Posted by evan on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

Interview Blog

Over the years, I have enveloped myself in American sports, watching baseball, hockey, basketball, and football games on a continuous cycle. For myself and countless other Americans, sports play a large role in our society, bringing people together to cheer for or against teams. Here in Sicily, I wanted to use my interview opportunity to better understand how sports play a role in Sicilian and Italian culture.

I met with Vicenzo Guadagni, general manager for the local basketball team (Zannella Basket) and he instantly jumped into how much he loved his job. Despite having a smaller stadium than other Italian basketball teams, Vicenzo was proud of the stands filled up and how his team progressed from season to season. I quickly learned about the structure of the Italian league, how there existed multiple levels of talent (ranging from C to B [Cefalu’s place] to A2 and finally, A1). Throughout the discussion of his position and structure of Italian basketball, I admired Vicenzo’s passion for the game. Even though he worked part-time with his sister on a start-up company, Vicenzo’s love for basketball was unparalleled.

After learning about his personal life as general manager, we moved to comparing differences in American and Italian sport culture (using primarily basketball as the example). First, sports in Sicily play an important role towards the identity of a town. For a smaller place like Cefalu, having a traveling basketball or soccer team essentially acted as advertisements for the town. Along with the team spreading the name, sponsorships are rather involved with the team. According to Vicenzo, the team generates 70% of its revenue solely from its sports ventures while the remaining 30% comes from town sponsorships, such as hotels, bars, and local stores. On top of sponsorships, everyone (heavily emphasized by Vicenzo) came to the games; children to grandparents along with men and women alike filled the stands of Cefalu’s stadium to support their team.

Compared to American sports (or at least Atlanta sports), the Cefalu population rallied around their team so much more. Atlanta has a reputation for having fairweather fans but I haven’t seen the same dedication to Cefalu’s team even in hardcore sports towns such as Philadelphia. Additionally, sports in America are mostly portrayed as an event for grown men to enjoy whereas in Sicily, everyone is able to rally around the team. Having lived in New Jersey for his college years, Vicenzo was able to directly compare the fan experiences of American and Italian sports and he noticed that American sports was a show. Pre-game and halftime shows, recognition of important people, and mascots filled the empty time in sports. People came to American games not just for the sport but for a variety of entertainment. In Sicily, the point of sports was to unite over just the game. Most Italian stadiums lacked concession stands, holding only stands for people to sit, indicating the importance of the game rather than a show.

Finally, we discussed the prevalence of sports in Sicilian culture. Here, the similarities between American and Sicilian cultures are more clear. Vicenzo noticed that families typically watched a lot of sports together, with his own father becoming engaged in basketball while Vicenzo played professionally. This is quite similar to my own relationship with my father as we both love to watch sports and talk about them all the time. On another note, both countries emphasis sports at a young age. Children are encouraged to play soccer, basketball and volleyball and become active in both American and Italy. The main difference between children activities was the organization behind them. Typically in America, children and teenagers play sports at their school or colleges. In Sicily and Italy, professional organizations create the leagues for the teenagers while universities place their emphasis entirely on academics. This came as a great shock for me as sports and academics seemed to be on equal footing at most universities in America.

While it’s safe to say that sports are very important in both nations, Italy and the U.S.A approach them in very different ways. Entertainment, connections to children and education, and attendance by fans all varied greatly between the two countries but both present unique glimpses into their respective cultures. I walked away from the interview happy to have met Vicenzo but I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the many differences between sports in America and Sicily.

Evan Mercer