Okay, so amidst all of the sadness, sometimes there are small triumphs. My small triumphs this season are my two children. Yes, that’s right, I have two children. And a Juventino husband. So which club would they support?
Well,
they grew up watching both teams, and they knew which team was Dad’s and which
team was Mom’s, of course. But Massimo naturally wanted to be like his father.
Plus he worshipped Buffon, so he originally chose Juventus. Sofia loved Buffon,
too, but identified with me and also liked Milan’s colors better (such a girl
thing, I know!) and thus proclaimed herself a Milanista.
But
as she has gotten older, she’s become a bit of a Daddy’s girl. So she
proclaimed herself a Juventina… for a day. Then she decided that she didn’t
want to divide her parents and she wanted to choose her own team. We discussed
this at length, as I explained to her that teams choose you, not the other way
around. We said she could follow any team that called to her. Well, except
Inter. We made it very clear that becoming an Interista was grounds for being
disowned.
She
was a Napoli fan for a few weeks because she liked the color of blue on their
uniforms. But then she decided she wasn’t really into football after all and
took a month or two off. Then she realized that football was the language of
our family, and she missed it, too, so she became an exclusively Azzurri fan to
remain neutral to all parties, and made signs to put up for the Italy matches.
She even sang the Italian National Anthem at her choral concert at school last
year.
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| Magic 8 Ball, which club should I follow? |
More
recently though, watching me blog and reading all of my posts, she finally
broke her father’s heart and pronounced herself a Milanista. We talk all the
time about the players, the games, and the blog posts. She and I belt out Inno
Milan at random, I think she knows all the words now. Although her favorite is
“Chi non salta Nerazzurro è,” she calls Inter “the bad I-word.” And I think the
team colors are still a big draw, as her school next year has red and black as
their colors, too. But as she gets a little older, maybe some of the better
looking players will also help keep her interest. For now, I am enjoying the
small triumph of having a Milanista daughter in spite of her Juve father.
As I
mentioned, the boy originally chose Juventus. With Buffon as your idol, who
wouldn’t? But I found him by my side more and more often watching my Milan
games. Milan was like their mother tongue. We talked about players, positions,
and especially ref calls. Not only had he played a little football, he had also
reffed his sister’s games as an assistant ref and enjoyed that even more than
playing. I was loving his interest in Milan, but we had always said we would
let them tell us which team was theirs.
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| A game controller never was so telling |
Then
one day, he was playing FIFA, and he told me that he’d made some transfers to
Milan. He said he’d brought Buffon over, and some guy named Del Piero, because
he was rated very high. (Not because he was on the back of dad’s jersey or
anything.) I could barely contain myself, and yet felt so bad for my husband,
and did my very best not to be glib when he came home from work that night to
hear this news. He still has no idea how much he broke his father’s heart, and
doesn’t fully understand what a bandiera
is. But from that day forward, Massimo was a Milanista, although he told me he
had been for a long time before that. Another small triumph.
Both
of them love reading my blog, (but not the comments, I never know what people
are going to say!) and while they don’t watch every match with me, we are able
to share conversations and fun Milan moments together. When I pick them up from
school on gamedays, they always ask me who won. And the answer is me. In our
family, it’s Milan 3, Juventus 1.
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| The one thing we can all agree on |
I
can’t feel too bad for my husband. He was born near Rome, and his family are
all Romanisti. He turned on them very early in his childhood by telling them he
was a Juventino, so he can’t really say anything about his children betraying
his club. And he has some solace in that we are all Azzurri fans. We never
pressured them one way or the other, and the irony of them following in his
footsteps of betraying his father’s club is not lost on him, he accepts his
fate and respects their choices.
But
in a year when Milan fell to Juventus, this household gained two new Milanisti.
They could have jumped on the bandwagon last year when we celebrated the
Scudetto. And they could have jumped wagons when Juve won the title on Sunday.
But no, my two Milanisti watched through
good times and bad before they felt the call of their Rossoneri blood. And I am
one very proud Milan Mom.
Our last game of the season is Milan vs. Novara
Sunday, May 13 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)
This post inspired by Elaine’s Milan
Mix, including Inno Milan, Chi Non Salta Nerazzurro È,
Devil Inside, Forza
Milan, Love Me Dead, etc.