BatiGol Weekly #12: Return of the Rossi

Fiorentina's favorite Jedi is back, fully recovered from his lightsaber wound knee issues. Like Luke Skywalker, his first action upon returning was to rescue friends in need, although he ended up needing all the help he could get from his sidekicks. With Gon-Solo expected to be fully carbonite-free for a Thursday tilt in Basel (along with Facundbacca), everything is zipping along nicely.

To (painfully) extend the Star Wars metaphor here, Paulo Sousa is JJ Abrams, taking over a beloved franchise that had lost its way; the new guy in charge has certainly shaken things up, swearing to maintain what made the originals so wonderful while also working to correct some of the previous mistakes. So far, the previews for the rebooted product have looked promising, although maybe that's just because there's no Khar Jar Binks, even if some of the more hardcore fans remain skeptical at best.

But for now, it's time to celebrate. Hug an Ewok. Dance around a fire in a treetop village, so long as you utilize proper safety equipment (which I know I always do when dancing). Heck, we've even got the ghosts of past heroes (Stevan Obi Wan Kenotevic, Luca "Yoda" Toni) looking on. Rossi is back. The Jedi has returned.

via GIPHY

Let the record here show that VN still thinks the Ewoks are a shameless exercise in money-grubbing.

The latest

Jakub Błaszczykowski was formally introduced, and seems like a pretty rad fella.

Hey, maybe you didn't hear that 10-man Fiorentina beat Genoa 1-0. Preview, comment thread, recap, and stats are all here.

On the bad news side, there's some ugliness brewing between ADV and the fans.

Nenad? More like NenDAD! (Please don't hurt us). Welcome to the world, Julia Tomovic.

Must read

For those who play FIFA, here are Fiorentina's ratings in the newest edition of the game.

The legendary Gheorghe Hagi expects big things from his son Ianis, who's in the Fiorentina youth system.

Florence gave Pepito a civic service award, because he's really swell.

Speaking of really swell, Berna's on a campaign to make everyone love him, and it's working.

Vecino's got some nice things to say, too.

Prade and Rogg talk about that one guy who played for la Viola for six months one time.

Comment of the week

Johnny Bee wants the VN writers to wear out their 'Z' keys.

And on that note, I take my leave. Hit the comments with thoughts about Fiorentina, anxieties about Sousa's first two-game week, Star Wars, soccer in general, or that weird-looking duck you saw yesterday.