Sziasztok, Jánó vagyok. Közép-Európa első világraszóló podcast csatornáját hallgatjátok Magyarországról. Ez a Budapest.fm. Hi, my name is Ray, and you're listening to the number one podcast station in Central Europe, Budapest.fm, podcasting to the world from Hungary. A lot. Here we are at Budapest.fm World Headquarters with the one and only Marco Makica. Hello, guys. The one and only Alberto Seghettini. Hello, folks. And of course, Tom Bean. I don't know if he's the one and only, but he certainly is here. The only one that matters. The only one that matters. How's everybody doing? And today we're going to be talking about, well, a few things, but mostly about the beautiful game, hoganito, soccer, football, calcio, foci, whatever you want to call it. Not soccer. Not soccer. We won't call it soccer. But Alberto and Marco, they both come from Italy. They both come from the north of Italy, and tell me, guys, what teams do you support? What's your favorite team? I support Atalanta, from my city, Bergamo, of course. Atalanta. Unfortunately, Alberto is supporting Inter. We all have strengths and weaknesses. I support Inter Milan, of course. Uh-huh, uh-huh. And Tom and I are both massive Liverpool supporters, and I think there's some differences between the Italian game and the English game. I mean, for me, the English game is very physical. It's a beautiful spectacle on the television because they have the colors and the pageantry of the stadiums. But the Italian game, there's something more maybe sophisticated about it, and less sophisticated also. What do you have to say about that? Anything? I don't know. I think, like, English football is, like, more technical for sure. And less tactic, maybe. I mean, like, I think the Italian teams prefer to don't concede a goal, because a goal can come whenever. Catenaccio. Catenaccio. Exactly, yeah. While, like, English teams, they play football. I mean, they have always an offensive idea to play football. I think it's the main difference. Do you recognize that difference, playing in Italy versus playing in the wonderful league that we have here? Well, yes. Actually, my Hungarian team, I don't know, correct me, Willie, my pronunciation is… Schwabhegy is Marco's team. He's playing… He used to call it when he told me, I'm going to play for the Schwabhegy. He's playing a proper catenaccio, so, I mean, they do, like… What is catenaccio? Different. Don't concede a goal and then play counterattacks. Catenaccio is like a big chain, literally. That's the translation. It's like what we usually put in front of the goal, right? Propruttone, maybe, no? Saki. Saki. [unclear]. So he was big with… But even before, wasn't it Inter Milan, like the 1960s? Didn't they have a famous coach like Herrera? Herrera, yeah, of course. He won like two Champions League in a row. In a row, yeah. Cool. So what brings you guys to Budapest, anyway? Why did you end up here? I mean, I'm working here, so I had an opportunity to come here. For who? Who do you work for? I work for Sony. I'm doing logistics, and yeah, I came here, I love the city. Immediately I met you guys, and I was lucky, I mean. And that's why you stayed, because you met us, right? Yeah, I mean, like, actually I have to come here to the podcast, to talk with you. Marco, last night, we saw each other last night. Don't give me that crap. Don't give me that crap. Not on my podcast. No, it's true. It's true. It's true. It's true. And I bet, though, you came here also. Yeah, I came here for an internship at first, and then I found a job, like four or five years ago. And I met you guys actually later on. I think we met one year after I came to Budapest, because you, Tom, you were not here when I came in 2016, right? And you were not here either. No, I came in 2018. So that's when I came. So yeah, I still work for ExxonMobil, but we're actually moving, as you guys know. Oh, congratulations. When did you leave Budapest? 2016. I think it was October. No, June. June. So just about five-year anniversary, and you're leaving. Yes. Yeah. All right, well, let's do a little cheers toast to that. Let's do that. Yeah, couldn't wait anymore. Oh boy. Okay. Nice. Get that beer exploding around all the expensive electronic equipment. We got it under control. We got it under control. And I am not drinking right now. I'm having an alcoholmentesh little fruity drink because today I became immune to COVID, so that's pretty cool. Well, you're not quite immune yet. I think. Well, for all intents and purposes, I got stabbed with a needle, and now that's me and Marco. You're also not drinking, and why is that? Because I'm playing later, unfortunately. Marco is playing in a match for the SVABH. Yes. Right after the podcast. That's how dedicated he is to football. Yeah, I have to leave soon, so, I mean, like, unfortunately, I cannot talk a lot with you, Willie. Last one in, first one out. Marco's motto. And Marco, what would you say, like, Bergamo, the club is called Atalanta. Yeah. And what does it mean to be an Atalanta supporter? Actually, I don't know actually the origin of the name. But Atalanta is a goddess. A goddess. Yes. Goddess of the run. So actually the story tells that who... A person that could beat Atalanta in a race is gonna marry this girl. Of course, no one, I think, beat Atalanta. Except for Inter Milan. Except for Inter Milan. Here we go. Actually, Atalanta is here. No, I think 1-0, 1-0, 1-1 in Berg... Yeah, you're right. Well, now Alberto's team, Inter Milan, they just won Serie A for the first time in how long? How long since it's been? Last time was 2010, so 10 years, 11 years, man. Wow. Long time. Well, congratulations, I guess. Thank you, guys, appreciate it. Thank you for saying... Thank you. Oh, thank you, Marco. It's good to hear it from you, actually. Feels good. And what do you guys make of a big word in the soccer world these days has been the Super League. That was when I was in Spain. All of a sudden I wake up in the middle of the night, Sunday night, maybe like 3 o'clock in the morning, wake up to take a piss, check my phone, and what do I know? They're like ending the Champions League, starting the Super League. What did that mean to you, Super League? I mean, actually, it's a big topic, maybe because, I mean, even after this scandal about the Super League, actually, after two weeks here in Italy, for example, they just eliminated, like, the third teams from the Italian Cup. So actually the Italian Cup from the next year, they're gonna play only the first division and second division, so Serie A, Serie B. Yeah, so all the teams, they complain about the Super League, but then the Italian Federation invented this new style of the Italian Cup. So, I mean, right now football is only a thing question about money. But, I mean, I really, I mean, I'm a romantic guy, you know, especially for football. So, I mean, of course I didn't agree with all this Super League. I mean, of course, even due to the COVID... For the people that are watching and maybe don't understand, what is the Super League? How would you put it, Alberto? Super League, well, that's a bunch of teams, probably the strongest teams around, but also the ones that are more in depth. No, they are the strongest, the strongest, the richest, but the ones that have more depth as well. And so they basically wanted to create a different tournament with a different, probably, financial setup as well, through which they could get more money to reinvest in the club. I think the trigger was the fact that UEFA—correct me, guys, if I'm wrong, because, you know, probably better than me—but what I know is that UEFA wasn't giving out... Much of the money that they get out of the, you know, of the TV rights and all these kind of things. And so they wanted to create, you know, a closer group of teams that could, like, split the money among them and not with other teams. That's what I... But the main difference between, because there is the Champions League and then you have a domestic