Lele Adani – Ansa
If we talk about numbers, then Rai is the third triumphant force of the World Cup, with Qatar as organizer and Argentina as world champion on the field. The Rai exclusive edition produced audience records and a finale with a bang: Argentina-France reached a 68.6% share, beating the 2018 final broadcast by Mediaset by over a million viewers.
Almost 13 million Italians orphans of the Azzurri tuned in for the final and during the penalty lottery they reached a record 16 million 101 thousand spectators, a share of 74.3%. Figures that confirm Giorgio Gaber’s theorem, we live in a time in which «quality is not required».
And while on the field, paroxysmically, a footballer and his team are evaluated only in terms of “quality”, everything that revolves around the football universe, information in the first place, seems to us to have reached an all-time low. Four weeks to forget, those of the Martian commentary and the exclusive live broadcasts of Rai. We thank all the camel team, necessarily for once, given the trip to the arid desert of Doha, because it broadened our nostalgic horizon and made us regret once more that elegant, elegant Rai traditionally at the service of the public. The self-referentialism of even the smallest or most slender of the current microphones was “impressive”, as Nicola Ventola would say in the masterful parody that the Own goals make of it.
Here, if Rai really wants to experiment with new ways and captivate the audience of “ggiovani” (a category that now extends from the loyalists of Rai Gulp to the social audience of the Sanremo Festival) it should not yet rely on the old caravaneers, improvisers and the polluters of the airwaves, but bet courageously on talented youngsters, such as Autogol. Seriously focus on irony and on those who have the ability to entertain, even when slipping into the sustainable lightness of football language.
We thank Lele Adani, but not for the sustainable lightness: thanks on behalf of the whole royal country for having made us discover and then understand that Leo Messi is the strongest footballer in the world (along with Mbappè, who for Adani is perhaps a French yogurt ). Lele, the messiologist, deals with football as the theologian deals with the history of religions. A prophet of the post-Maradonian Argentine church who announced live, flanked by a startled and now exhausted Stefano Bizzotto (last veteran of the good old Rai school) who Eupalla Diego Armando would have prophesied at the time: «A man will appear who will take my place: Lionel Andres Messi Cucittini. That he sees what others don’t even imagine.’
To worthily celebrate the glorious mystery of deus Messi’s 100th game with the Albiceleste shirt, after his idol’s goal in a moment of mysticism Adani proclaimed, blasphemous: «Here he is, here he is. 1000 and 1 mas, 1000 and 1 mas, transform water into wine from that position», and again: «Open your heart and be thankful that Messi is still playing for everyone». At this point we also thank that good-hearted Rai manager, who at least for the Argentina-France grand final spared us the 120 minutes, plus added time and penalties, of Adanian commentary. The delirious Lele with great fairplay accepted the technical choice of the Rai masked coach, with a very sporty “no protest if he goes on the bench”. But a moment later he pointed out the personal success bestowed on him by the «general public that he is passionate about football. Read the messages I receive. Dozens a day. They write to me to thank, comment, ask for help…».
We ask for help from home. We can also turn a blind eye to the “circle of the World Championships”, the evening talk that dulled the moments of Olympic glory of Yuri Chechi and Sara Simeoni, but in the future Rai will at least avoid us the comment of the Bobo TV paraguru. The band of four friends at the sports bar, made up of the teleintronante Adani, the bear Bobo Vieri, the mister chapeau FantAntonio Cassano and the impressively impressed Nicola Ventola. This updated version of the Brutos (with Ventola who always takes “dialectical” slaps, indeed in the Bari dialect from Cassano) mamma Rai was able to promote it from the Internet (distributed on Twitch and Youtube) to the flagship network.
Promotions on the field, of course, the result of the hard work of updating likes and instagrams with a relaunch on all platforms where millions of nonsense pour out every moment and new football parishes are born every day, from which things are heard that are really bad for football . In such a scenario, how can you not be nostalgic and ask to give us back Nando Martellini, Bruno Pizzul, Beppe Viola, “Bisteccone” Galeazzi, Gianni Minà, the first Fabio Fazio of “Quelli che… il calcio”. We also settle for a Caccamo-Teocoli or the legendary Gialappa’s Band that makes us smile again at what is simply a game and not a farce, complete with a tax paid by the viewer.
Football in Qatar. Rai also sets a record with the “circle” of the World Cup