The significance of the title, Playing for Pizza, is exactly what it says. Rick Dockery used to play in the NFL for $400,000. Now he comes to Italy for the sport and for the pizza and beer afterwords. Throughout the story, the pompous quarterback, who arrived in Italy to play for the Parma Panthers, begins to change into a humble leader. One of the main reasons Rick begins to change is that he sees all the players (except Trey, Sly, and Fabrizio) playing for the love of the game, not for money. The Title is symbolic of the change in mindset that Rick Dockery has to make in order to play and have fun in Italy. Rick has to come to the reality that most people in Italy don’t care about football and he will never get a lot of glory in Italy for what he does. It’s a big change, but by the end of the book, he is satisfied in Italy. The symbolic meaning of the title even goes past football, where Rick’s entire lifestyle is going to change. His home, attitude towards girls, even the type of car he drives is going to change. By the end of the book, he has half the value of everything he owned in the United States, but with his Parma Panthers and Livvy ( his girlfriend) he’s glad to be in Italy.