league. So you have a league in Italy, you have a league in England, you have a league in Spain, as well as Germany, Lithuania, every league in its own. And some teams from each league, they qualify for the Champions League, and you qualify based on your performance. And even though it's usually, like, the teams that split off into the Super League, in Italy it was Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus; in Spain it was Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid; in England I think it was six: Tottenham, Chelsea, Man United, Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal. So you had, like, twelve teams. Arsenal, fucking, they're in like ninth place. I think Gary Neville is like, Arsenal right now couldn't even beat the champions of San Marino. What do they think they're doing in the Super League? But either way, they wanted to have this closed shop where no one else could come into this league and qualify, and you wouldn't have these miracle stories like a Leicester City or even an Atalanta or an Ajax. So then people got upset because in football we like to have this ideal of romanticism. I think, yeah, you should, like, yeah, you should get there if you deserve it. No matter where you come from, no matter, you know, how money you have or how much money you bring to the business. Because, okay, football became a business, let's be honest. It's a business right now, okay? But that's not what supporters and most of the players and the people actually, you know, involved in that business feel like. They feel it's like sport. It's like fun. It's something for the people where, you know, you can start playing in the street when you're, you know, two, three, four years old and on, and then end up, like, winning a Champions League at some point. Think about Jamie Vardy. Think about Jamie Vardy. I was reading about the guy. Actually, even today I read something about Liverpool. Like, they signed a contract, or they found an agreement with the supporters. Yes, they said they're giving, like, the supporters group one seat on the board to make decisions because the Liverpool supporters, I mean, every—the big thing with the Super League was the... The supporters were so upset. I mean, you saw people in Manchester, like, basically having a riot before the game the other day. I know a lot of the Italian supporters were very upset about this idea that the teams were gonna break apart and start this league. So the Liverpool owners, they were actually pushing for it because the new Super League was sort of on the American sports model, and they, Fenway Sports Group, the Liverpool owners, they own the Boston Red Sox, and they wanted to have—the biggest thing is now if you don't qualify for the Champions League, it's a huge financial penalty. Like, we'll see if Juventus qualifies this year, they're kind of fucked if they don't, because how do you afford all the salaries if you don't get all that big money? How much money do you get for making— Well, let's— I think I heard the other day, like— No idea. Liverpool got like 90 million pounds for winning the Champions League, and I think Chelsea in the same season only got 20 million for winning the Europa League, so there's quite a big gap between the prize money that you get. And I guess you make money from playing those games. Like, the teams make money for the publicity, the television contracts. Right, right, right. Oh, wow. But then what I don't get about the Super League is, like, I woke up and I just see, Willie, you're making, like, crazy angry stories, like, and this is just everywhere. Everyone's just, like, so angry and upset. And, like, as I learned more, I still don't understand what people are upset about. As I understand, it's just a bunch of rich dudes at the top trying to, like, make this go through, and they dropped it, and then everyone was saying, This is a horrible idea. Let's not do it, and then it didn't happen. But people are still upset, so I don't really understand. I feel like it's just the people at the top that made stupid decisions, and now it's not happening, and so it seems like a good thing. But the fact of the matter is that these guys, these owners that aren't accountable to anyone, they have literally the ability—and not only would the Super League be bad for the fans, it would also directly harm a lot of the lower teams, because right now, like, you have football infrastructure— But it didn't happen. Yeah, I know, but the fact is that they wanted it to happen. They disregarded— But they couldn't have done it, like, themselves. They could have actually, they arranged everything. You know what they didn't consider? ... JP Morgan. JP Morgan underwrote the... Yeah, yeah, one of the biggest, or Goldman Sachs even. Yeah, I don't know, but one of the biggest banks in all over the world. So actually, they already planned everything. But that clearly wasn't enough. I think a bunch of teams were just like, okay, then if you play in that, you can't play in the Premier League or something like that. Didn't people stand up and say, like, no, you can't do this? But it took an enormous outpouring of public pressure. Even the governments got involved. That's why people had to get upset. Yeah, first one with the English government first. Yeah, Boris Johnson said, We're not going to allow this to happen. It would be crippling. It would be crippling if you think about some of the lower... Interests that are inside, you know, like politics. Interests, yeah, of course. I mean, Italy seems like it's a very cloak-and-dagger sort of football, has a lot of behind-the-scenes, let's say, corruption involved with the... I mean, every league. Yeah. I think everywhere in football. Calciopoli, right? That was in Italy, 2006. What was that? I think... because, I mean, I feel like there was a few teams, a few teams, like, paid referees to win. Bribed referees. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the darkest page of the Italian football history book, I think. I don't know how you felt about it, but I felt like really... you know when you... Actually, Atalanta got, like, a penalization. Yeah, Milan, Juventus. Oh, Atalanta was involved in it? Yeah, minus... Typical, typical. Inter was one of the only teams that wasn't, right? Correct. Yeah. No, no, we were not involved. So at some point, what happened is that our... players club, he basically, like, called... They have some phone calls recorded where he was trying to tell the designer of the referee, so the guy deciding who would referee which match, he was trying to tell him, okay, listen, I mean, we had bad referees for like five games in a row, now it's time maybe to get a good one. And that's why eventually he was charged, because that's not really bribing. It's just telling people, okay, please look out for us as well. But what happened, as Marco said, is Juventus was basically, you know, paying referees just to take certain decisions, and they would literally... remember that video of Moggi. Yes, he went to the referee's changing room and to give him literally a couple of Rolex watches. Yeah, that was one of the... yeah, it was sad, man. So sad, really. Both parties got punished, the teams and the referees, right? Yes. Yeah, the referees... Yes, I don't remember. Inter got—I mean, Juventus got relegated to Serie B, which was, like, pretty crazy. To me, there was not enough, by the way. The worst thing you can do in football, in team sport, is to basically cheat and bribe, you know, people—the referees. And Atalanta bribed? I don't remember. Maybe it was 2012, the other scandal. A lot of scandals, a lot of scandals in Italy. Yeah, I think I remember. That's probably what you meant with your question, right? But then at the same time, 2006 was the year you won the World Cup, so it was like a high and a low for Italian football. Yeah, actually, even when Italy won in 1982, the third World Cup, that year we had another scandal. I don't remember about what, but, like, I