2018 Rico Bonus: Mike Piazza and the Demise of Reggio Emilia

[Edgy MD]

Looks like our 2018 Mets in Retirement page got ... well, retired in the last archive.

But the Athletic (for you subscribers) has a story about Mike Piazza, his takeover of a century-old mid-level football club, and it's ultimate destruction.

Owning ain't for everybody.

https://theathletic.com/721275/2018/12/18/the-passion-of-mike-piazza-how-the-midlife-crisis-of-a-baseball-hall-of-famer-led-to-the-demise-of-a-100-year-old-italian-soccer-club/?fbclid=IwAR25mzjhvbbocGIOIsjbDfBGNBP8k1bM1h7JjUA4Cux1EctRhy-QwbQEulI

[G-Fafif]

Piazza first wanted to buy Parma, a Serie A club then in bankruptcy. Ultimately he felt Parma carried too much debt for him to absorb. Reggiana looked more attractive. Despite being in Serie C, the team’s passionate fans bought an unusually high number of season tickets. Reggiana also played in a top-flight stadium shared with Serie A club Sassuolo. Unlike a Premier League team, or a team already in Serie A, this was a club he could buy cheap and build. Alicia, who refers to Mike’s ownership dream as “his midlife crisis,” offered up a counter argument. “Who the fuck ever heard of Reggio Emilia?” she asked. “It’s not Venice. It’s not Rome. My girlfriend said, and you can quote this—and this really depressed me. She said, ‘Honey, you bought into Pittsburgh.’ Like, it wasn’t the New York Yankees. It wasn’t the Mets. It wasn’t the Dodgers. You bought Pittsburgh!” In their Miami living room, Mike tried to interject but she stopped him. “And imagine what that feels like, after spending 10 million euros. You bought Pittsburgh!”

Mike and Alicia just became Piazzas Non Grata in Western Pennsylvania. Especially Alicia.

[Edgy MD]

Right?

"Don't look for a wife in the centerfold" has been a rule that has always worked for me.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Alicia sounds like a nightmare WiFey WaTcH, and that's only from reading the cut-and-paste excerpts.

The Piazza's obviously never read the Joe McGinniss book MIRACLE OF CASTEL DI SANGRO which should have turned them off to getting involved in the impentetrable cesspool that is low-level pro soccer in Italy.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Curious if anyone actually read the piece?

[G-Fafif]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Curious if anyone actually read the piece?

Read it. Quite engrossing.

[bmfc1]

It's terrific. The Athletic is well worth the $.