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UN-BELIEVABLE
Even more so considering I wasn't really suppose to arrive in Italy for another ten days. I could have been trudging my way through Slovenia right about now. What a thought.
The per-game festivities are like the world's biggest block party where everyone knows each other. There's no such thing as staking out "your" territory or being polite about bumping into each other. The fact that you're going to sit where you can and get a little squished in the process is all part of the fun. Beverages of every type were passed and shared from group to group regardless of whether or not you knew the person who's knee was resting on your shoulder. There was little room to walk, but somehow people were still able to negotiate their way through some areas where one more person couldn't possibly fit and still get other people to nudge over and make a little more room. All this and the dancing, singing, and flag waving continued to invite more people in. The more the merrier isn't just a saying in Italy, it's something that is ingrained in Italian society.
There were a lot of photo opportunities even before the game started. I shared the stage area with three other local news photographers and though none could speak English, and I speak even less Italian, we were able to easily comminucate through hand signals and smiles. One of the roles we played was as official photographers to the 
fans. People would hand us their cameras and we would take photos of them as they mugged with their group. I couldn't help but notice - maybe it was just my imagination - that some of the female fans would sometimes do "things" to draw the attention of the cameras. Is that conceivable? Do you really think
they would do that on purpose? Well, I fell for it... Shameless, I know, but I'm only serving those of you who have been hounding me with, "What, no women?".
On with the game
The penalty kick that was awarded to the French at the seven minute mark - and successfully executed - was like letting air out of collective tire. What a blow it was to Italian fans to have something so dastardly happen so early in the game and there was no shortage of jeers and taunts in the direction of the big screen. Goals at this level of play are extremely difficult to come by, but I didn't see anybody anxious to leave. Soon, Italy scored a well deserved goal of their own and the fans were quickly reinvigorated. Score: France 1, Italy 1.
Two halves of regular play and two extra time periods and the score was still tied. As I mentioned in the previous entry, penalty kicks were not an Italian strong point, but again, I didn't see anyone get up to leave or cover their faces because they could not bear to watch. You may already know what happened in the end, but I've included a video clip so you can take a brief walk to the front of the stage.
I finally arrived back at my apartment at 3:00am having been pulled from cafe to cafe by some of the people I met in the crowd during the day. Italians - gotta love 'em. This was truly an unforgettable day.
Download italy_final_2_0001.WMV