don't know. You know, like, I think these kind of situations in Italy, you know, they create, like, more emotional reaction in the group and they fight all together. Actually, there was an amazing group in 2006. And what do you think about football in Hungary? They have a lot of passion, I think. Hungarians have a lot of passion, I think even more than Italians. I mean, I remember two months ago I played— More than Italian, really? I think, like, two months ago I played against Reac, but Reac is a team which, like, I think ten years ago was in first division in Hungary. And, of course, the supporters, they could not attend to the stadium, but they were singing out of the stadium for, like, ninety minutes all the time, and it was pretty crazy. You would see the same in Italy, come on. I think it's pretty much the same. They're equally passionate for football. I don't know. Well, we've all had a pretty cool experience playing for Budapest Celtic, which is the expat sort of centered team that we joined when we moved here. That's how we all met each other, and that's been the real, like, basis of a lot of our friendships. I’m not hearing, man. So Willie, Tom, that's where we met in Slovakia, playing a friendly with a Celtic, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. We got smoked. We got smoked 6-1. I remember you had a big night, right? Yeah, we got absolutely shitfaced afterwards. That was insane. That was so fun. Remember who scored the only goal? You scored the goal. Yeah, because you flopped. That was the only free kick— no, come on, I didn't flop. Or maybe I did, but the point is that I scored an amazing free kick, probably the only one I ever scored in my life. But you never score ugly goals, actually, Alberto. Thank you, Marko. How sweet of you. What’s happening? There is a camera. Yeah, that’s why. Marko is on his best behavior. We should do this more often, guys. You just keep Marko with headphones on for the rest of his life. That’s funny. But yeah, Celtic is family. Yeah, I think it’s family, and I’ve actually seen, like, a lot of good players in Celtic. The four of us, and probably the top eleven, I would say, starting eleven, my dream team. I don’t know about Marko, actually, but I think I can fit you in. Well, for those of you that don’t know, Marko is like a terrier midfielder. He works really hard, wins the ball back, kind of similar maybe to, like, a Mascherano in a sense, no? More quality. Mascherano’s fucking quality. No? More quality. I guess he’s too defensive. Yeah, you’re more of, like, a playmaker. I’m sorry, that was probably serving. I used to love Mascherano, though. It was supposed to be a compliment. Did he play good in Liverpool? Oh, amazing. He was my favorite player. He won a Champions League with you, right? No, because he came after the final against AC Milan in 2007, and Alberto was more of a striker, so Marco was midfielder, Alberto striker. Goal scorer. Box in the box. Tommy’s a jolly. Tommy’s a jolly, man. What’s a jolly? I mean, a jolly joker is he can play anywhere on the pitch. Really? Yeah, something learn something new on this podcast. A jolly, I like that. You’re a fucker. I’m just jolly. Put me somewhere, I’ll be jolly. And I’m just like the athletic American that goes hard in the tackles and has a terrible touch. Good show. I remember your performance in the final, the tournament we played last summer. Oh yeah, we lost. No, Willie, yeah, we lost, but last minute, one man down for 70 minutes. And I remember you recovered the ball, you remember, right at the corner. Literally, I don’t know, you caught the guy off guard and you just took the ball and put it in the middle of the box and Cav scored an easy goal, and that was the free one, the beginning of a huge comeback until, yeah. I blacked that. I don’t remember what happened. It was just rough. I was so pumped, I don’t remember. Yeah, but that’s been really a great thing about being on that team is that you’ve made so many friends from around the world, and that’s one of the beautiful things. Forgetting about, you know, we talk about the Super League and all the big money that’s involved in football, but for us, I think playing is really the true beauty of the sport. That’s what I don’t understand. So the game is a beautiful thing. We play it because it’s fun. And then at what point? Because everybody always talks about, like, soccer is corrupt, like the systems are corrupt. I don’t understand that. But, like, what makes it corrupt? And why is there so much money in it? Is it because people pay money to watch? It’s such a giant spectator sport? Well, it’s just, it’s the biggest. If you think about advertising and, like, what people pay for in, like, content, if it’s any sort of content, whether it’s movies, whether it’s film, whether it’s television, soccer is something that captivates people’s eyeballs, and not only their eyeballs, but their emotions. So it’s very easy. Like, if you own a club, to manipulate people’s emotions and basically use it as your personal piggy bank. But then again, like, it’s very financially difficult to own a club. You don’t really actually necessarily make that much money. Yeah, not at all. My dad, you know, guys, my dad is president of a club in Italy. Like, they love the division, but we have an academy, so we have, you know, young kids from, I think, five years old onwards, seven, eight teams. It takes a lot of money to run a club on a yearly basis. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and so of course it’s not easy. When do you start getting money at any level, actually, depends on how you run the club. You know, it’s a matter of transparency, interest, right? I mean, this is even another problem about Super League. I mean, like— No one is caring, taking care about the lowest division in Italy, the amateur football. I mean, everybody was, like, hit by coronavirus, especially the amateur football. How can you run a team if you don't have any money? So Super League is only, you know, like this, I don't know. Yeah, I understand where you come from. I mean, again, example, my dad, he just talked to the local municipalities and told them, okay, you know what? Either you support us or I drop it. Because a lot of sponsors just withdrew their sponsorships and, you know, we have, as Marco said... Actually, in Italy, they started the league, the amateur league. In Italy they started, and then after three matches they said, okay, guys, we cannot due to coronavirus. Yeah, at least in Bergamo. Same everywhere, I think. But I don't know if it works this way in Italy, but I had a friend who played in Iceland, and when I went there I asked him, because it was like this town of 2,000 people, and they had a club, and there was like a stadium, and there were a bunch of people that were at the game. Like, basically most of the people at the town came to watch the game. And I was like, how in the world does this tiny town in Iceland, like how does Iceland have three, four divisions of soccer? And he said that the way it works is like any company gets tax write-offs for any money that they donate to, like, a local club, like to a sports club. And so that's how they ensure that sports clubs get funded, because, like, the fisheries and all the big companies in that town in Iceland sponsored the club, and they wrote that off for taxes. Is that the same how it works in Italy? Because, like, that to me sounds wholesome. That sounds like a good way to give entertainment to the people. So that's the best way to promote, to finance these small realities, and I agree with you, it should be the way everywhere. But in Italy it's more like the opportunity for certain people to recycle money. So you flip the coin. The owner is the company, and, like, yeah. Because don't declare any, I don't know, any... Because the game is different. So let's say that you get, like, you've got to pay random numbers, 30% of taxes, and they're going to tell, okay, if you invest in a club, 