Football and life

The Euro championship is finally over... Italy has been soundly beaten by Spain. Spain and Italy... a nice sample of the disastrous economies of Southern Europe. They rule (to some extent) in football, but that's basically it. This is not true, actually... but it is a fact that with the leaders they have, it is hard for those countries to be able to excel. Massive crowds staring at great screens in urban squares. In Italy, nazis trying to cause fights and throwing stuff at the screens themselves. In Neaples someone complaining that the Italian team should have won in order to reach a "moral redemption" for Italy... "are these fucking people kidding me?" (George Carlin). Do you think that a bunch of wealthy young men, who earn their living kicking a ball (very well, to be honest), could represent anything "moral". I mean, all due respect for them, but football is business, show, with a good injection of nationalism. If I want to see people playing, I'd rather watch other games, like Rugby, where it looks like there is much more sportsmanship available. Football is completely devoid of it. Nonetheless, I confess I watched most of the matches of this Euro Championship. A good distraction from the PhD hell, and a good pretext to meet with friends, having good food and drinks together... that is the main reason I watched it, I think. As an Italian, I have embedded in my DNA the tendency to support Italy: I tried to support England and Germany, but I could not help being happy that Italy defeated them. However, now I am not "sad".. as Loris once said, speaking about RISK, "whether you win or lose, tomorrow you have to go to work".. having lost (the Italian national team has) does not affect me, actually. My wage is not lower, and my PHD not more shitty than it used to. The fact that so many people are affected by the result of the team they support is a good argument to support what I heard some months ago: in many cases, it is no longer religion to be the people's opium, but football. "Panem et circenses", as the Romans said.