Dino Meneghin is in love with his Caterina. They protect each other, loving each other, having been together since 1985. Dino Meneghin flies: that’s right, the airline Ita Airways has named a plane in its fleet after him. Dino Meneghin is a film, produced by Rai, broadcast a few days ago, which had respectable numbers and audiences. To be seen. Dino Meneghin is a shoe, obviously for basketball, just launched on the market by Diadora. Dino Meneghin is an eternal champion who lives his 73 years in serenity, after a career as a warrior, under the basket of course, fighting for the team, putting himself at the service of his fans and his teammates. Two lives, the first in Varese, the second in Milan, with a few bells also in Trieste and the blue shirt that framed the masterpiece called Superdino: now a great convinced Lombard, with the memory always alive for his Alano Fener.
Meneghin, how are you at 73?
«There are complicated mornings, sometimes I wake up with some pain. If it stays that way, I get over it, but if it becomes more serious I fight it with painkillers. Like everyone.”
Yes, but with a privilege: you have a doctor at home, your wife Caterina.
“It’s true, I’m lucky, Caterina is very good, she follows me very carefully.”
Caterina is a plastic surgeon: you Meneghin, have you ever thought about a touch-up?
Dino laughs: «Of course, Caterina took me for that. You must have thought when you saw me for the first time: “Here we have to work for a lifetime…” ».
Dino is famous for his irony, his desire to lighten things up. The truth is that his wife, Dr. Caterina, is a talented professional, with specialization achieved in the major burn victims of Niguarda, a center of excellence in the field of plastic surgery. They have loved each other for 38 years and Dino, always reluctant to talk about his affairs, this time opens up a little (but only a little): «The secret of our happy union? It’s called love. We are happy together, a dimension that has grown day after day, with spontaneous complicity. Caterina is a woman with a strong personality, but we both know when it’s time for her to give in, to come forward, to indulge our desires.”
Covid: is it true that you took it badly?
“Meanwhile, I didn’t take it. But I admit: she was tough. I had my vaccines, I followed precautions and prudence, but I suffered from the limit on freedom that Covid imposed on us. Luckily I had my wife by my side. And then, we had and have the company of dogs and cats.”
Who is she with? Dog or cat?
“I have always had a dog, ever since I was a kid. But over time I learned to love cats too. The dog is called Pippa, the cat is Spotty. If I put myself on the sofa, Spotty is sure to come, he lies on top of me, he looks for contact.”
Okay, but who takes Pippa out?
“Caterina, or the lady who helps around the house. But not because I run away from housewifely duties: no, if Pippa goes out with me, she doesn’t do her business. Then, I say, it’s useless.”
The excuse is good. But does the great Dino collaborate at home?
«Caterina doesn’t make me do anything. Also because, if I’m telling the truth, I’m not that good. Days ago I got it into my head to unclog the shower, I flooded the house, I caused thousands of euros of damage.”
Let’s talk about basketball, which is better. How do you become a champion?
“I loved playing: this is the starting point. Then, I found a value in my family: from my father and mother. Sacrifices always give results. My brother Renzo and I grew up in a family, grandparents and parents, used to making sacrifices.”
How did Superdino, acclaimed in Italy and feared in Europe, come about?
«The work, the intensity in training, which then bears fruit in the match, having been able to play in great teams, together with very strong teammates, being guided by great coaches, the victories, because in Varese first and in Milan then coming second was a failure, it facilitates, facilitates and increases the status of a player”.
– Meneghin with Varese in the 1976 Champions Cup final (Olycom)
But what makes the difference?
“Mental strength”.
Is it with this that he became a leader, both in Varese and Milan?
“I have always worked hard. Then, if I understood that a companion had a problem, I looked for him and spoke to him. It wasn’t easy for foreigners to fit into a team, in a new city, they came from another basketball, even from another world.”
In Milan you helped Joe Barry Carroll fit in.
“A great player. But he didn’t know our basketball or European basketball well. I remember that in the championship the opposing coach had put a player on the field who was supposed to provoke Carroll, possibly beat him. Joe Barry was getting nervous, his eyes were burning. I told him: “Joe, calm down, don’t react, he came in on purpose to make you angry.” He understood immediately, he started playing, he thought about the team, his performance changed, we won.”
The right word at the right time: this is the leader.
“Without ever invading the technical field, that of the coach: I have always respected the roles”.
Who was the opponent who caused you the most problems?
“Kresimir Cosic, a Yugoslavian, was my idol, he knew how to do everything on the pitch. Then the Lithuanian Arvydas Sabonis, but I met him when I was in the waning phase of my career, while he was the rising star”.
His regret about not going to the NBA.
“I have it, there’s no denying it. But the proposals, first from Atlanta and then from New York, reached me at the wrong times. I console myself by saying to myself: if I’m born again, I’ll come back to the NBA.”
– Meneghin and McAdoo with the Tracer Milano tank top
Look, your enemies, the fans of the opposing teams, claim that the referees allowed Dino Meneghin everything.
He laughs again: «My expulsions speak for themselves, the technical fouls that the referees gave me. When they kicked me out I was the first to criticize myself. But it cannot be said that there was psychological subservience towards me.”
You have always had a terrible relationship with the referees.
“I couldn’t stand the fat ones, the unprepared ones. They struggled to follow the actions. They made me angry, I always thought it was a lack of respect.”
Do you enjoy basketball now?
“I follow him, but I like him less than before. The stubborn pursuit of the three-point shot doesn’t convince me. I like organized play more, which involves the whole team.”
You played over the age of 40, is it difficult to stop?
“For me it wasn’t. When I realized that my ideas were moving faster than my legs, that I was struggling physically and athletically, I stopped.”
First he managed to play against his son Andrea. He too is a champion. But the chromosomes of talent are not passed on.
“I understood that Andrea could make it big when at 12 years old he passed me flat on the ground with impressive naturalness. And he did it all alone, without taking advantage of his surname.”
– In 1990, at the age of 40, Dino Meneghin challenges his son Andrea in Trieste-Varese
At the time, many years ago, politics, the PSDI, courted her by nominating her. Do you follow politics?
“On TV there is a binge of talk shows and programmes, how can you not follow it”.
What do you think of Giorgia Meloni?
“She is determined, decisive, I like her. He must win two battles: the first against those who think he does a man’s job. We are still at this level. The second is that being prime minister is an impossible task, always uphill.”
And what about her rival, Elly Schlein?
“I have the impression that he’s saying things I’ve already heard.”
Are you Meneghin well in Milan?
“A city that I like. But he is running a risk: that the feeling of living in danger will spread among citizens: I haven’t worn a watch for a long time, I no longer feel safe”.
Dino Meneghin’s next basket?
“At 73 I’m not looking for anything, but if an interesting experience is proposed to me, I evaluate it, I reflect on it, then I decide whether to face it: serenity and health”.
2023-11-04 06:56:49
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