20%, they only pay us, like, 5% more. So we give you discount 5%. Not only this one, even to avoid the declaration. Yeah, but that's an example, but that's a way around it. But the main thing is that by recycling money, you know, they can, you know, eventually gain much more than what they would save by actually paying taxes the way I said. So we would call it money laundering. Yeah, recycle. Yeah, yeah, that's not recycling, it's money laundering. Recycling is from Italy. Yeah, exactly. Proper translation. And what about you, Marco? Are you staying in— Alberto's taking off for the Netherlands. Are you staying in Hungary for the next 20 years? Yeah, I think so. I mean, if I don't find any other opportunity right now, it's like I'm struggling a bit. But yeah, I mean, I don't know my plan in the future. I mean, I'm trying to solve it, to sort it out, but let's see, let's see. But you love Budapest. You're like, when Marco's walking down the street with his big hair, you know, everybody knows who he is. Oh, Marco, Marco. He has to battle away the— Well, of course, guys. I mean, I love Budapest. It's been a good experience for me. I think it's time to make a new step. Do you have plans, ideas? Yeah, I mean, Spain for sure. Where? I mean, I would love to the south, but it's pretty hard. But I thought San Sebastian is your place. No, San Sebastian is the north. But you lived there. I lived there. You don't want to go back? Uh, I don't know. I prefer, I think, the south. I call San Sebastian the Bergamo of Spain. Actually, people are a bit—not cold, but, like, you have to, you know, fight a bit to— Is that a compliment, or—? I don't like Bergamo people in general, so it's not a compliment. The Bergamaschi? Yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah, I mean, like, they are a bit... Posh. Ah, snob. The mindset, the mindset is really bad. How is it? Isn’t it like next to Milan? How can a city next to Milan be snobby? I thought Milan is kind of snobby. Because it’s small, you know. Like, people remain in Bergamo and they stay there because they think that the city is, like, beautiful. They can give you everything, but, like, it’s not true. And of course your mindset is gonna be always closed. And Milan is even more snob than Bergamo, I think. There is a history. You told me about it once. Yeah, but I don’t think so, because, I mean, Milan is, like, super international. Milan can offer you everything, and there is every kind of people and every kind of typology of people, actually, so it’s not... I think it’s pretty different. Nice. I mean, I don’t like Milan either, but this is totally different. Where do you like in Italy? In Italy? I mean, I would... Sicily. Sicily, I was about to say. Sicily would be amazing, guys, but, like, it’s really hard to find a job. No? Yeah, yeah, I think so, yeah. Yes, indeed. You know how to fish? No. Okay. But you’ve been working on your Hungarian lately, haven’t you? Slowly, slowly. Give us something. I learned halmos last day. Almos. Yeah. Sleepy, right? Almos is kind of. It’s like sleepy, yeah. Almos was actually... Yeah, I guess I’m doing this course. We did the company, but, I mean, like, it’s not so good. I mean, like, I don’t study a lot. I should, like, take my time and study a bit of Hungarian. Actually, time now is a problem. Ten minutes a day. Ten minutes a day? I don’t do it. Yeah, but if you do ten minutes a day, that’s a lot more. That’s ten minutes more than you’re doing right now. Of course, of course, but I don’t think it’s enough. More, better than what you’re doing right now. Yeah. Step by step. Step by step. You’d be surprised, Tom, how far you could get. No, of course. After, like, three weeks of that, you’d be surprised. I was going with your Hungarian. It’s okay. I need to practice more. I’ve stopped practicing, and that’s a problem. Marco, just not improving. What's your favorite bar in Budapest? Bar? Yeah. There are a lot. Correspondent? No, no, Központ, no. I think now, I mean, Fekete Kutya is pretty cool. It's pretty local. We were there last night for a pint or two. I like it. Then, is that why you're a bit hungover? A bit, because I didn't have dinner, I think. I don't know. But then there is another cool bar in Buda, close to Szentendre, named Nemet Bar. Is it correct? Nemet Bar. Nemd Bar. Nemd Bar. I like it even. Yeah, Nemd Bar, it's got a little bit of a techno vibe. Yeah, I mean, like, yeah, like vinyls, sleepy music. I like it. What's the name of the little pub we went to? I think it was me, you, and Tom, Willie. The outdoor one in Buda? Yeah, the one up in the hills. Yeah, just called Balint. Balint, because Marco's been there also. Yeah, this is a pretty hidden gem bar. It's like on the backside of Rózsadomb in the, what do they call it, the Pasarét. And it's called Balint Kávézó, and just some guy, Balint, he owns the bar, and it's like his house, and then it's a garden and downstairs, and it's a very cool vibe. I loved it. They told me a lot of teenagers in the past, they used to go there after school. Yeah, well, that's—I went back, so I found it in the middle of coronavirus last year. I was on a run, and it was while everything was closed. I hope I don't get them in trouble for saying this, but they were somehow open, and I ran past and I was like, Whoa, that's an open bar, and I hadn't seen one in months. So I went downstairs, and I didn't have any money, but he gave me a free beer, and I was like, Nice, let's go back. And so then the second time when we went back there, I took Alexa, and then Marco met with Federica, and what the hell is that guy's name from Sardinia but not Lorenzo? He's— Enrico. Enrico, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I got so, so drunk. Oh, I heard about this. Never seen me this drunk, no. I think I fell into the bushes on the way out. Like, I was like—the next time I went there, I had to go. I was like, Not drunk, no, I'm sorry. I apologize. Yeah, great bar though. Great bar. It's cool because it's like, yeah, it's particular. It's not like what you find in the city. Because I think one of, really, literally one of the first bars open after the lockdown in April, I think. It's been a long lockdown. I mean, Hungary was November everything was closed until now. Yeah, think about other countries like in Italy since April last year. Really? That was a full year. So I think we have been lucky guys. Yeah. Actually, here the lockdown was totally different than Italy. I mean, Italy was proper lockdown. I mean, is Italy open now? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's opening up. Well, Italy really got traumatized because you guys got hit first and the hardest, especially Bergamo. Bergamo was like fucking, you had like the line of ambulances and tanks on that picture or whatever. That was like really traumatizing. It was, it was indeed.