-be true to your school-

I assumed they knew what they were talking about

When they told me DiMaggio was a better hitter

Than Williams.

And maybe they knew something

When they told me Sofia Loren was better looking

Than Marilyn Monroe.  

I guessed they knew a thing or two

When they told me Marciano would’ve beaten Ali;

Told me it would’ve been Ali

In the early rounds, but Marciano, crouched, bleeding

And tenacious, would’ve found the moment.

Maybe Joltin’ Joe was a better hitter than Teddy Ballgame.

But I don’t think so.

I think you've got to be an old New York Italian

To believe such nonsense. 

Maybe Loren had the edge on Monroe.

I don’t know.

And maybe Marciano would’ve found the time

Like the old italians postulated as they gathered

At the spent holiday tables with their port and their beards

And their comparable expressions and experiences.

Old Pete Pieroni once said that the Italians were forced

To fight for the Axis by the brutally pompous Benito.

Not that old Pete was addressing the politics of war.

But more that he was grasping to excuse the Italians
Of their dismal battlefield performances.

But now that I'm older, I’m placing my bets on Sofia

And Ted and Rocky without factoring in

the Italians and their dismal battlefield performance.