Philadelphia Inquirer | Italy calls penalty on violent soccer fans

Americans, especially Philadelphians, like to think they know about unruly sports fans - the kind of louts who used to hurl snowballs, boo Santa, and fill the court docket in the bowels of Veterans Stadium. But that stuff, as any Italian soccer enthusiast would tell you, is strictly minor league. Consider these incidents ripped from Italy's headlines in recent years: An enraged supporter threw a Molotov cocktail at a bus carrying his team. A severed calf's head was sent to the home of another team's president. In April, a match was canceled after a goalkeeper was struck and injured by a flare when fans pelted the field, as they routinely do when angered by a referee's call. That was just the latest in a long line of projectile barrages, crowd riots and referee attacks. Police reported using tear gas to quell disturbances at 59 matches last season. Then there is the everyday offensiveness - the swastikas and the racist taunts, the monkey noises made when a black player touches the ball.