BatiGol Weekly 251: A cosa

Viola Nation means a lot of things to me. Having spent the past 3+ years as the boss around here, I’m thrilled with what this site has become. Recently (and entirely thanks to the tireless work of Mike McCormack), we’ve become the top source of English-language Fiorentina news on the internet. Most of that is thanks to all yall who type this URL into your browsers more than anything I’ve done; I’m more thankful for that than I can put into words. Every single one of you is an integral part of where we are now.

I imagine that that this website means a lot of things to y'all, too. For me, it’s community, passion, intelligence, and humor beyond anything I’d ever expected to find from an online Fiorentina group. In the dozen years I’ve been hanging out here, y'all have gotten me through some unpleasant stuff, whether that’s the nearly unremitting misery of the last decade’s Viola or stuff in my personal life that messed me up pretty good. In short, this corner of the web is a huge part of who I am, as a person, a fan, and a writer.

That last one got me thinking about this site recently. As someone who grew up kind of speaking English (Texan is a related but distinct dialect) and has a degree in literature, I’m very lucky that I get to write in my native tongue, even though that frequently requires me to translate things from Italian, which isn’t my strongest language. I can’t imagine how much harder it’d be if I had to write in Swahili or Pashto or Javanese.

This turned my thoughts to the commentariat here. As I went through the Google Analytics for this site this week, I decided to do a little bit of number crunching. What I turned up is that roughly half of the traffic on this site comes from countries where the predominant language is English: USA, UK, Canada, and Australia comprise the biggest portions, which makes sense given the emigration patterns of Italians and the influx of students studying abroad. So far, so good.

But if half the traffic comes from predominantly English-speaking countries, then the other half comes from countries that are not predominantly English-speaking. While some folks on here are native English speakers who live abroad, that doesn’t describe all of yall. As many as 50% of you are reading this in your second or third or fourth or fifth language rather than your first.

While Mandarin Chinese and Spanish claim more native speakers, English is the lingua franca of the internet, so it’s perhaps not as surprising that this community is English-based. However, the sheer number of yall who not only read the articles here but engage in the comments blows my mind. You’re fighting past a lot more obstacles to be here than those of us from the US, UK, and ANZAC countries. You’re putting up with me blathering on about stuff that has nothing to do with soccer. You’re fighting past jokes and idioms from other commenters that don’t translate very well. You’re working a lot harder to be here than the rest of us.

So, as we kick off our first BGW of the decade, consider this a thank you for sticking with the rest of us even when we’re difficult. We’re really glad you’re here.

Latest news

Giuseppe Iachini is the new Fiorentina boss. Learn a little bit more about him here.

Fiorentina hosted a New Year’s Day training at the Studio Artemio Franchi and opened it up the public. It went very, very well.

We rounded up the various transfer rumors flying around on 1/1/20 in one place so you can have an idea of what the grapevine says about the current mercato.

We’ve also got our first sale of the transfer window: it’s Gilberto moving on to Fluminense. This isn’t exactly a blockbuster, seeing as how he hasn’t played for the Viola in nearly half a decade, but it’s still something.

Former Primavera star Michele Cerofolini is also approaching a move away, sounds like. The young goalkeeper has plenty of talent but no space in Florence.

Pedro hasn’t found a lot of space this season despite sky-high expectations, so it’s no surprise that a number of big clubs want to take him away from all this.

A new coach, a new decade, and the same deflating result. Here’s all our coverage from Fiorentina’s crotch punch of a 1-1 draw at Bologna.

Sometimes the rumor mill spits up a real cracker, like this one about Marco Benassi being valued at just €4 million. We, uh, remain skeptical.

Must read

SB Nation’s been in the news of late due to some new laws about freelance work in California. They don’t change anything for this site right now and hopefully won’t in the future; if you want a little more detail, here’s this.

Everyone else did best-of-the-decade lists, so we got in on the action with a best of the 2010s XI. Do not argue. It is completely correct.

We asked you what Fiorentina’s end-of-year target should be, and you answered. Sounds like the plurality want a top-half finish with some display of verve to build on for next year.

Comment of the week(ish)

As the rumors build and swirl, it’s good to have a source you can trust. Thank you, hesanka, for your commitment to the real and the true.

That’s it for this week, folks. Chins up.