A city gone mad, entire streets paralyzed, a flood of crowds and enthusiasm. Milan welcomed Kobe Bryant as a messiah. The NBA star spent an entire day in the Lombard capital yesterday, as part of a promotional tour that saw him visit Greece and Turkey and which will end today at the Nike Store in via del Corso in Rome.
The American basketball player first granted an interview in via Solferino, at the Gazzetta dello Sport headquarters, then moved on to the Nike Stadium in Foro Bonaparte, then to the playground in Parco Sempione, and finally to the House of Hoops in Corso Vittorio Emanuele. During his walk in Milan Bryant proved to be extremely talkative, he expressed himself on the most disparate topics, he did not spare irony and sent the crowd into raptures.
For about ten days, the rumor has been circulating of the champion's arrival in Bologna, on the Virtus side. President Sabatini has formalized an official offer to guarantee the performance of the American ace until the end of the lockout that is blocking the NBA championship. A few hours ago the Bolognese patron revealed: “Last night we presented him with an offer of 2,5 million dollars gross to wear our team's shirt from 9 October to 16 November. Now we have to find an agreement with LegaBasket for television rights, five Serie A clubs that have the most capacious facilities and are ready to host us, a banking institution that allows us to carry on the entire operation from a financial and a close collaboration with the territory”. Sabatini's now seems to be much more than a simple hypothesis. The words spoken yesterday by Bryant in the center of Milan were clear and explicit. “My lawyer is talking to four or five teams. Bologna is a very possible hypothesis”. Phrase punctuated with an excellent Italian, given that from 6 to 13 years old he lived in our country with his father who was a basketball player. And the memories of those years are absolutely happy. “I don't know what will happen in the next two or three weeks, maybe I'll play in Italy, I don't know. I want to tell you that I love everyone, thank you very much. Your country will always be in my heart."
Even Federbasket is taking concrete steps to turn the dream into reality. Dino Meneghin, president of Fip, expressed his enthusiasm for this possibility. “The hope is to be able to see him play here. Claudio Sabatini is a volcanic president, he had this splendid idea and it would be an incredible coup. Fingers crossed. Obviously we will do everything possible to favor this solution”. In addition to the engagement proposed by Sabatini, Bryant would also benefit from insurance costs ranging between 200 and 600 dollars and a 160 square meter suite at the "I Portici" hotel in Bologna.
Basketball fans and enthusiasts, not only from Bologna, are daydreaming. The arrival of the American champion, even if for a few games, would be the highest point reached in the history of our championship. He is in fact the sixth player with the most points scored in NBA history. And, as always happens in these cases, rumors, rumors and indiscretions are already chasing each other. Some say that Bryant was in Bologna last Tuesday to look for a house, someone else claims that he was in Reggio Emilia to find some childhood friends with whom he is still in contact. And we are only at the beginning, because the fairy tale has yet to begin.
