Rick Dockery is a NFL player, or was a NFL player. In the beginning of John Grishman’s book, Playing For Pizza, Rick Dockery is in the AFC Championship game with the Cleveland Browns. After the first two quarterbacks get hurt, Rick goes in the fourth quarter and goes in to keep a 17 point lead. Needless to say, Rick threw three interceptions in 15 minutes to loss the game and the Cleveland’s first birth to the Super Bowl. The day after he was cut from the team and he could feel the hurt from the city, literally. While he was still in the hospital, mobs were forming outside of the hospital waiting for Rick to come outside.

A couple days later, Arnie (Rick’s agent) gets Rick a job playing a quarterback for the Parma Panthers…in Italy! Rick finally gives in and travels to Italy where he is warmly greeted by Sam Russo, his new coach. They talk and took a short tour of the city. Finally, they stopped to get supper. Little did Rick know that  dinners in Italy can last from 2 hours to a full 4 hour, multicourse dinner. The restaurant that was chosen was Café Montana. The owners were two of Ricks players, Nino and Carlo. This is where Rick gets his first taste of Italy. Nino and Carlo warm greetings had a lasting effect on Rick and he remembered and was reminded of their customary greetings throughout the book.  Rick thoroughly enjoyed his meal. From the “little sandwich” made with brown bread, a slice of prosciutto and a shaving of parmigiano to the special veal cutlets. This experience humbled Rick just a little bit in the sense of that he realized what food means to the Italians.

His first game as a Parma panther really opened his eyes in the sense of he realizes how much his fellow teammates love the game. Rick got back to his college days throwing touchdowns. Fabrizio had a huge game and the whole team did outstanding as the Panthers win 48-21. This was Rick’s first game since college to throw a touchdown pass.

Through the middle and end of the book, Rick meets a girl named Livvy. They had a “one nighter,” but it lasted way more than one night. Livvy changed Rick. She humbled and matured him. They traveled Italy together when Rick didn’t have practice or a game. They went to see domes, cathedral, etc., but all Rick cared about was being around Livvy. This changed him because he had never want that before.

The big day had arrive for Rick, Super Bowl day. The Parma Panthers had rallied to win several games in order to get in the Super Bowl against Burgamo. The game started off with a play to take out the middle linebacker called the “Kill Maschi” play. After the play occurred a brawl between the two teams broke out. The ha;ftime score was 3-0. The third and fourth were offensive quarters. It came down to the last plays, where Rick threw a 76 yard bomb to Fabrizio who walked into the end zone untouched. Rick had took a monster hit from Maschi, who came back from the devastating hit in the third quarter. After a four and out by the Bergamo, the back up quarterback for Parma fell on the ball twice and ran out the clock. The Parma Panthers won their first Super Bowl. The after party and film session was pretty uneventful for Rick. At the end of the book, Rick considers a new contract from Bercardo to stay in Parma. Then he and Livvy take a train to a new place in Italy and as the train passed by the Stadio Lanfranchi, Rick “allowed himself a smile of deep satisfaction” ( 306).