My name is Tim and I'm taking over the Fiorentina blog here at the Offside. If you frequent Martha's site, you will possibly recognize me as "tmc", a.k.a the guy who always comments about Fiorentina and complains about how the squad needs another defensive midfielder, etc. I'm thrilled to be a part of the offside community, and I look forward to keeping you up to date on the latest with the Viola.
I live in Washington DC where I'm a lawyer just getting started with my career (try not to hold this against me). I became a Fiorentina fan in 2000, when I studied abroad in Firenze. That was an interesting time, the key players in the squad were Toldo in the goal, Di Livio in the central midfield, Rui Costa as the playmaker and Chiesa and Nuno Gomes up top. Faith Terim was the gaffer and the talk in all of the cafes in Firenze was that Vittorio Cecchi Gori needed to sell the team and do it quickly before the team went bankrupt. We all know what happened after that ...
I had been a soccer fan long before arriving in Italy, having grown up playing the game (if you follow MLS my skillz would best be characterized as a homeless man's Josh Gros without the concussions) and as a supporter of both DC United and the US Men's National team (you can see Chris' excellent blog for all your Azzurri needs). But the passion of the fans in the Curva Fiesole and the quality of play in Serie A had me hooked from my first trip to the Artemio Franchi.
I'm new at blogging and getting to know the ins and outs of these here internets, so please bear with my as I figure this out (hopefully this won't take too long). At any rate, congrats to the boys (and old men Bobo and Jorgensen) for a good result away to AEK Athens last night and I'll be back later today with a preview of the massive game at the Artemio Franchi on Sunday with league-leaders Inter Milan.