Saturday, May 31, 2008

Italy vs Japan

Today it was the opening day of the FIVB Men's World Olympic Qualification Tournament, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym. The final match of the day was between Italy and Japan.


In a gym packed with 10,000 people, Japan could count on the support of about 9,998 fans, who never stopped to cheer for their team; the Italian team, instead, could count only on me and Michele. It was an uneven match, for the two of us, but we managed to shout something every time the Japanese supporters took a break.


The match started well for Italy, who was able to secure the first set. But Japan fought back, and took the next two sets 30-28, 30-28. In the fourth set, when the score was 24-17 for Japan, everything seemed lost. But Italy was able to show its real value, resisting for 11 match points , and finally securing the set for the incredible score of 35-33 on their sixth set point.


In the tiebreak, Italy made no mistake, 15-7, to complete an extraordinary turnaround. It was one of the most incredible and thrilling games I've ever seen.

Friday, May 23, 2008

At the origin of the most famous hamburger

This place in San Bernardino is where the most famous hamburger chain in the world started, back in 1940. Do you notice anything strange?



Who would have imagined that the small restaurant opened by Richard "Dick" J. and Maurice "Mac" McDonald would have become the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants?