Black Friday Football: the Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra Celebrity Soccer Challenge.
You know the bloom is off the Beckham rose when his Galaxy replica jersey is on sale at a deep discount this holiday season.
I notice these things because I'd guess more than half of my casual wear - clothes I don't wear to work - is soccer-related. (For the record, I do not own a Beckham shirt, although my wife does). That includes free T-shirts the Galaxy and Chivas USA give away at games, promotional items that show up unannounced in my mailbox at work and the like.
In October for my birthday my geeky GIS-infatuated wife thought it appropriate to present me with a massive 3 1/2 foot X 2 1/2 foot satellite shot of all 125-acres of Home Depot Center. It's a pretty stadium to be sure, but who knew I would have a massive photo of suburban Carson on our living room wall.
So I know a thing or two about soccer-related gifts and merchandise.
I thought I'd offer a little 100 Percent Soccer Holiday gift guide on an irregular basis (read: whenever I find time) through Dec. 24 if only to give me motivation to actually look at the stack of review copies of soccer DVDs and books that have accumulated on my coffee table throughout the year.
First up, aptly enough for the Thanksgiving weekend, are tickets for a second annual charity event at Home Depot Center Jan. 17: the Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra Celebrity Soccer Challenge.
Attendees for the event have yet to be announced, but last year the charity soccer game included the likes of Landon Donovan, Chris Albright, Brad Guzan, Alexi Lalas, Cobi Jones, Kyle Martino, Kristine Lilly, Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, and Brandi Chastain.
Tickets, priced at $20, went on sale last week.
More about the charitable cause that will benefit from the game is here.
Check out the highlights of last year's event:
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Nick, some of us are just happy if the wife/girlfriend tolerates soccer... let alone dreaming of getting soccer gifts ;)
That is an ugly Beckham/Galaxy jersey anyway with these yellow "bananas"... the G's should be Blue/Gold or Gold/Blue IMO.
How do you "bridge" the MLS offseason ?
cheers
Ben
Nick replies: Yeah, I much prefer the midnight blue to the fluke Real Madrid look. As for how to "bridge" the MLS off-season: I guess we're going to find out.