It was exciting, and we want to thank all those who attended the Special Evening dedicated to Basketball City, held last night, Monday 28 May 2018, bringing with each their own experiences, anecdotes, i flashback, the curiosity, the background ... A thousand stories, all about two teams, tied with an unbreakable thread that is called derby ... "never cousins", as the title of the book Enrico Schiavina, or maybe actually ... always cousins?
We thank first our guests, beginning by those who, last, He could not attend for reasons far more important than basketball, or Alberto Bucci. Too bad he could not hear his stories, but we already have more than willingly agreed to meet next time. Maybe along with Puglisi Saints, other key historical memory of Basketball City, He mentioned several times during the evening and unable to get from his native Sicily.
Exciting words Marco Calamai, which he has ranged retracing fragments of a career-ending, from Florence to Bologna as a player, then coach. Leaving his mark as an opponent at every intersection with Bologna (a beautiful "sliding-door" with Virtus Ettore Messina, that deputy opened an era), It would then called. Here he founded the special project about Limits, party with 17 disabled children, and extended today 30 city 1.000 Players in Italy!
Exciting words Renato Albonico, who recalled how, He started from his Venice and arrived in Serie A landing in Milan, Then he accepted the call of Virtus giving up a lot of money, in order to be able to be part of it. In Bologna remained to live and a few years ago, together with friends Think Basketball, It gave life to a project that has brought the basketball in the prison of Dozza, not without difficulty, but leaving him in a lot.
Exciting words Alberto Bortolotti, that mixing jovial spirit and professionalism as always, He has unveiled its youth cestistici beginning with Fortitudo, also coached by a certain Gary Schull, Then to see the birth of the Fossa dei Leoni (and recount the origin of the name, linked to the earliest occupied clove components within the Palace), and therefore its relationship with the Lawyer dental Porelli, who took him on Basketball League. We would have really listened for hours.
Exciting words Marco Tarozzi, the derby began to live as a journalist, and then make the leap from the other side of the fence, becoming Head of Communications of Virtus five years ago. With Michele Forino, He recalled times "Ball two", carried along on the frequencies of Neptune Radio Onda Libera from 1997 al 1999, hosting the players of Virtus and Fortitudo with very great public, a memory to which were particularly fond ...
Many journalists present, with some big names that we wanted to call into question, gives Franco Montorro e Leonardo Iannacci (moving the anecdote Carlton Myers e Sasha Danilovic ritrovatisi friends, years after...), a Roberto Gotta, who explained how the Basketball City derby has won no less than Sport Illustrated, hosting senior writer Alexander Wolff who devoted a long article in the magazine you, and a book chapter "Big Game, Small World".
A lot of the names of the characters mentioned, remember the derby, probably about the year 1997/1998, when Virtus and Fortitudo proved in practice the two strongest teams in Italy and Europe ... With the Italian Cup at Effe, Euroleague and the Scudetto the black Vu, in a texture made of incredible derby ... And the culmination of "shot by four" of Sasha Danilovic, undergoing foul Dominique Wilkins... twenty years later, each of us who have lived has their own opinion on how it went ...
The derby, in conclusion, It is a unique heritage, at Basketball City. In the field, on the bench, in the two companies, in the press, between the stands, in families ... There would, to tell. We tried to do it, chat in three hours. Bringing those present the greetings from Barcelona Zoran Savic, in Bologna won everything, including derby with both mesh! He was led by Virtus player in Euroleague (MVP) and Scudetto 1998, Fortitudo as General Manager of the Scudetto 2005.
Finally thank the Foundation of the Order of Journalists of Emilia-Romagna, especially in the person of Andrea Tufariello, that we have the opportunity to organize this event within its Training Courses, He has allowed us to tell, to remember, relive, savor, regain and rediscover emotions of a, one hundred, thousand derby. Both for the players and for the fans, and certainly for journalists: unique emotions, really never silenced in any of us.
Photo by Fabio Pozzati