Sunday, January 13, 2008

Italian Basketball






1/13/2008
We left Nascondiglio di Bacco for parts north after letting Bacco model the latest in Juvecaserta fashion, stopping on the way in Potenza Picena for a nice lunch at the Osteria pictured. Jesi was next where we bought tickets and waited outside the little arena in the rain for the 5 policeman to let us in and body search each of us. The Caserta fans are rowdy and loud and in sharp contrast to the Jesi fans, who seem to be watching theater, rather than a sporting event. Arthur Johnson seems to have the same dimensions he had at MU- 6'9" and 255, but his college average of 9.6 rebounds per game was not met. He did a fairly good job defensively, was a little clumsy with the ball at times, but at the end, was the high scorer for the team with 22 points. Unfortunately, he needed to score more like 52 if Juvecaserta was to have won. When their team was behind by 30 something points and the fans couldn't stand the lethargic play for another second, they spent the rest of the game with their backs turned to the court chanting, take off your shirts and play (meaning you don't deserve to wear those jerseys) and Be ashamed!
The things they called the referees, I can't repeat on a pure, clean blog such as this one.
I am not sure I will be seeing many more bb games in Italy, but it was a nice change of pace.
Off to sleep. dds

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