Paper Champs

I suppose Juventus is going to try to appeal its way back to the Scudetto now. Now that Juve has gotten its Serie B point deduction shortened to minus-17, the club has focused its energies on going forward with yet another appeals process. The sad part of this is that where the courts had initially come down hard and displayed zero tolerance for cheaters, powerful clubs like Juve can use their resources and influence to eventually wear out the system, gaining only an eventual slap on the wrist instead. Thus, it becomes a farce when Lazio and Fiorentina end up back in the top flight, and AC Milan, pending a UEFA decision, can find themselves back in the Champions League (let's hope UEFA shows some courage and puts Milan out to pasture where they belong). In the meantime, Inter gets a much-undeserved Scudetto. In light of all of the circumstances, the Italian federation should have just declared no champion for the past two seasons, and started over.