Italy has won its first World Cup since 1982, going five for five on penalty shots. France went three for four, missing a fourth by mere inches.

France's Zinedine Zidane, who scored in the first half on a penalty kick and will go down as one of the greatest players of his generation, got red-carded in extra time. Not only will France's captain not retire with a second World Cup triumph under his belt, he'll have people questioning why he delivered such an inexplicable head-butt to Marco Materazzi at such a critical point in the game.

People are going berserk on College Street: Both older Italians who were around for Italy's last triumph in 1982, and young ones who weren't yet even born when it last happened.

And there's a lot of soccer tourists who have no particular tie to Italy and couldn't tell Totti from Toni, but want to give their digital cameras a good workout or just leach off a winning vibe.

I can easily hear the racket as I sit here and type this. But enough typing. Back to the party!

Later

College was nothing compared to the Corso Italia, where the crowds will likely be measured in the hundreds of thousands. It was an absolute sea of Italian flags from Caledonia Road to Bathurst, backlit by the setting sun.

Clubs along St. Clair brought their speakers into the street, providing pounding beats for people to dance to, and some didn't waste the opportunity!

One fellow had a photo with the caption: "Italy: 1982 World Champions." Another had a coffin in French red, white and blue with the small logo: France - RIP, World Cup 2006.

Mostly, the crowds consisted of happy, peaceful people showing their colours and revelling in Italy's victory.

Back at College Street, around 9:45 p.m., the scene was almost deserted. The Clinton St. intersection had 16 police hanging out around it, plus bike cops patrolling, but it was no more busy than many nice Sunday evenings in the summer.

If that's the best College can do, it makes you wonder why they call it Little Italy anymore. The Brazilians were still going at the same time when they won four years ago, and that was 12 hours after they won, not four-and-a-half! :)

The current partying on St. Clair will go down in Toronto history as one of this city's biggest post-game celebrations, but to me, people were more ... frenzied on Yonge Street when Canada won men's hockey gold in Salt Lake City back in 2002.

To me, a lot of people really were going crazy then, whereas soccer fans seem to be performing more of an expected role -- especially when TV cameras are rolling.

I hope I'm around when the Leafs eventually win a Stanley Cup.

...

Hey, dare to dream!