The Maestro

I come from an Italian family, so to us soccer is like a religion. I am a Napoli fan, the biggest team in the area from where my family comes from. Napoli was big in the 80s, when Maradona was playing for them and was decent for about half of the 90s. I am old enough to remember some of this so I became a Napoli fan. In the late 90s and early 2000s Napoli was bad and playing on the 2nd and 3rd tiers so my brothers did not have a chance to follow them. Instead they are Roma fans.  Because of this now there is this big friendly rivalry whenever we are together Roma Vs. Napoli. Part of it is trying to get Lucas to root for one of the two. My brothers have gotten him Roma gear, but until now my influence has prevailed and he confidently states that Napoli is the best team. When he plays soccer he will tell me that he is Hamsik or Insigne (Napoli players).

However, this Sunday there is a game in Boston, Juventus Vs. Roma. It is going to be Lucas's first experience on a soccer stadium so I have been building it up for a couple of weeks. I want him to be excited and for it to be special. I found out that Roma would be training today in Harvard, so I had Lucas skip daycare, dressed him and Matias from head to toes in Roma gear and went there.

The day was cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain, but luckily it never did. We were at Ohiri Field at about 10 AM and I was amazed of how little the crowd was. It had to be about 10 people tops. The players just walked in from the hotel, no bus, no crowds. They must love the anonymity the US gives them. The players started walking in and I kept whispering the names in Lucas's ears. He would shout De Rossi! Florenzi! Perotti! and they would all wave. De Rossi actually came to him and gave him a high five. Lucas was beaming with happiness and so was I. I kept telling him to yell for Nainggolan but he must have gotten scared with his haircut.

In the end he was asking where is Totti? I had to explain that he was no longer playing for Roma. "Il Capitano" retired. Then an interesting conversation started: Why did he retire? Because he is getting older and the older you get the slower and weaker you get. But I am growing stronger, when I'm 4, I'm going to be very strong. Yes, Lucas but once you turn 30, it all goes downhill and he was 40. Now my son is scared of growing old and he's only 3. Meanwhile Matias was just hanging out in his stroller, smiling as always, no complaints about spending a couple of hours outside under an overcast sky.

What did I watch?
A lot of Pokemon again, that's what I get for making my kid skip school.

UPDATE: They took our picture and posted it to Instagram