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, my parents are still a bit, like, shocked from this situation. Yeah, my parents too. I think we were really lucky to be here in Hungary because, as Marko said, everything rolled out differently. We could go out for a run. Well, especially, I mean, last summer, for my money, Hungary was one of the best places to be in Europe because it was relatively, like, normal. We just got hit really hard for a short period of time in this last wave, which was, like, the death rates and everything were really bad. But overall, if you look at the whole picture from last spring to now, Hungary didn't have it as bad as other places. Yeah, I agree. How long do you think before, like, all this becomes a distant memory and you never think about it? You think it'll be that way this summer? Nah. I think by next year, it will be a long lost memory. I don't think so. I think, like, socially speaking, yeah, that's what I mean, it will affect people's behaviors. It will affect my— I mean, I can't be 100% sure about it, but that's my feeling. I think even people forget about it. But forgetting is one thing, but reacting even unconsciously, memories is different. That's a good point. No, I think definitely we'll have some subconscious scarring and transformation. I mean, some of it's, like, potentially a good thing. For instance, hygienically, like, I think about some of my habits before coronavirus, and they were, like, disgusting, like absolutely disgusting. I'm just, I mean, especially when I was younger, but even so, like, just sharing, like, drinks unnecessarily. And now it's like almost gives you a visceral reaction, like, oh my God. But you think about back then, you wouldn't think twice. Oh, give me a bite of that. Give me a sip of that. And that's what I mean. You're gonna think that. You think that now. A year is gonna go by, and you're gonna be in a situation where you're gonna get a drink shared with you, or you're gonna have a table shared dish, and you're gonna think, like, oh, it's kind of weird, but you're gonna end up doing it, and then it's gonna be, like, less weird. So then the next time it happens, you're gonna feel a little bit less weird. A year from now, you're not gonna— you're gonna go back to the way you reacted before. Most people will, I think. Yeah, I agree. Next time I'm gonna want to get a bite of your pizza, I'm gonna have you sign a declaration saying whether you've been sick in the last 14 days. Be ready. I'd like to think that this sticks, but I don't see it happening. No, I mean, it's not necessarily a good thing. I mean, there is some case also to be made, like we need to get used to each other's germs, and humans have been living this way sort of close together for such a long time, and it does make you a little bit more resilient if you, like, aren't scared all the time. So I don't know. But then again, you look at, like, some of the Asian countries, and they got hit by an earlier wave of viruses than us back in 2002 or 2000, whatever it was with the SARS, and you see, like, Chinese tourists, and they always wear masks. Maybe that's more about just they're used to the pollution in Beijing, but maybe also, I don't know. No, I think that that might be something that's— And that sticks, like mask wearing and travel and stuff like that, maybe. But I hope, I mean, I hope very little of it sticks. I'm very sick of all the coronavirus bullshit. But yeah, gotta live with it for a little more. Yeah. And again, I think it's going to be the youngest generations who will suffer a bit more. You know, imagine those like 18, 20 years old folks about to go on Erasmus, or the young, you know, kids that could not socialize, you know? So, oh, and in some ways they might also be like rocketing into the— like imagine if you were a kid finishing college, doing everything remotely, and then you go into work and you're like already in a remote universe. Like, I don't know, there could be—you could look at it in a way where they're like being conditioned for the future of work as well. They're just being conditioned to become corporate slaves. Yeah. I mean, there is some case to be made that this has all been like orchestrated by some shadowy world order and— Maybe also runs the Super League, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, but it worked. Tell me about this guy, because that's the big thing with the Super League, is that there's this, like, comic book villain, this comic book villain that owns Juventus. He's not owns it; his family, Agnelli. Yeah, but I think the father was a gentleman. Yeah, it's a different generation. He was a gentleman. Yeah, the old father was a gentleman, and, yeah, a gentleman, a bit weird, but was a gentleman. And they also own Fiat, the car company. Yeah, so there's always been, like, a mix of, as Mark said, interest in there, you know, Fiat, the government, Juventus. Agnelli was not involved by, you know. I think— only Fiat. No, never. Only Fiat, only Fiat, yeah. But that's besides the point. So Agnelli, this guy, new generation, you know, 40 years old guy, I think, running in his 40s, you know, perfect English, always been, you know, socializing, networking with people, and he became, like, I think, vice president for UEFA, something like that. Was running Juventus very well. Yes, running Juventus, vice president, he was, like, very close to— yeah, some sort of corporate job in the UEFA, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So he's always been smart, they say. He's been running Juventus very well until the bot Ronaldo two years ago. That was debatable. But I don't know, I don't know why he didn't, like, really evaluate the situation now with the Super League properly, because he did— probably he underestimated the power of, you know, fans and, yeah, power of people, mainly fans and players, coaches, really those people, you know, just everything, everything. I don't know what they had in mind, really. I don't know if you guys know about EuroLeague for basketball. I don't want to extend the topic, but it's kind of the same, no? The same happened for basketball, like 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago, where this brand EuroLeague, like took over from FIBA, you know, the organization planning everything about, you know, the basketball Champions League, and they did it very well, so much better than how the Super League tried to approach this whole thing. And most of all, they already owned. on all the media, the marketing, so they basically own everything except the organization of the events. So for them it was really, really easy and fast to just say from one day to another, I put together 20 teams. I had all the infrastructures, everything ready there to run a tournament. I don't need to start from scratch. And I have 20 teams, not 12. So there were differences. For basketball, it went through. Now we have only EuroLeague. But how is working EuroLeague? It's working with licenses, so it's a similar concept as the Super League, but much more articulated and much better articulated. But the teams are always the same? No. No, you get a license for like two, three years, depending on your financial background and your sport results, basically, like what you achieve on a yearly basis. And that rotates every two, three years, right? So you get a license, you get it for like four years, five years, six years. It really depends. So there's usually a bunch of like 15 to 18 teams which are the same, and then other teams rotate. That's how it works. Yeah, I don't think that this Super League topic is over, I think. If they... in 10 years, 15 years, we're going to talk about again. Well, it's interesting because also now, like the Champions League, the format is also very advantageous for the big teams. Of course, UEFA, they're not angels. It's not, yeah. That was the Super League was the best thing that ever happened to UEFA, because now they look like the heroes, which is ridiculous, but what are you going to do? What are you going to do? We can only just... It's part of the game. What if they had just like a fan, I mean, fan submission, just like, how do we build a better league? Do you think that there should be a better version of the Champions League? The problem with the Champions League is it's just so, like, dictated by money. Like even now they want to make the group stage. The group stage, Champions League, when it first started, it was the European Cup, and you had one winner from each league all over Europe coming into the tournament. So it was really like a pan-European thing that showcased all the teams from all over. Slowly it's become like the four English teams, the four Spanish teams, the four Italian teams are kind of the dominant force. Let me ask you a question. What do you think is the main reason why nowadays clubs have to spend more and more every year? It's not—the answer is not inflation. Why? It's not. Indeed. I think the answer is players' cost year after year, okay? And that's why I get my personal, you know, solution to this maybe non-existing problem, I don't know, because people like Champions League, they enjoy it every year and, you know, they wouldn't think about changing it, is salary cap. That's the American model. That's how you kind of, like, limitate the amount of money that goes around every year, depending on how much money the business produces. So that's why I like the salary cap model that you have in the U.S., guys. I don't know what that means. A salary cap is like, for instance, each league in America has a slightly different way of doing it. Like in baseball, you can break the salary cap, but you have to pay a tax. But basically every team in, like, the NFL, for example, every team has to only spend, like, 60 million dollars on their entire team salary. Oh, that makes sense. And so then it has a little bit more equality. Right. So, yeah, there are different dynamics kicking in, but from the point of view of, you know, how much teams can be competitive— It's much more balanced. Precisely. So you mentioned before, what is the prize to win the Champions League, right? In the NBA, for example, you get a prize, number one in the draft next year if you get to the bottom of the ranking that year. It's interesting because America is such a capitalist place, and yet our sports teams and our sports leagues are more of a socialist model, whereas Europe traditionally has more of a socialist ethos. How is the American sports league system more socialist? Because of the salary cap. And if you do the worst, you get a reward. You get to become more competitive by getting the best player. But still, that doesn't make you better. Like the Panthers or that North Carolina, that, like, have been the worst team in the NBA. They, like, finish last every year. But that depends on the management. So imagine you have, like, as Willie said, 60, 100, 200 million to spend in the next five-year cycle, and you've got to figure out how to spend it, how to put together the team and everything. And I think that's the challenge, right? It's not just about the players and how they play, it's how you put them together. But for example, what happened to Manchester City? You know, Manchester City, like, got eliminated from Champions League for two years, and then they said, No, you can join Champions League. Yeah, this is the failure of financial fair play, probably. It was never, like, applied strictly as it should. Exactly. Financial fair play was supposed to be like a salary cap, in a way, but it was just, like, very poorly administered. They don't care about the— Well, Man City, for instance, because it was supposed to be that you could only spend the money that you generated. But Man City is owned by the Emirates of Dubai or whatever, Abu Dhabi, and so they could say, Oh, like now the random, like, oil company that— or not oil, but it doesn't matter, whatever random affiliate is going to give Man City 200 million pounds a year because that's going to be the new sponsor. So now they generate 200 million pounds a year as, like, Man City, but no one really would ever sponsor, in a fair market, Man City for 200 million because, you know, they're just a tinpot club that— Yeah, it's terrible. But I also, like— We should, like, really stop watching— But then you have— But then, yeah, this is what I don't understand, because this is what I started hearing when the Super League exploded. It's like, okay, let's stop, like, watching soccer, and I don't understand where that comes from. Is it because of the corruptness of the— No, because if you stop watching, you don't— I mean, you don't, you know, you don't give money to the system. And you would just— so you would just drop the greatest game— Yeah, I mean, you would just go to local Hungarian games. Yes. I'm in. Yeah. I'm in. Like Tom Holland, the guy that we saw before when we were eating a chicken sandwich, he was sitting down there. Oh, really? Yeah, just eating the chicken sandwich. Yeah, I asked him, I was like, Yo, are you going to watch the games on Sunday? Like, all the final Premier League games? And he's like, I don't know, all the games are going to be on Sunday at the same time. And he was like, What? I was like, The Premier League. He's like, Oh, yeah, no, I'm not. What? He's just going to go to, like— he prefers to go to, like, some random— But then if you have, like— yeah, football, especially during the coronavirus period with no fans in the stadiums has gotten, like, a little bit less passionate for me. But then, like, the other day when I saw Alisson score that 95th-minute goal— Now you're back on board. Crazy. Now you're back on board. To paint a vivid image in your head, I was completely stark naked, watching the game on my bed, and when Alisson scored, I just was, like, running around the house like— It’s fucking amazing. The goalie in the 90th minute. Have you ever seen that? A goalkeeper. It was a goalkeeper. Toldo. Toldo, against Juventus. That was like, he probably committed three fouls to push that ball into the goal, but it’s past. It’s the goalie. I want to try some of this Texas whiskey. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. Thank you to Jared, Chris and DJ. They introduced me to TX whiskey. TX. Beautiful nights in the hotel when I was working there. So you’ve been to Texas a few times. I’ve been there, yes. I’ve been there for like five months overall in 2018, like two, three occasions. I’ve never been there. Never been to Texas. Right, it’s interesting. Lovely people, really lovely people, but it’s a very controversial state, or yeah, I would say reality in general. Like, you talk to people and you realize, you know, there are many, many differences really compared to, you know, if you compare Italy and Texas, you know, I could never imagine what it would be. And there are many connections, as there are many, you know, differences. And as I said, it’s controversial, but I enjoyed my time there. It was great. So none of you have ever been to Texas? No. Marco, you should go. Have you been? I don’t think I have. Wow. I mean, I’ve— it’s actually the biggest state in the U.S., isn’t it? It was a pleasure. All right, fairly well, Marco. Yeah. And see you tomorrow, guys, no? Absolutely. See you tomorrow. It’s a big weekend for Alberto, the farewell. Yeah, it’s gonna last three days. All my time is for you. You cannot complain, you know that. I’m not. Actually, it just started and it’s been awesome, so. We appreciate you coming, Marco. Before your match and everything, it really shows a great sign of commitment and solidarity. We’re happy for it. But see you soon. Arrivederci. Forza Atalanta. Forza Atalanta. Ci vediamo. Ci vediamo. Now go and shine. Yeah. Good luck, Marco. It's been great. Thank you. All right, well, here's for Marco and Texas. For Marco in Texas. Ciao. Ciao, Marco. Love you. All right, quick, now that he's gone, we can say bad things about him. About Atalanto, about Marco. About Marco. How's this whiskey? Do you like it? It's nothing extraordinary, but... No, it's good. It's very, very nice. What kind of notes? What kind of notes are you getting? Hickory, hickory wood. Nice, nice. Some mellow caramel, maybe. A little buttered popcorn on the... Caramelized popcorn. Caramelized popcorn. Thank you, Alberto. You got it. Thank you, good. Very good. We got about 15 minutes left in this show. It's been a pleasure so far. Is there any topics that you wanted to delve into, Alberto? Well, guys, I'm moving to the Netherlands. So how about we link up to the Netherlands? Where are you going in the Netherlands? So we're going to The Hague, or Den Haag. Uh-huh. It's like a, I think it's the third biggest town in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, of course. It's on the North Sea, so it's very windy, pretty cold, and very rainy. I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with that. It's a very famous city, especially from, like, an international diplomatic perspective. I think the international criminal court's there, some of the other things with the European... Yeah, I