Table of Contents
- Road Trips and Music
- Nebaletan Word of the Day – SUFREET!?
- Pizza Review – Vesuvio Wood Fired Pizza, Sarasota, FL
The Baseball Series:
- Baseball – Why Do I Love Thee? here
- Baseball Cards! – here, here, here, and here
- Whiffle Ball! – Last post
- High School Baseball!
- Years 1 – 3 – last post
- Road Trips and Music – this post
- The Characters!
- Senior Year! Maybe More!!!
- Baseball – The Pros and The Cons (of statistics that is…)
Road Trips and Music
My first three years of high school baseball? Uneventful on the field (as I mentioned last post). So why are they still etched in my memory?
- First off, the team was packed with characters (see Coach Mel in the last blog post) — I’ll get to more next time.
- What sticks with me just as much: the road trips!!
League games, state tournaments—we traveled by car, not by school bus like in football. That meant teammates’ rides, not coaches’. What could go wrong? Thankfully, nothing ever did.
For both my sophomore and junior seasons, I rode with my cousin Carmen. Doug T. rode shotgun. Bobby G. and I took the back. We must’ve done 30 games together over those two seasons, easy. After that many miles, you settle into a rhythm.
Not a lot of conversation—Carmen and Doug were upperclassmen and starters. Bobby G. and I warming the bench and cheering. That front seat/back seat divide, although imaginary, seemed real at that time. But what we lacked in talking, we made up for in singing!
Carmen had the voice for it—he’s spent over 40 years as a pro, doing Belushi’s Jake Blues on Vegas stages and beyond. Yeah, that good. Legends in Concert: Eric Martin & Carmen Romano as The Blues Brothers™ Las Vegas (that’s Carmen as Jake Blues/John Belushi!).
Those seasons were the springs of ’75 and ’76. We lived through the car radio and in the top 40. My most memorable:
From ’75: https://top40weekly.com/1975-all-charts/#US_Top_40_Singles_Week_Ending_26th_April_1975
- Philadelphia Freedom
- How Long – Ace
From ’76: https://top40weekly.com/1976-all-charts/#US_Top_40_Singles_Week_Ending_24th_April_1976
- Show Me the Way
- Bohemian Rhapsody (no-brainer)
Windows down, volume up, Carmen belting, the rest of us doing our best not to ruin it.
Nebaletan Word of the Day – SUFREET!?
As I mentioned in the last post, my high school baseball team was full of Nebaletans—and we had our own twisted version of the Neapolitan dialect to go with it.
One of our finest: SUFREET. (The real word is soffritto—a classic Neapolitan stew.)
Pronounced: SUE-FREET (roll that R like Nonna’s watching)
Sufreet is a rich, spicy meat stew you’ll find all over Napoli and Southern Italy. And while it might scream cold weather comfort food, in Naples, they’ll eat it year-round—heat be damned.
Looks delicious, right? I loved it as a kid when Grandma Maouri and Aunt Theresa made it—until I learned what was in it:
Again from Giallo Zafferano’s recipe for the real thing
- “To prepare Neapolitan [sofrito], start by cutting the offal: cut the pieces of spleen, heart, liver, and lung into cubes of 1-1.5 inches (1-2-3).”
Yep. Chopped-up animal guts in spicy red sauce.
So what’s that got to do with high school baseball?
Everything.
Take this game, for example:
- I boot a routine grounder at third.
- Then air-mail the throw over Capo Carm’s head at first.
- I let out a “F…k!” loud enough to echo into next week.
When we get back to the dugout, Carm gives me a look and says, “Val, you made SUFREET out of that grounder.”
Chopped it up. Spicy mess. Totally Nebaletan.
Pizza Review – Vesuvio Wood Fired Pizza, Sarasota, FL
- Purchased Pizzas Reviewed / To Be Reviewed (All Time): 196
- 2025 Count (Reviewed / To Be Reviewed): 22
- This Review: #190 All Time · #16 of 2025 (6 reviews left to go)
We’ve had Vesuvio on our radar for years—first spotted them on Facebook. But until now, they’ve mostly popped up around Lakewood Ranch, about 30 miles from us. And while I love pizza (especially a proper Neapolitan), I’ve got enough solid options nearby that I never made the trek.
Then came the news: Vesuvio was setting up shop at the Town Center in our own development.
Let’s just say—I was hyped….I even showered and broke out the Maradona jersey for the occasion.
| Date | April 28, 2025 |
| Pizzeria | Vesuvio Wood Fired Pizza |
| City/Neighborhood | Sarasota/Bradenton, FL – Food Truck |
| Website | https://www.facebook.com/vesuviowoodfiredpizza/ https://vesuviosrq.com/ |
| About Us | Not on the web. But the beauty of a food truck is that I was able to interact with owners. Their story is fantastic – husband and wife team. The wife followed family to Napoli and a teen where she met her husband. Moved back to SRQ and started their food truck. Might be the only time in history that we’ll win over Napoli! |
| Style | Neapolitan |
| Ambiance | Food truck at my house – perfect! |
| Shape | Round |
| Dough/Crust | Tickness – Thin Cook – perfect Neapolitan bake – Soft, Crispy, slight Char Flavor – well fermented, yeasty but not bready – nicely sour although not overly, slight Char flavoring |
| Cornicione | Crispy crunchy, Spongy/airy, Bubbly, Chewy As close to a perfect Neapolitan cornicione |
| Toppings | Cheese and Fresh Basil – Classic Margharita |
| Sauce | Tangy and Rich! Bright – a little acidity shines through. Obviously a high quality tomato. Just a slight hint of salt and that’s it! MY OH MY! |
| Cheese | Cheese Type – Moozedell Cheese Distribution – Splotchy Buttery and Salty – very nice |
| Cheese to Sauce Ratio | Sauce – A little to medium Cheese – Medium Balance – a perfectly balanced Neapolitan. The sauce is bright enough to fight its way through the cheese and display its goodness, but the cheese is not whimpy and shines though. That’s what I call balance! |
| Value | Hmm…this is where I get a little miffed…no published prices. Not even at the food truck (that I could see). We paid about $40 for the two pizzas pictured above. Let’s assume that the Margharita was $18 and the Arugula/Mushroom was $22. So, that’s $18 for a 12″ equivalent. On the high side, BUT – they came to me with that fabulous pizza!!! |
| Overall Rating | This is another one of those “is it Good or is it Great” pizzas. On strictly sticking to the Neapolitan style and taste – Vesuvio is Great…. BUT – Value is part of my equation and value gets in the way of Greatness for some pizzas that I’ve reviewed…but not for Vesuvio – IT’S GREAT! |
| Would I Go Back? | Yes |
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