Retired in Rome Journal: Walking with the wolves as an A.S. Roma soccer fan

ANSA's Alessandro Castellani at Olympic Stadium just before kickoff.

Rome is the only place in the world where I can actually be a horn-blowing, scarf-wearing, obscenity-chanting fan. From my first soccer game at Olympic Stadium during my previous stint here from 2001-03 I have been a fan of A.S. Roma. The 2001-02 season was the year after it won the national league title, known as the Serie A scudetto, for the third time in its history. I arrived to a city still hung over from its celebration six months earlier. Circus Maximus, which once held 250,000 people for chariot races 2,000 years ago, held about that many every night for a week of outdoor parties after A.S. Roma won the title.

More