don't remember specifically, but yeah, there's a lot of expats, a lot of international realities over there, different kinds. So we are excited, really excited. Fish. You can eat fish there. So the only thing that we really wanted to have in The Hague was, like, either a rooftop or a little yard. That was the conditio sine qua non in Latin. It's like the only requirement of the accommodation, and we got one. Nice. So second thing, I'm going to buy a barbecue, a barbecue machine or something, and then I'm going to buy a lot of fish every day, probably. Gas barbecue or charcoal? I haven't decided yet. I'm trying to make this decision now. It's a big one. I don't have much experience with those because in Italy, you know, we cook on the stone, so we have these local stones, and then we use those to cook. In Italy, everyone in Italy, or it's just like— Most of the people, well, where I come from, in the north, I would say, but it depends on where you come from, because in the north we have a lot of mountains and we have a lot of caves, called caves, where you can get some, yeah. And so we use this material to build pots to do slow cooking. Wow. So you guys have, for example, the smokers, right? Especially in Texas. In Italy, we have these pots that are made of this stone, which is called pietra ollare, and you can cook amazing stuff in there. It's like seven, eight hours, you let it go in an oven. Fantastic. That's cool. Yeah. But in the Netherlands it's going to be mainly fish. Yeah, I guess up on the North Sea they have a lot of fish. That's cool. I miss that in Budapest because, you know— Yeah, landlocked. Far from the sea here. Yeah. It is tough. Like, I love seafood. That was very nice in Spain when I was just down there. Like, you had very easily accessible fresh seafood, and it just makes all the difference. And it feels—I don't know, there's a lot of hubbub nowadays about, like, there was that documentary on Netflix, Seaspiracy or whatever, everyone's talking about that. Anyway, my original point was that fish always felt to me a little bit more ethical and healthy than meat. But then again, maybe it's not that ethical, but it does feel healthier. I think seafood is a little— It's lighter. It's lighter, yeah. You don't feel as— You feel better after a salmon burger than after a barbecue double patty beef burger, you know. That's a fact. That is for sure true. Yeah, that's for sure true. But one thing that the Netherlands has in common with Hungary is that both, like, super flat. So they're at no mountains, hills whatsoever. Super flat. Netherlands might even be flatter. I believe so, which is actually weird because Hungary is super flat, really. Yeah. What's the highest hill in Hungary, like 800, 1,000? Yeah, it's not super high. I think it's in the Mátra, up in the, I forget the name. It's something Pető, which is like rooftop, but yeah, it's not high at all. I mean, Hungary actually, their old regions in Transylvania and in Slovakia, they had a lot of mountains, but those have obviously shrunk and taken away, or not taken away, whatever you want to call it. But either way, yeah. Hungary—Alex always gets mad at me when I say Hungary is a flat country, but it is pretty flat. They do have nice hills, though, especially in Buda. Buda Hills are gorgeous, but it is, you know, coming from north of Italy, like— I miss mountains so much. I know you guys, you don't have mountains in— Well, he's kind of flat. I mean, New York is not mountainous, but easy access to Vermont, where we went to school together in Vermont. A lot of mountains. Yeah, but out west is where the real mountains are. I mean, those even are taller than the Alps. No? Probably. Maybe. It's not a contest. Nah, not really. I don't know. Views like mountains. I had a theory once that, like, if you're ever super sad or grieving, you should go to a mountain, because when you look out from a mountain, there's, like, so much going on, you can't perceive all the information coming to you, so you're just, like, overwhelmed with fucking emotion, and, like, you're just overwhelmed with, like, the outside, and it matches grief. I don't know when I thought about this, but because when you're grieving, you're, like, overwhelmed with emotion, you, like, can't perceive everything. This is one thing when you said mountains that I thought of. But people talk about how, like, the ocean is beautiful. View. I was about to say, nothing interesting about the ocean. Why not? Either you go on top of the mountains and you look at the world and the surface of the world, or you go deep down. By deep down, I'm talking about like 100 meters, not like five meters, like we did in Sardinia last summer. That's not what you can see. But I think there is a whole world, not as big, of course, but as interesting. Oh, in the ocean. Did you just make the statement that there's nothing interesting about the ocean? I mean, if you look out at the ocean, like from a boat or from the coastline, it's not interesting. It's just a never-changing horizon of just like blue. But people always say, Oh, it's so beautiful. Well, no, and that's what I think I... Hold on, I'm going to disagree with that, because coastlines can be extraordinarily beautiful. You have like— But if you're looking out into the water— Okay, in the middle of the ocean, yeah, it's not beautiful. But if you're looking out at the waves breaking on like the gorgeous sand beach— It's debatable, Tom. Okay, it's really debatable. It depends on the coastline. It's a valid point. I see what you're saying. I'm just saying I wanted to work into the fact that flat places are interesting. Like, I don't think that the ocean is boring. Like, I think it's beautiful. But it's not because it has like endless features that you can be lost in. It's because it's just an expansive, beautiful place. And that's why flat landscapes are also beautiful. Okay. I can get behind that. Land ocean. Hungary is kind of like an ocean, and they call, like, the Alföld, which is the Great Plain in Hungary, they call that the Hungarian Ocean, the Great Plains, where the horse lords came from. Or the Balaton is kind of like the Hungarian ocean. Oh, man. My disappointment the first time I went to Balaton, coming from Lake Como. Yeah. They told me there is a nice lake in Hungary. It's huge. It's like the biggest in Europe or something, right? The second biggest? I think it's the biggest freshwater lake. Okay, yeah. So it wasn't far. So they told me about this amazing lake, and I saw some pictures. Like, looks weird. I mean, the color of the water is nice, you know, but it's light. The color of the water is beautiful. It's light reflected, so, I mean, doesn't mean anything. And then you step in it, and there is, and there is, you step in it. First of all, I mean, you step in it and there are rocks and artificial, like, you know, these ladders basically going into the water, and then you step in and it feels weird. It's not sand. It's not rocks. Like, what is this? I don't know if you ever asked. It's sort of squishy, muddy, filthy stuff. Like, what's that? What's that consistency about? I mean, hundreds and thousands of years of fish poop. I'm not sure. I think sometimes this might be artificial as well. You know, they kind of level it out, I believe. Dredge. You know why I know that? Because once a friend of mine lost a ring, and of course you gotta just dig down and try to find it, and you have no idea what it looks like. Did you find it? No, of course not. It was a jungle, man. Was it like a wedding ring? And it was engagement. Oh, wow. Yeah, it wasn't me though. So that's how I know that the bottom of Lake Balaton is ugly. It's really ugly. Fun fact about the bottom of water bodies—I probably shouldn't be saying this because I don't know the details—but dynamite is a combination of, like, an explosive thing and then something that slows down, like makes the explosion... Happening in like a bomb-ish way. And it's the mix between explosives and