Avoiding the Drop

Things are, as you’ve seen, a bit slow around here; between Christmas, New Year, days off, families, and (occasionally) work, we’ve all been a little preoccupied. Don’t take it personally; it’s not that we don’t love you, and things will be back to normal next week. Probably.

That said, there was a major gift-giving holiday less than a week ago, and if you’re like me you probably got some cool swag. So let’s talk about the gifts we got, the gifts we didn’t get, and the gifts we might have to return for heavily discounted after Christmas store credit.

Soccer Gift #1: Winning at all Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer, by John Foot

We’ll start with the book. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t many books actually about soccer out there in bookstores in the U.S.; I’ve been fortunate to find a few (Brilliant Orange, The Ball is Round, Soccernomics), but have usually had to resort to ordering stuff online if I really, really wanted it. I’m pretty sure my mom got this for me at Borders, because I almost bought it for myself there (a bad Christmas habit; I usually get one gift for me and then one gift for someone else); it’s not that I’m terribly interested in Italian soccer, but more that I’m just interested in history. So far, this is pretty good; apparently the Italians have claimed a link between an ancient sport called Calcio Fiorentina and football, and have used that link to claim that they’re the true inventors of soccer. That’s like the first fifteen pages, so I’m not spoiling anything for you.

Soccer Gift #2: An Adidas Bag That Looks a Lot Like This One

My mom also got me this. I ran into her while she was shopping, actually, and I recommended it over the jacket-thing she was going to get. I’ve been using a duffel bag to carry my soccer stuff in, but it’s not really meant for that (I think it was originally an overnight bag), so it kind of lacks the necessary odor protection for leaving soccer shoes and shinguards in the back of my car. This will save me a lot on Febreze.

Soccer Gift #3: Adidas Predator Absolado Indoor Shoes (Like the picture, but there’re two of them)

I’m a bit of an Adidas (that’s German, Max Bretos, so it’s pronounced “ah-DEE-das”, not “AH-dee-DAS”) fanboy. This is mostly because, as a kid, it was either Umbro or Adidas, and Adidas made the Copa Mundial shoe (which was basically the best shoe ever). They also made the uber-comfortable Gazelles, which were made out of super-soft kangaroo leather and were good for just walking around in. When it came to indoor shoes, however, they pretty much sucked; their main offering was the Samba, which was comfortable for walking around and pretty crappy for everything else. There’s virtually no support for your toe in the Samba, so turf toe was common; there’s also not really much in the way of tread.

Now, I really, really hate indoor soccer with walls. It’s just a different game, and the presence of the wall means that my main defensive move (to not dive in and force you to come at me to go to goal) is negated, while my main flaw is accentuated. It’s fairly easy to bang a ball off a wall and run past me.

Fortunately, I’ve been able to find a place to play indoor without walls; I’m not sure if that’s common where you are, but in Cleveland there’re only two (and only one near me; I’m not driving an hour out to Willoughby). Since they use Field Turf, it’s also perfectly acceptable to play in cleats; this means that my outdoor Predators (we’ve talked about these before) get a nice workout.

Unfortunately, over time, playing on cleats indoor can suck. I’ve started noticing that my shins are absolutely killing me; it’s probably because there’s not enough padding under the turf or something. I’ve been meaning to try new shoes, and so I asked for these…

…but I think I’m going to take them back. I don’t know what ballerina they made these for, but they’re narrow as hell. It’s not the sizing, either; it’s just a really narrow shoe. It also doesn’t seem to lace all the way or something, and I’m not 100% sure that it’s really an upgrade over the Sambas. If anyone has experience with these (or with another indoor shoe that you love), I’m interested in hearing about it; these have about two days before they go back, I think.

Gift #4: Liverpool 09/10 Home Kit

Buying soccer shirts online is an insane minefield for the uninitiated. There’re far more scams than there are legit outfits, for one; a knockoff shirt from China might be good to play in, but it’s no good for going to the bar. Then there’s the question of personalization: which player, number, patch, what have you should go on there? Is the intended receiver’s size right? How long will it take to get here from England? Holy shit, why the hell is it so expensive? All of these things factor in to the process; fortunately for me, I have a wife who listens. Outside of the absence of the Premier League patches (which, frankly, just seem presumptuous now anyways), this is pretty much perfect: it’s a #8 Gerrard (although that, in a backhanded kind of way, hurt: she said she didn’t get Torres because she thought Gerrard might be with the club longer, and then she turned out to be right), XL (a bit longer than I’d thought, but that’s alright), and comfortable as hell. She ordered it at the beginning of December, but it didn’t get to the house until Christmas Eve; she was sweating it out, apparently.

So what about you guys? Did you get anything cool for Christmas this year?