I’m a soccer fan.

I started playing soccer at the age of 5 after watching my dad play on a rec team with some friends. It looked like a lot of fun**. Luckily for me, I grew up near one of the professional soccer teams of the 80s. Sure, we only won one championship and were known for being one of the dirtiest teams in the league, but as a kid I loved watching my home team.

These days I turn in for the big games. The tournaments, the championships, and of course the World Cup. Like any good sport fan knows, the proper attire for supporting your team is absolutely necessary. Here’s a brief run down of what you can do before flying to South Africa…or the local sports bar. (more…)

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The World Cup is upon us. Woohoo!

The opening game is June 11th between South Africa and Mexico. Are you ready for the new kits/uniforms? Are you ready for the fans? Are you ready for the biggest sporting event in the world? I am.

USA is up against England on June 12th. It will be a tough match. Wear all your good luck and fan mojo gear on Saturday.

Here’s one of the awesome World Cup commercials that will fill the airways this summer. This one’s from Nike.

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So apparently in New Zealand it’s totally cool to wear costumes to sporting events. Who knew rugby was this much fun?

Every time the Wellington Sevens roll around, people go nuts in disguise. It’s awesome. Fans of all ages and all teams dress up as Simpson characters, Stop Lights, and even the kitchen sink. There are parades, costume contests, and fan revelry.

Costume shops hire extra staff to handle the cleaning on the hundreds of rental returns. They even expect there to be stadium stains like beer and dirt.

This phenomenon is a result of crazy sports fans and dorks having babies. I’m a dork. I’m a sports fan (sometimes). Maybe I’ll wear a costume to the next game I attend.

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My favorite sport is soccer. It’s known for crazy fans, crazy players, and best of all, crazy uniforms. From tiger print jerseys to Dutch skirts, the kits run the range. There is one position on the pitch that has a little leeway in what they wear: keepers. They prefer to look like a bulls eye in the goal so as to attract the striker’s aim.

Back in the 90s I particularly loved the fluorescent and wild kits Jorge Campos wore for Mexico. These days Jeremie Janot out of France’s A.S. Saint-Étienne wears the kooky kits. His crazy uniforms are so distinctive, that like Jorge before him, he offered his signature line of kits for keepers. Check out his Spider-Man jersey from the 2005 season:

If you want a more modern costume on the pitch, you have to see the Getafe uniforms. From first glance they look like perfectly respectable kits. But lurking just under the surface is pure terror: the King. The Burger King, that is.

Perhaps this isn’t costume related, but would you classify some of this stuff as normal sport wear?

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