giggle pop

How I became a Serie A fan. Towards the end of the summer I decided I was going to start following the Serie A. I have followed the EPL and La Liga for years, and had my alliances very set in stone for both leagues for a while, but I had never followed the Italian league closely. While my alliances in the other two leagues formed fairly organically (stories for another day) I started thinking, hmm I need a team if I am going to follow this league, right? It is pretty impossible for me to watch any sort of competition and not get behind a team, I mean I cannot even watch a game show without picking a favorite and screaming at the tv. I decided to give the impossible a try and not pick a team until the end of season…and I succeeded. I spent the season as a happy neutral spectator learning and enjoying the intricacies of the league. I saw a lot of beautiful football and a lot of beautiful men.

As the season progressed I began to sort out teams I could see myself as a potential fan of and ones I just could not get behind. I decided quickly that AC Milan just was not for me, they were just to polished, smug, or something…can’t put my finger on it. There are a lot of great players on the team and not really hateable, but just not for me. The three teams that started to stand out to me as possible candidates were Roma, Juventus, and Inter. After a few Roma games I realized that while they were ripe with hotties there just was not that spark there, and with that Roma got an honorable discharge. There I was trying to decide between Juve and Inter and it was a tough tough choice.

Juve had a little something I loved, not to mention my near obsession with Iaquinta’s head and Gigi’s hair. On the other hand Inter had The Special One, how could I NOT cheer for The Special One? The more I watched Inter the more I loved them…it was going to be so tough to choose. I made a pro list for each team…I managed to lose this list but it was full of quality reasons to cheer for teams such as: Pupi’s right thigh, Pupi’s left thigh, the pure awesomeness of Gigi, Nedved’s hair, etc. (btw the was I was choosing on more than just hotness, but that is just how my lists always turn out). After some time Inter was pulling away into a lead and I was inches away from declaring them the winner.

Then all of a sudden Juve hit hard with a three-pronged attack of firing Ranieri, signing Cannavaro (again), and Gigi Buffon wore bobby pins in a game I never thought I could want a man in berets so badly. Inter needed to step up their game…and step it up they did.

I think it was a few days after the clinched the title I was spending one of my usual awesome weekends sitting on the couch with the dogs, watching sappy movies, drinking lots of wine, and chatting on twitter with my lovely kickette ladies. All of a sudden I get a set of tweets I have only been able to describe as “drunken pictorial persuasion” TB was making a last ditch effort to sway me to become an Interista. It was a series of pictures of Mr. Stankovic in most of these pictures he was about 85% naked and one of which was on a waterslide. It not only provided material for fun dirty jokes, it involved something awesome…a waterslide! Also there were pictures like this…of the boys drunk and in festive wigs from the night before a game after they clinched the title. I LOVE FESTIVE HEAD GEAR!

I was drunk, TB was drunk, the nerazzurri boys were drunk it was like fate…I knew then and there that Inter HAD to be my team. And lets not forget the one of Julio Cesar in a crazy hat, no shirt, and a flag…too bad I can’t find it now.

I had been waiting for my magical a-ha moment, and that was it. So here I am an Internazionale fan. I cannot wait for next season when I can really watch the Serie A with my very own team to support. I loved watching the league this year, but without a team I did not have deep deep emotional attachment I have to La Liga and EPL. I know it is going to come and will develop more with another season or two. So there it is, how I became a fan of the Serie A and a fan of Inter.