Milan’s ticket campaign this summer has been foreboding,
depressing, and downright strange. They started with “I promise I’ll always be
faithful,” which is what every guy who ever tried to get me into bed always
said and never meant, it’s just creepy. Then came “In joy and in sorrow,” which
just screamed funeral home advertisement. Then the recently modified “In good
times and in bad.” Still foreboding, but the more I thought about it, the more
appropriate it was to us as fans. Whether we just started watching Milan or
we’ve watched Milan our whole lives, our fate as fans is to follow Milan “in
good times and in bad.”
 |
| More than a religion |
Maybe your love of Milan started because you followed a
player you liked and fell in love with the red and black. Or maybe it was a
family thing and you are a second or third generation Milan fan. However you
got here, you have the same blessing and curse as we all do: you are a Rossoneri. Many of us even feel the red
and black blood coursing through our veins, it’s not just some hobby or pastime
whenever it’s convenient. It’s our life.
But regardless of the level of support you give to the team,
as fans we are subject to the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good, of course,
winning. Maybe even winning trophies. Or getting one step closer to a new
stadium. The bad… basically the past three years, as well as other years prior
to winning our last Scudetto and Champions League trophies. The ugly, of
course, watching Berlusconi’s motivational
techniques and our Curva
Sud boycott games instead of support the team. And then there’s
everything in between… good players, bad players, transfer nightmares, dream
signings, winning matches by a late goal, losing matches when it seems unfair. Good
and bad, it comes with the colors.
 |
| Stand with hundreds of fans behind a net in the heat just to see the team preseason? Of course. |
It’s all part of being a fan. We don’t get to pick and
choose what happens, although a lot of people on social media seem to think
they do. But we’re all along for the ride. Every fan has their capacity for
devotion, and every fan has their threshold for pain. So we may not all worship
the same, and we may not all deal with the suffering in the same exact way. For
example, not everyone sits up late at night writing ridiculous posts like this
about Milan or flies halfway around the world to watch one game. Likewise, not
everyone requires a liver transplant per season because of the alcohol they’ve
consumed to numb the Milan pain or throws things at their televisions when
things go horribly wrong in a game.
But what we have in common is Milan. Red like the fire, black like your fear. Watching our heroes in red
and black fight for glory on the pitch. Following every bit of news, every
player’s social media accounts, and paying more attention to the transfer
market than our own children (my lawyers
have asked me to tell you that I am a very fit mother and my children are well
cared for. They just get transfer news at bedtime in winter and summer rather
than traditional bedtime stories.) However much we do or don’t do to
worship our beloved team, we are all fans. And therefore, we stick by our team
in good times and in bad.
This post was inspired by the music
of The Smiths
Milan vs. Legnano
Tuesday, July 14 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)