Don’t Mess With Italy

As you might imagine, Italians don’t treat the use of the word “mafia” lightly. I won’t go into the details, but recently a non-Italian head of an anti-doping agency accused Western Europeans of a mafia-like culture when it comes to regulating the sport of cycling. The president of the Italian cycling federation didn’t take long to respond:

I remind you that Italy is amongst the mother nations of the European Union. This is my culture, and I am proud to be Italian. … I urge you to take time and reflect, performing your role as president of the ‘super party,’ to finally have a dialog that ours and the other cycling federations can use to help better the cycling world.

Forget about Texas, don’t mess with Italy.