A lesson on how to cheer at an Italian soccer game/how to curse in Italian

Way back in February, I went to an Italian soccer game. AC Milan vs. Bologna. Italian soccer is not for the faint of heart. On the bus ride there, I asked my friend's Italian roommate, in Italian, which team he was rooting for. In English, he responded quietly, "We can't talk about that here." I found this worrisome. Luckily, I survived and made it out of the stadium without a scratch. I think it helped that Bologna does not have the greatest team (sorry, Bologna, but you know it's true), so the fans aren't quite as crazy. I don't think it helped that we sat in the neutral section, which is really the section where fans from both teams who are too cheap to buy the tickets for their own teams' sections sit. There was a loooot of yelling. Mostly swearing. The fans can be pretty vulgar. At first I was a little shocked, but as the game continued without any goals, all the curses being traded back and forth became the entertainment, and I started to enjoy just listening to the fans.

Here are some essential chants in the event that you end up at an Italian soccer game and are brave enough to show your support for one of the teams. I'll start with the family friendly chants...

Fino alla fine rosso e blu!: Until the end, red and blue! (Red and blue are Bologna's colors...if you're not cheering for Bologna, say the colors of the other team instead. Duh.)

Dai! Dai!: Come on! With an Italian pronunciation this sounds more like "die! die!" but don't fear! This isn't a death threat...yet.

Vai!: Go!

And now a little less family friendly but much more commonly used chants (I'm sorry, Mom!)...

Bastardo!: I don't think this requires translation. I hope you can figure this one out on your own.

Merda!: Shit!

Ma che cazzo fai?: What the fuck are you doing? This was a favorite of the Milan fan sitting next to me.

Cazzo di merda!: Combine two curse words (parollace) and you get a more extreme curse word. Literally "dick of shit." Clever.

Vaffanculo!: Go fuck yourself. Most commonly used by saying the opponent's team twice then saying the parolaccia, e.g. Milan, Milan, vaffanculo!

And now you, too, can shout your way through an Italian soccer match! Bravo!

The GOLDEN TICKET! Interesting note: I needed my passport to buy this ticket. Name and passport number blacked out so you can't steal my identity! Caught you this time!

Trying to be as neutral as possible in all grey.
Warm-up.
Milan in white and red. Bologna in blue and red.
The Milan section had a canon. They also had a stereo for playing American rock from the 70's. Was this really necessary?
Look! Somewhere out there is Beckham! He only came out in the last fifteen minutes of the game, at which point the British exchange students decked out in red and blue with whom I was sitting switched their allegiance and announced, "I'm just rooting for Beckham now."
Such was the game. 0-0. No goals. Tipico. This scoreboard also showed the results of other soccer games going in Italy announced with a loud BING! The whole stadium united in its hatred for Inter every time it scored a goal.
We survived!

I'm doing my best to immerse myself in Italian culture, but I can't say that I've converted to a soccer fan yet. I still think this Simpsons clip pretty much sums up the sport:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noOHdTQd6H8&feature=related