How could I have predicted that two of the players would have been killed in an automobile accident, and the effect this would have upon the team? How could I have predicted that the president would have resigned three days before the first "true" home match?

How could I have known that the real owner was an extremely shadowy "construction" millionaire who lived in a fortress on top of the tallest mountain overlooking the town, and never left it without at least two bodyguards? And how could I have known that a player would be arrested on charges of being a participant in a $25 million a year international cocaine smuggling ring?

So, Jeff, I don't see how you can ever have a clear idea in advance. You show up, you stay, you stay, you stay, and gradually thousands of micro-impressions begin to form into shadowy notions, but the fact is I didn't write one word of the book while I was there. I just absorbed. I only started writing after all was over, after the final shape had been determined, after I knew what kind of structure I would have within to work.

But you know, you hang out, you eat meals, you start with little jokes, you pick up bits and piece of the language, and pretty soon, these players, who are no dummies, can tell whether you're truly simpatico or a phony. I guess the nature of my obsession and its manifestations were so obvious – besides, who would fake enthusiasm for soccer for the "privilege" of spending a winter in Castel di Sangro? – that the assimilation process took much less time than I'd expected. Plus manager Jaconi immediately gave me a seat at the team table for lunch and dinner, which were always taken in the same restaurant.

Merron: What did you know about the town of Castel di Sangro and its team before you went to Italy? As you write in the book, the town is pretty far off the beaten tourist track, and Serie B Italian soccer doesn't exactly garner a lot of international press.

McGinniss: Listen, it's literally true that the day I arrived in Italy I didn't even know where I'd spend the night. And of course I had no idea what would happen with the team. I had a fair fan's knowledge of the various squads in Serie A – and a passionate admiration for the great Roberto Baggio, which still endures – but Serie B was terra incognita.

My first surprise, then, was not being able to sleep in Castel di Sangro when I arrived, because there were no hotels in which I could stay, and while Italians are for the most part warm and welcoming to strangers, they're not going to invite a foreigner who can't even say "buona notte" to spend the night at their home after knowing him for only an hour. Besides, in Castel di Sangro, a very poor town, there was not much extra living space. It's not exactly a guest-room sort of place.

My second surprise was to learn that the team had no home pitch to play on. Serie B regulations required that there be a minimum seating capacity of 10,000 and Castel di Sangro had had only 4,000. Well, the story of the construction of the new stadium and the delays and delays and delays is yet something else too detailed for this format, but from September to January, the team had to play its "home" matches at a stadium two hours away.

Merron: Did you have any idea of what struggles the team would face? Were you aware that management was among the team's worst enemies?

McGinniss: The only thing I knew that first day was that when I compared the roster of the new "Serie B" team with that of the team that had struggled up from "Serie C1" the year before, and from "Serie C2" the year before that, they were 85 percent the same. The management, although given millions of dollars in bonuses to allow them to buy stronger players so they could compete effectively had not used the money for that purpose. It was virtually the same team from two levels lower, two years before.