Chapter 9 8. "Fate of the Wild Duck"

When I was playing in Florence, I met the owner of a real estate company.Once he asked me why I didn't go hunting, and I replied that I was a hunter 10 years ago, but I quit.He insisted: "We have an artificial lake, where we hunt wild ducks. You can come if you like." One day, he came to my house and said to me: "It's a good season, come on Sunday morning, I'll take you go." At 5 o'clock in the morning that day, I was ready and eager to try.The boss and a friend of his drove me to a shack in the middle of the lake.At dawn, I saw 7 birds landed on my right side, but before I could see what they were, I heard a shout: "Quick, shoot!" The 3 of us shot together, and all 7 birds were shot. bomb.We ran to get the game, and they put a mallard in my hand.

From that day on, no, from that moment on, I was fascinated by wild ducks, their eyes, appearance and color.As long as I smell the smell of wild ducks, I feel like an electric shock and can't hold myself.I know I'm on a path of no return.Hunting ceased to be a childhood passion, it became an adult mania, almost sacred. In my second year at Juventus, an acquaintance took me to eat frogs at a restaurant in Casoni Baroni in the Pavia region.The owner of the restaurant is Peter, a Juventus fan, and the chef is Michele, a Turin fan.Michele's eyes widened when he saw me, he couldn't believe that I was really Baggio, and he said to my acquaintance: "Are you kidding me, bringing a guy who looks like a Juventus player here? You can at least cut off his pigtails." I kept a straight face and said nothing, and he realized that I was Baggio.

There are many lakes around Cassoni Baroni, which are good places to hunt wild ducks.The common hobbies made me and Peter and Michele become friends who have never forgotten each other.Peter is 64 years old and Michele is 58 years old. They are both old enough to be my father.But they are my best friends, and we used to hunt ducks together, first near the hotel, then in Scotland and now in Argentina. Casson Baroni became my favorite place.For a while I spent the night here as long as I was not returning to Caldogno.I'm famously crazy about mallards.On a Sunday in August, I went with Dino Baggio to see ducks on the lake, and I took a video camera with me.It was hot as hell, and Dino had brought five cans of Coke.He was very educated, and when he got to the shack on the lake, he asked me if I could open a can of Coke.I said to him, "No, Dino, are you crazy? Once you open the can, the noise will scare the wild ducks away! Just wait a little longer."

I made him wait in the shack under the scorching sun for 5 hours, and the 5 cans of frozen Coke under his nose remained untouched.Afterwards he said to Peter and Michele: "That man is crazy. He made me thirsty for 5 hours, and I will never go hunting with him again." Another time, I almost got Rossi [the AC Milan goalkeeper] swallowed by a mosquito.Also one night in August, I took him to hunt wild ducks, and when he came home his head was swollen like a wheel.There are rice fields, and there are many mosquitoes.I don't have anything because I have thick skin, but he was so badly bitten by mosquitoes that he went home immediately and didn't even want to eat dinner with me.He also ran to my friend and complained: "Baggio is a madman, a dangerous madman." He was right, I was too much.

I know that some people criticize me and say, as a Buddhist, why should I kill.But hunting is my hobby, and I have learned a lot from hunting.If it is not possible to kill, none of us should walk on foot, because walking also kills many lives, we should stay at home.For me, hunting doesn't mean killing, it means giving yourself peace, self-testing, self-discovery.This is not contrary to Buddhism.Anyway, I'm shooting less and less now.I often just observe the wild ducks from a close distance and never forget to return. Mallard is my favorite animal, and its personality is closest to my own.I feel like I was a mallard duck in a previous life.Sometimes I also feel like I might have been a soaring lion in a previous life.I also like the male lion because when he roars, he shows strength and dignity.

I know there is wildness in me, and the important thing is to domesticate that wildness, as it is now.Many of my opponents, especially marking defenders, challenged me, but I was unmoved.More than 3 coaches waged war on me, but none of them succeeded, and it was them, not me, who lost their minds in the end.