having to play so many tournaments prior to the World Cup.  The best players were benched for injuries...And in a nutshell, the street is screaming for fresh, young blood.  People old and young were shouting this at the screens, with one octogenarian claiming, "The same names, the same shirts, we've been seeing these same guys for 30 years..."  Well, with the top age of 36, this isn't actually true...But, this team was already 4 years older and many of the leading lights back then weren't on it now (see Lippi above).   

If we could now get people from all walks of life to join in, and repeat:
Out with the Old, In with the New 

-- now, one more time with gusto:  

Run the octogenarians out of political office, Media conglomerates (for Berlusca this is one & the same), University fiefdoms, the TV shows, the Museum dictatorships (where some Directors are as old as the artifacts on display), Company Board Rooms, and even from the Holy Trinity of Italian society: La Mamma needs to step aside & let her 30-something kids grow up & get going, people were even saying so about the Pope (and his upper echelon), and finally, let's pull 'em out even from the Mafia Don secret refuges...and allow the energy & fantasy of youth to drive the ball straight into the net. 

Do this, and believe me, Italy would not be caught offsides.

[we'd then only have to figure out how to get our hands on the billions in Mafia money...]