Clubbing with a Kingpin

This is a picture of me with Guillermo Coppola taken in the VIP area of the Terrazas del Este club, in Buenos Aires Argentina.

Your first question may be, "What was Ryan Bullock doing in the VIP area of a club in Buenos Aires?" Well, the explanation is that I was not Ryan Bullock that night - I was "Chip Duracell". That's right... of THE Duracell family. My great grandfather started the Duracell battery company, and I am the an "heir to the Duracell family fortune". Of course that is ridiculous - there is no Duracell family. But Chip Duracell gets to step into the VIP area.

The next question is who is Guillermo Coppola. Well, here in Argentina he is known as "El Rey de la Noche" (the King of the Night). Basically, he is a major socialite, politically-connected celebrity, and womanizer who many believe has had links to organized crime here in Argentina. Coppola was Diego Maradona's manager for years. For those of you who don't know, Diego Maradona is a former Argentine soccer player and the current manager of the Argentine national soccer team. Many people consider Maradona the best professional soccer player in the history of the game. He is certainly one of soccer's most controversial figures.

Coppola was arrested back in the mid 90s after police busted him with more than 500 grams of cocaine in his Buenos Aires apartment. He was initially charged with drug possession with intent to sell. Police claimed that he may have been part of a drug ring that sold drugs in resorts along Argentina's Atlantic coast, and Coppola was potentially facing up to 20 years in prison. Here is a New York Times article from about a week after the incident. After he spent over a year in prison, it turned out that the drugs may have been "planted" in Coppola's house by an undercover police officer. Anyway, they let him walk.

There is certainly a lot more to tell about Guillermo Coppola. Back in 2009, he released an autobiographical book full of stories and anecdotes about Maradona, power, drugs, jail, women, scandals, and nightlife. The book cover is pictured here:

Diego Maradona used to say that Guillermo
Coppola could "smoke under water", which is
an argentine expression that means that he
can do anything and everything. That explains
the picture on Coppola's book cover.

Fútbol Argentino - San Lorenzo Celebrates 102nd Anniversary

This past Wednesday, I attended the 102nd birthday celebration for Club Atletico de San Lorenzo de Almagro. My buddy, Francisco is a huge San Lorenzo fan. Several years ago he bought me a jersey, which I proudly wear when we attend San Lorenzo soccer games. San Lorenzo is the only Argentine soccer team whose fans organize each and every year to celebrate the anniversary of their club's founding. Lemme tell you, they put on quite a party. On the Club's 100th anniversary, more than 17,000 people filled the streets of the small Argentine neighborhood. This year where were more than 3,000.

I have included a short video that I recorded on Wednesday night. We started off in front of the church where the Club was born. I'll tell you more about that later in this article. Several bands and singers took turns performing for the group of gathering San Lorenzo fans. A priest even stepped up to the stage to lead the group in a prayer - he followed the prayer by putting on a San Lorenzo hat, which contrasted with his full clerical robe. That was when they unloaded the flag. I say "unloaded", because the flag is 100 meters long. You can see part of the flag at the very beginning of the video I have included. We all helped to carry the flag about 17 blocks through the streets of the neighborhood to Avenida La Plata, where the original San Lorenzo stadium was located until the late 1970s. I'll tell that story in just a moment.

Understanding Argentine Soccer
Unlike professional sports teams in the U.S. or even soccer teams in the U.K., Argentine soccer clubs are not structured as corporations - they are "associations". There are no equity partners or shareholders - the clubs are made up of "socios". These are fans who pay annual dues for membership in a club, and they elect the President and officers who run the clubs, allocate funds, hire the coaches, and negotiate contracts with the players. San Lorenzo currently has more than 25,000 "socios", but in its heyday it had more than 40,000. Each and every "socio" has a recognized stake in the Club.

To fully appreciate the passion of the Argentine soccer fan, you have to understand that unlike professional sports teams in the U.S., these clubs represent much more than the actual teams. The clubs are more like community institutions. For example,