[NFL-ENG] Joe Bommarito: un americano a Milano
Nella scorsa estate i Rhinos Milano hanno ufficializzato l’ingaggio di coach Joe Bommarito che vanta tanti anni di esperienza NCAA e di scout per i New York Jets.
La storia di Coach Bommarito in Italia la racconta Open Field di Jenny Ventras su Sports Illustrated, con dettagli di vita sul campo e non.
Everything is different here. Each word Bommarito speaks is received with the hushed seriousness of a gospel verse at Catholic Mass. All but the two American players on the roster quite literally play for pizza (or sweets from the bakery that is owned by a player’s wife), though their post-game despair reveals they’re actually playing for much more. Bommarito came to Italy to coach, but his job became more like that of Bill Parcells in Miami or Mike Holmgren in Cleveland, tasked with making over a team—and he took that team farther than it had gone in 21 years.
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Jenny racconta dell’inserzione di Bommarito su EuroPlayers, delle tante richieste ricevute e della scelta dell’Italia grazie anche alle pressioni della moglie.
L’articolo parla soprattutto del lato umano dell’esperienza italiana di coach Joe, del lavoro fatto per migliorare, sia sul campo che fuori, qualità e capacità dei giocatori dei Rhinos.
Bommarito’s biggest endeavor was the Rhinos’ offensive line. It was a mess. The center was a player called Nutella, like the hazelnut spread. No one ever specified if that was a nickname or not, but the bigger issue was that Nutella kept forgetting the snap count. Bommarito replaced him with a 31-year-old news producer named Matteo Piccoli, who had his heart set on playing tight end, but even more so on getting on the field. For his left tackle, Bommarito noticed that a player on the Under-16 team, Samir El Negro, had remarkably quick feet. El Negro had been playing soccer until last year, but after getting teased because he was bigger than the other players, he decided to give football a try. In his first game with the Rhinos’ top team, he played so well, his teammates gave him an ovation from the sideline.
Una bella storia tutta da leggere.
