While Italian football provides excellent quality and entertainment on the pitch, we all know that it equally provides excellent quality and entertainment off the pitch. The crazy owners, the fights in the media between opposing managers and directors, the outbursts in press conferences, and all that other great stuff that keeps us entertained during the week.

All of Italy is reporting it now. At first it was just a crazy rumor. Nobody believed that Kaka would leave Milan for Manchester City. But now it's slowly becoming official. According to Italian press reports (including Milan Channel, Milan's official TV station), Milan have accepted Manchester City's 120 million euro offer for Kaka.

How great it was to have Serie A back after the winter break. I missed my weekly calcio fix. Roma-Milan highlighted the return of Serie A. Both teams desperate for the 3 points, as Roma wanted to inch closer to the top half of the table and Milan wanted to get closer to Juventus and Inter.

After a day full of tension, Berlusconi announced late today that Kaka will be staying at Milan and that he closed the deal himself. So Milan fans everywhere can now breathe a sigh of relief (unless you were in favor of him leaving). We'll see what happens over the next few days though. Regarding Serie A, we are now officially at the half-way point.

It's no secret that with all the goals Luca Toni has scored in Germany he has become an idol for Bayern Munich fans all over the world. But one fan in particular decided that he loved Luca Toni so much that he had to write a song for him. The German fans have to help me out here, because I don't know if "Matze Knop" is the name of a group or one guy but he/they is/are the author of the song, titled "Numero Uno".

One of the most popular shows in Italy is "Striscia la Notizia" a parody news show (kind've like a Daily Show with Jon Stewart or a Colbert Report but more variety show styled) that is broadcast on Canale 5 in Italy. It is a very funny show and the news covers all aspects of daily life. Probably one of the shows most famous segments is the "Tapiro D'Oro" (pictured) [Golden Anteater Award] which is given to celebrities and famous people who are embarrassed in the media.

And so, with Serie A starting up again this weekend, the second half of the season begins (although technically it begins January 25th when the girone di ritorno begins). I thought it would be a good idea to give each team a grade for their efforts so far. Serie A has been very interesting this season and has provided us with some top quality football to gaze our eyes upon.

It as been 2 years and a couple of months since the big Calciopoli scandal in the summer of 2006. The big people accused were Luciano Moggi, the director general of Juventus, his agent son Alessandro Moggi, Davide Lippi (son of Marcello Lippi and head of the big Italian football agency GEA), as well as some other agents like Franco Zavaglia, Francesco Ceravolo, and Pasquale Gallo.

Inter defeated Sampdoria 1-0 to give themselves breathing room from Juventus. It was supposed to be the game where we would see the geniuses of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Cassano do battle, but unfortunately both players were unavailable for selection. The game wasn't pretty, but Jose Mourinho's squad got the job done once again, grinding out a 1-0 victory from a goal from Adriano, who seems to be reborn.

Here we have a video compilation which shows us the best goals of the first part of the Serie A season. Some nice goals scored so far. Video after the jump.

(I highly recommend visiting the youtube page of the video and watching it in high quality.)

What do you think has been the best goal so far?

Nobody is expecting big moves during this transfer window in Serie A. Maybe some small clubs will buy a top Serie B player or some players will switch clubs, but the biggest transfer everyone was expecting was the move of Fiorentina striker Giampaolo Pazzini. The Atalanta youth product was considered at a young age to be one of the most promising strikers in all of Italy.