Posted on 10/06/2006 3:08:37 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
Boston 'duped' over fake Cup trophy
BOSTON (AP) -- Some Boston residents said the felt "duped" after learning that the FIFA World Cup soccer trophy paraded through the city's North End earlier this week was a replica.
Mayor Thomas Menino kissed the trophy, and fans waited hours in line to have a $5 picture taken with the trophy when it was brought to the city's heavily Italian -- and soccer-crazed -- North End neighborhood on Tuesday.
But the trophy, which Anheuser-Busch is touring around the country, is a gold-plated replica of the actual 18-karat, 14-inch multimillion-dollar gold dome created by Italian artist Silvio Gazzaniga. Italy won this year's World Cup, its fourth tournament win, after beating France 5-3.
"I guess we were duped," Nick Varano, owner of Strega restaurant, told the Boston Herald. "We were told it was the actual World Cup, the solid gold World Cup. I'm sick over it."
Besides Boston, the Anheuser-Busch tour of the replica cup includes stops at St. Louis, New York, Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Tony Ponturo, a spokesman for Anheuser-Busch, released a statement that said the replica is just as important in Italy as the original. The replica will go back to Italy to be kept as a symbol of its victory. The real trophy goes back to FIFA headquarters in Switzerland.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Serves them right for liking soccer.
Yeah, in the same way a Pope impersonator is just as important as the Pope, Tony.
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