Travis Diener

[Markedman]

Traitor!! :D

http://www.sportando.net/eng/italy/serie-a/56173/travis-diener-gets-italian-passport-will-play-eurobasket.html

[TheSultan]

Italy seems to hand out passports to anyone. I made a pot of spaghetti last week...do I qualify for one too?? ;)

[Goose85]

Seems to be a lot of comments. Anyone speak Italian?

Does this give Travis some type of dual citizenship? Does the US allow dual citizenship?

[TheSultan]

Seems to be a lot of comments. Anyone speak Italian?

Does this give Travis some type of dual citizenship? Does the US allow dual citizenship?


Yes. Remember all the American baseball players that played for Italy in the World Baseball Classic? (Anthony Rizzo from the Cubs for example.) Apparently all you need is to have a grandparent who was Italian.

[IWB]

Wow - Google translated the comments and this is a pretty major ordeal, both basketball and political.

This isn't just a jump in league, this is for Travis to play for the Italian National Team. The comments go back and forth, congratulating Travis, with the flipside saying they would rather lose than have non-Italians play/represent the colors. Some say he put in his time and has lived in Italy for three years. The guy from the national team defends the move saying he wanted a player like Travis on his team, if he wanted a defender he would have taken a defender, but he "wanted a Travis".

Big move, very controversial.

[Markedman]

http://answers.usa.gov/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=12102&CONFIGURATION=1000&PARTITION_ID=1

[MayorBeluga]

Interesting. Hope he got some good advice on the tax consequences of expatriating, otherwise he could potentially face a big tax bill here in the US.

[IWB]

I do not believe is becoming an Italian citizen, they are just issuing him an Italian Passport so he can play for Italy's national team in the European Games in Slovenia.

Funny, so many people against it because he is not from Italy, yet the people in Sassari are stating that "He is one of us".

[Goose85]

Doesn't his wife have some connection to that area or even that city?

[IWB]

Yes - I believe it is his wife's grandparents that are from there and either still live there or have relatives there. His wife is former MU cheerleader Rosa Maria Nigliaccio (aka "Rosie").

Travis and Drake have played for the same team for three years now, and in the thread one poster refers to Travis as "The little cousin".

[MayorBeluga]

I do not believe is becoming an Italian citizen, they are just issuing him an Italian Passport so he can play for Italy's national team in the European Games in Slovenia.

A quick search online confirms that one must be an Italian citizen to obtain an Italian passport. Otaining foreign citizenship can constitute renunciation of US citizenship although chances are pretty low that the US State Department will enforce the statute by making him surrender his US passport. That said, it can have negative tax consequences if he meets the definition of a "covered expatriate" under IRC §877A.

As I said before, I hope he got good advice on this and it was not a rash decision.

[TulsaWarrior]

Maybe they made him an offer he couldn't refuse? ;-)

[MU88]

A quick internet search also reveals that there is a very good chance his wife can become (or is already) an Italian citizen given her Italian heritage and that as a spouse, he can become one too. He does not have to renounce his US citizenship to become an Italian citizen under such circumstances. Alternatively, if he has some Italian in his background, he too may qualify as an Italian citizen. Again, under that circumstance, he would not have to renounce his US citizenship.

[IWB]

I don't believe he is becoming an Italian citizen by any means. They have done this in the past as foreign players have played for them in the olympics. They have two other guys on that team that are non-Italians. They want to win the Euro cup - so they pulled in a hired gun in Travis Diener. He does not have to be a citizen, just has to have the Italian passport to be allowed to participate. We just discussed this in another thread....."special admits".

[pbiflyer]

Travis and Drake have played for the same team for three years now, and in the thread one poster refers to Travis as "The little cousin".

I don't think it would translate well, but we could always give the "your Diener may be bigger, but ours scores more" response. :D

[MUUWUWM]

Travis can do no wrong...End of story.

[IWB]

Wow - I was wrong, I guess it's official.....

Brittney Diener Holdren: Congrats to my brother for officially becoming an Italian citizen!

564

Funny thing to me is, yeah, everyone that becomes an official Italian citizen wears a t-shirt to their swearing in ceremony.

[ge1974]

This is kind of like the movie "Breaking Away", where the Bloomington, Indiana bicyclist wants to be an Italian.

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2007/04/03/breaking-away-1979/

Perhaps we can get Dennis Christopher to play Travis Diener in the new movie.

[MUUWUWM]

Does this mean that Travis will not be at the Perry?

[CaribouJim]

Does this mean that Travis will not be at the Perry?

...and if he does, will he be wearing a shirt with horizontal stripes and have baguettes at the turn? Or is that the French? They're pretty much the same thing right except that the French have probably surrendered more than the Italians and in general, the French hate us more?

In any event, TD has lead an interesting life that is for sure. That, and having a hot wife.

[MUUWUWM]

...and if he does, will he be wearing a shirt with horizontal stripes and have baguettes at the turn? Or is that the French? They're pretty much the same thing right except that the French have probably surrendered more than the Italians and in general, the French hate us more?

In any event, TD has lead an interesting life that is for sure. That, and having a hot wife.


Well here's to hopeing that he will make it back some day to the Perry with the Mrs.

[The Reptile]

...and if he does, will he be wearing a shirt with horizontal stripes and have baguettes at the turn? Or is that the French? They're pretty much the same thing right except that the French have probably surrendered more than the Italians and in general, the French hate us more?

In any event, TD has lead an interesting life that is for sure. That, and having a hot wife.


Baguettes are French, likely borrowed from the Italians during the Renaissance when the French King (Louis XIV) needed street cred and married into the Medici family. If anything, Travis will be sporting a Gucci golf bag and decked out in Armani threads.

[IWB]

Oh, he already decks himself out in Armani threads, except when he is golfing.....


565

[Gato78]

F***ing Dieners.

[IWB]

You got that right.

[CaribouJim]

That picture is beyond unsettling. I've seen less skin at a strip joint.

[Goose85]

I guess they don't lift weights in Italy.

[IWB]

That picture is beyond unsettling. I've seen less skin at a strip joint.


Yes, most of the guys changed after the outing, Drake did not. I was standing there talking to some guys at the bar that night and I had to walk away as I felt uncomfortable. I told him my underwear were longer than his shorts, and I wasn't kidding.

[Gato78]

Your underwear is a bit crustier, I am sure.


Yes, most of the guys changed after the outing, Drake did not. I was standing there talking to some guys at the bar that night and I had to walk away as I felt uncomfortable. I told him my underwear were longer than his shorts, and I wasn't kidding.

[IWB]

No, but as I said the other day, it sucks when you go to put your foot through and it goes through a hole other than the actual leg hole!