this called like something dynamo-starry-ish matter, and it's like the matter that you find in the top layer of bodies of water at the bottom. Really? It's like dead animal matter from like all the little microbes in the water. And that's used to make dynamite. Yeah, you mix that with an explosive thing and it makes a bomb. I didn't know that. Thank you, Tom. Should probably look it up to make sure I'm not spouting bullshit, but I'm pretty sure that's true. Yeah. And one last thing about lakes and Lake Como. Lake Como is the deepest, I think it's one of the deepest lakes in entire Europe, something like that. It's like 430 meters deep. Wow, that's a lot. That's a lot. I went to Lake Como two years ago with my family. It was magical, really magical. I think we were in like Bellano is where we stayed. Bellano, yeah. You know what Bellano means in Italian? So if you split the word, the bell-ano and you put an apostrophe there, it means beautiful ass. Really? Can I say that? Yeah, of course you can say that. It means beautiful ass. Bellano. Does it look like an ass there, or there are just a lot of beautiful... No, I don't know. It's just like, I don't know, it's just historical name of it. And there is a closer town called Lecco. Lecco means to lick. And so sometimes, you know, when you see on the map, you have Lecco, Bellano. Beautiful ass. Exactly. Nice. That's cool. But no, Lake Como was gorgeous. We loved it. It was a great family trip. My mom, two brothers, Alexa. There was one morning I remember in particular, we woke up and there was a rainbow over the lake with like the boats going by in the early morning, and it was just like, took my breath away. Really good food, really good wine. Yeah. I also went to Garda, which is the nearby lake, I guess kind of the maybe rival lake in a way. For me, Como was much better. Garda was also beautiful, and there were some cool parts about Garda that we didn't get in... Como, for instance, maybe just because my brothers went—they did like the paragliding thing, and it's very famous in Garda to do the paragliding. But overall, Como was more diverse. We went to some beautiful castle monastery up in the hills near Como. I forget what it was called, but it's gorgeous, really, really nice. Yeah, I think Lake Como is more picturesque. You say that in English, yeah. So it's more picturesque. So it's more particular, it's more original. You know, you've got more inputs. You've got the mountains, you've got the water, you've got everything surrounding you, and it's a sad time. I mean, I was lucky I grew up there because, you know, in one hour, 15 minutes I could go skiing. Ten minutes walking I could go, you know, wakeboarding and sailing. And emotionally, it's sad. I think that's fantastic, what nature can offer you emotionally, you know, compensate and balance out your own personal feelings. It's awesome. Nice. Do you agree, Tom? Yeah. That little, like—yeah, I mean, where that grieving thing came from was like from a weird place, and I still can't remember what I was thinking when I had that thought, but I'm gonna look for it. Did you have a time in the mountains where you were grieving? No. In college, I did an architecture class, and my final project—it's like you have to, like, come up with a house, and I designed a house that was made for, like—it's kind of a long story, but it was, like, meant to take you through an emotional journey, because you came in at the back, and then you had to go through this little pathway, and then you ended up in a crazy view of the mountains. And the idea, I think—I think this is unrelated, actually—but that played into this whole theory, but I can't remember how the grieving thing played in. But the idea was, like, when you're really heavily grieving, you, like, can't comprehend why you feel the way you do. And I feel that when I'm, like, looking at a mountain, I just get kind of confused because it's just, like, so much shit is going on, and it's so big, and it's just, like, I can't wrap my head around everything that's going on when I look at a mountain. Have you had a point in your life that you've been grieving? Not really. That's kind of—not to that degree, really, besides, you know, the grieving that we do whenever we get emotionally unstable. Or whenever you go to the mountains. Yeah. Mountains just make me sad. No, I can see what you're saying. I'm trying to... I'll try to flip it. What if nature is, like, brings out emotions? Like, just looking at nature, like, of course, proper nature. Like, you go up the mountains, down in the ocean. You know, I have this—there is this place in Italy close to Lake Como called Monte Spluga, and it's a beautiful place on the border with Switzerland. And you've got a little lake, which of course in winter freezes because you're up like 2,500 meters on the level of the sea. It's a magical place. So you've got this little lake, little town. I'm talking about probably 20 houses and two hotels, and that's it. And it's fantastic. So you just go up a little bit on the mountain and you look down and you see this spot of water. And then you see all mountains around, and it's fantastic. Yeah, I know. I get what you're saying. I love that place. It's magical. And every time I get there, I feel some sort of, like, nostalgia, you know? Because, as you said, it kind of, like, probably nature triggers emotions and boosts emotion or balances out emotions. Yeah, for sure. Nature is integral to the human condition. It's just so important. Like, it blows my mind that some people just don't really go out and enjoy, experience nature. Yeah, but, like, people who just sit in their room all day working on their computer, and then it gets dark, and then they realize, oh shit, I've spent all day inside, because that's how I feel sometimes. But you do. I mean, now—yeah, now. I mean, yeah, I try to go outside, but sometimes I, you know, pay attention at the end of the day, and I'm like, holy shit, I have been inside four walls all day. You love to spend time at home. That's the truth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but when you spend time outside, you enjoy it even more. But now that you're living in the Buda side, in your little enclave, fiefdom back there in, what is it, district—far reaches of District II. District 2A, I've heard recently that it's called because District 2 is so large that they actually split it up into two. And also Danny came and visited last weekend, and he was saying that they just kind of like, they just like annexed this part of, like, this suburb of Budapest into District A at some point because they wanted, I don't know. Yeah, District 2A. It is weird. It sort of sprawls out there. Húvösvölgy is like the name of that neighborhood, or you're not in Hűvösvölgy, you're Pasarét, which is Cold Valley, is Hűvösvölgy. Okay, I found the note that I wrote from 2005—2015, August 29th. Vastness is the name of this. This is the note that I wrote when I had this thought the first time. Vastness. A vast experience or deep feeling can be better understood or healthily understood if you take your time to experience some visual vastness, like a huge, gorgeous mountain range, to help you explore and appreciate the vastness of such an emotion. You have to first accept you can't fully understand it, just like you can't fully see the vastness of your view, basically. That's beautiful. I think that was where the idea came from. A great ending quote to leave us on. I'm glad that you found that right before the buzzer. Grazie mille, Alberto. Grazie mille a voi. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for enlightening us with your Italian views, along with our recently departed amico Marco. Amico, amico, amico. You got it. Amico. And grazie mille, Tamás, as always. As always, thank you very much, Willie, and much love to all the listeners out there. It's another episode of Talking with Willie and Tom and Alberto and Marco. Jó éjszakát. Have a great night. See you guys soon.
