ONCE UPON a        TIME
                                                                                          ezine at l'atelier bonita
                                                     established since december 2002

SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 by Cecco "Emotions, passion, love, and faith, yes that pretty well sums up Lazio for me and for most of us. This is what it's all about, consider yourselves lucky for supporting such a beautiful team, a team that along with its fans is so much different yet more special than the rest. We have had our bad moments in the past, and the press has taken advantage of that, slamming our club and supporters into shame, atleast that was what their prime objective was, but that has not forbidden me from walking the streets with my head in the air and proud to be a Laziale. We have often criticized some of the clubs decisions, myself most of all, that is allowed, afterall we supporters do represent a big chunk of the club, but this does not always mean that we are right. We fans see things in our way, we would like to have a strong competitive team all the time and maybe wish that the players that have been with us so long that we have learned to love and cherish could also remain and be part of that immaculate side. This has proven to be impossible, things today are so much different, business is business and all team presidents are in fact business men, they see things their way, profit and balance their prime objective. If you put both of our views together the chances of "co-existing" are very slim, with no doubt there will be ups and downs as the seasons roll along. We fans do have our own very weak little spot, so often we have fallen in love and praised the young men that have worn our jersey, they have responded by praising us as well, but not always are things actually as they appear, we have lived long enough to come to realize this. Money is worth more than all those special chants we have always enchanted towards these players, an example of this is Pavel Nedved, the iron man, the one who always stated that Lazio was his life and that its fans were the most special in the world, more words to describe players like this would surely be a waste of time, I will though add one more thing and state that these bad experiences will not forbid me from loving the eleven men that roll on the pitch wearing our jersey, but I will love them for wearing our colors, and only for that reason, afterall we are SS Lazio fans, not Nedved or anyone else's fans. Lazio is like a religion to me, to us, unlike the majority of the fans of other clubs who choose to support a certain team because it's some sort of flavour of the month, ok it's their choice and they are free to do so, but please save yourselves the time to approach us with your mr. know it all lectures, maybe we have not made ourselves very clear, let me try again. We are Lazio supporters, we always have been and always will be, no matter the final result, we have chosen Lazio because we love the club for what it represents, for what it has represented in the past and for what it will represent in the future, unlike yourselves, that's what makes us special, so it doesn't really matter if the others have a full trophy cabinet and will continue to fill it, the important thing is to be there and fight, fight, and fight, give it our best. One thing is for sure though, we will always be there as we have been in the past........will you? © 2003 Cecco _______________ Cecco, regarded by the Editor as one of the last romantics, "wishes to remain mysterious."

                                                   ONCE UPON      a TIME
                                                                                          ezine at l'atelier bonita
                                                     established since december 2002