Playing For Pizza

Sam Russo is the coach of the Parma Panthers and an important source of support for Rick. He is a mentor for Rick, introducing him to major aspects of Italian culture and his new home of Parma. When Rick first arrives in Parma, Sam gives him a guided tour of the town, explaining its history and the highlights of Italian culture. He teaches Rick the distinction between a trattoria, an osteria, and an enoteca (45), suggesting that his primary interest is food and drink. Later, Sam takes Rick to dinner and hopes that Rick’s “culture shock was vanishing in a flood of food and wine” (54).

Sam’s belief that Rick should immerse himself in Italian culture reflects his desire for Rick to fit in and Sam’s own personal love for Italy. His grandparents emigrated from Parma and settled in Baltimore, and Sam has “lots of cousins” (17) in the area. Sam’s wife is also Italian, suggesting that Sam is fully immersed in Italian life and culture. The fact that Rick plans to stay in Italy after his season ends suggests that Sam is an effective teacher of Italian culture.

Arnie is Rick’s sports agent and a secondary antagonist in Playing for Pizza. He is described as a “mid-list agent” who had “bigger ambitions” than clients like Rick. He is characterized by his self-centered nature, which offers a stark contrast to the love and support Rick finds with the Parma Panthers. Arnie is depicted as unreliable from his first introduction, when Rick admits that “he’d never completely trusted Arnie and there was no plausible reason to start now” (2).

Although Arnie repeatedly refers to Rick as “pal,” the novel implies that he does not have Rick’s best interests at heart, and only cares about the “5 percent of Rick’s salary” that he earns as Rick’s agent (9). As soon as Rick arrives in Italy, Arnie becomes “increasingly hard to catch by phone” (59), contacting Rick only when necessary. Although Rick has signed a contract with the Panthers, Arnie encourages Rick to “pack [his] bags, drive to the train station, park the car, leave the keys on the seat, and say adios” when a better offer appears (168). Rick rejects the offer, but because “an answer of no was only a temporary setback for Arnie” (170), Arnie arranges for Rick to meet with a team that doesn’t ultimately support him like the Panthers do. Arnie’s self-interest is contrasted with the support Rick receives from the Panthers.

Charley Cray is a Cleveland-based sports reporter whose hatred for Rick makes him the primary antagonist of Playing for Pizza. He is described as “about forty-five, balding, with a few long strands of oily gray hair sprouting from just over his nose” (182). Cray is described as unathletic.

Cray is characterized by his vitriol and steadfast hatred of Rick. In Cray’s first introduction, he is described as “a nasty hack whose specialty was attack journalism” and who “delighted in the missteps and foibles of professional athletes who earned millions yet were not perfect” (10). His reporting is explicitly described as “unfair” and “cruel.” In one telling instance, Cray watches a game that ends with Trey Colby’s career-ending injury, then reports that “he could not remember having so much fun” (152). Even after watching Rick lead the Panthers to victory in the Italian Super Bowl, Cray writes a column wondering if the team “would be better off without him” (247). Throughout the novel, Cray’s cruelty and unwavering hatred make him a caricature of unethical sports journalism.

Gabriella Ballini is an Italian opera singer and a brief love interest for Rick, whose career struggles mirror Rick’s. She is depicted as a potential link to Italian culture for Rick: She is introduced while playing Desdemona, an Italian woman, in Otello, an Italian opera written by an Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi. When they first meet, Gabriella orders “a Campari and ice,” a classic Italian cocktail that Rick “had never heard of” (126). The fact that Rick is drawn to her is evidence of his increasing assimilation into his new home.

Rick is also drawn to Gabriella because of her career struggles. He is shocked when the Parma crowd boos her performance, and “admired her courage” in returning for subsequent performances (118). On their date, Gabriella reveals that, like Rick, she is “struggling with the realization that her career […] had reached its pinnacle” (129). Rick explicitly identifies her career struggles with his own, comparing her booing audience to the “Philadelphia fans” who frequently booed him. Although Gabriella later stands Rick up, the novel suggests that their brief relationship helps Rick to recontextualize his own career struggles.

Livvy Galloway is an American college exchange student studying in Florence and Rick’s primary love interest. Rick is drawn to Livvy because she is “easy to please and eager to do whatever looked like fun” (237). Livvy is characterized by her obsession with Italian art and history and her tumultuous family life. Although Rick hopes to spend Livvy’s first day in Parma “in bed or somewhere close to it,” Livvy “launched a tour of the city center, studiously inspecting the interiors of buildings Rick had hardly noticed in passing” (184-5). Livvy is repeatedly “overcome with emotion” while touring Italy (185), and her love for Italian culture inspires Rick.

The novel suggests that Livvy’s obsession with Italy is a distraction from the “plethora of problems” facing her in America (202). Livvy’s father is “a noted surgeon who was having an affair that was causing a protracted divorce” (175). Her mother came from a family of “Savannah blue bloods, miserable people” who “had never accepted her father” (218). As a result, Livvy’s family life is “totally dysfunctional.” However, Livvy faces these problems with “a cool detachment that Rick found admirable” (202). As the novel ends, Livvy’s problems are not resolved, although Franco has agreed to help extend her visa and she hopes that Rick will stay on in Italy with her.