Viola Nation: for Fiorentina fans

And here's to the next 100 episodes! Tito, McMike and Producer Mike kick off the first podcast after we hit the big 100. We start wrapping up the past season and introduce some new segments to break free from the monotony of the offseason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cinders. Ash. Dark, roiling skies. A desolate landscape strewn with rubble. This, dear listener, is where your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots reach you from. We shriek into the uncaring heavens, hoping to hear an echo that will prove that their are limits to our suffering, but our calls continue into a cold and endless universe, weakening until they vanish without ever seeing an end to the suffering. Why, yes, we are indeed recording in the aftermath of a psychically destructive defeat against Como. However did you guess? As you’d expect, we’re diving deep into what went wrong here. Whether it’s the personnel or the tactics, we’re leaving no stone unturned. Much like the season itself, we’re so upside-down that we’re changing roles mid-podcast. This time around, it’s Producer Mike who completely diverts us into a long conversation about wine pairings, which may be for the b best given that we also touched on McMike’s oddly erotic dreams while Tito blithely plows through all of it. Turns out that we were wrong with our last episode, and that’s on us. We’re very sorry. Thank you as always to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sport Social Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for hosting us and to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Windchime Weather⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Nate's got new music out!) for the music. And as always, we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making this. You could leave a rating and review if you want, but whatever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Endless summer? More like endless bummer. Because Fiorentina isn't playing, obviously. Your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots are back and we're so tired of the estival inactivity that we've turned to making outlandish predictions. Yep, we're putting our names on some big predictions for this upcoming season, predictions that are of course completely correct and won't make us look like morons in 9 months. We don't just get hung up on the future, though. We also talk about the recent past, trying to glean what we can from preseason. McMike also prodded us into a discussion of Fiorentina's midfield and whether or not it's good enough. Along the way, we learned about what number of teeth in West Virginia is the right number of teeth in West Virginia, Producer Mike "Guinness in a Peroni Glass" Hines favorite lines from the New Jersey poet laureate (not that one), and Lorenzo the Lion in a gimp mask. You can find the show by searching “Viola Station” wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sport Social Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠ for hosting us and to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Windchime Weather⁠⁠⁠⁠ for the music. As always, we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making this. You could leave a rating and review if you want, but whatever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mercury's high, the sleeves are short, the sun is hot, and the takes are even hotter. That's what happens when in July, when your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots are running on SPF (Speculatively Positive Foolishness) fumes and delivering some blistering takes. Before we get to takes, though, we run through the conclusion of Moise Kean Release Clause Minidrama and Stefano Pioli's introductory press conference. After that, though, each of us tried to outdo the others in irresponsible optimism, before doing a quick rundown of the transfer rumors. Along the way, we learned about McMike's Tuscan hot dog conundrum and Producer Mike's second stroker theory. Thank you to ⁠⁠Sport Social Podcast Network⁠⁠ for hosting us and to ⁠⁠Windchime Weather⁠⁠ for the music. As always, we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making this. You could leave a rating and review if you want, but whatever. You can also hit us up on the website, Twitter, or Bluesky if you feel like it. Forza Viola! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mercury's rising, the sun's beating down, and the oppressive heat of another off-season has us questioning our choices. Fortunately for your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots, we can dive into the cooling waters of the transfer window, especially since Daniele Pradè is actually getting stuff done before the last week of the mercato. We start with the additions of Edin Džeko and Jacopo Fazzini, breaking down how they'll fit in with the current squad and what grades Pradè gets for them. We then turn to the more nebulous rumors, working through some of the more plausible whispers, including a whole passel of Espositi. There's more to life than the transfer window, though, so we also try to figure out what new manager Stefano Pioli will bring to the table, both tactically and emotionally. We forecast the strengths and weaknesses of the squad for his approach before turning to the possible exits of current players. Along the way, we learn about the efficacy of dance-offs in a strictly audio medium, a conversational transition that might've gotten us excommunicated, and Producer Mike being too poor for IMDB. Also, the audio quality on this episode is pretty bad. We had some equipment issues her at Viola Nation studios but should have them fixed in time for the next episode, so bear with us. Thank you to ⁠Sport Social Podcast Network⁠ for hosting us and to ⁠Windchime Weather⁠ for the music. As always, we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making this. You can listen to the episode on the embedded player on this page or wherever you get your podcasts. Forza Viola! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's just two of your favorite Fiorentina podcast idiots in this one--McMike's off listening to birdsong to write an Oliver Messiaen-type symphony--but we've got enough gloom for the three of us. Producer Mike and Tito run through the grimmest week of results in recent Viola memory. Yep, we're talking about losses at opposite ends of the spectrum (Real Betis and Venezia) that result in similar outcomes: goodbye Europe. Don't worry, though. We don't confine ourselves to just that one kind of sadness. We look ahead to the potential repercussions of missing out on continental competition, looking at who might be edging towards the exit and which loanees saw their chances of sticking in Florence drastically reduced. We tried to avoid going full Zack Snyder and interspersed the grim dark greys and muted blues with the odd Wes Anderson pastel: Producer Mike pouring his first-ever beer, for example, or Tito trying to combine American football, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a shrimp. Thank you to ⁠Sport Social Podcast Network⁠ for hosting us and to ⁠Windchime Weather⁠ for the music. As always, we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making this. Forza Viola! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EDITOR'S NOTE: We didn't talk about the Celje win (?) because we recorded a couple days beforehand. Due to real world constraints, by which we mean Producer Mike's day job, this one's a couple days behind. Anyways, it's the Tito and Hines show today as McMike is on a super-secret special assignment that certainly doesn't involve hiding in suburban New Jersey shrubbery. We had a somewhat grim conversation about the dire draw against Parma and a somewhat less grim conversation about the first leg win at Celje before swerving into predictions for the rest of the season and then descending back into the serious stuff about the newest betting scandal hitting Serie A, which touches on a couple of Fiorentina players. Come for the heavy topics but stick around for the more important stuff: where McMike is, what conspiracy of primates knocked Producer Mike out of commission as we recorded, and Tito's triumphant return to What Are You Drinking. Thank you to Sport Social Podcast Network for hosting us and to Windchime Weather for the music. As always, we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making this. Feel free to drop us a rating and review but it’s whatever. This is for discerning listeners like you rather than the hoi polloi. Forza Viola! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices