If you can afford tickets to a playoff game for the sports fan in your life, and they can afford to take time off of work to get there, then put this paper down right now. That’s right, stop reading. You’re done—Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa is taken care of, because there’s nothing better to buy a sports fan than tickets to a game.
Unless you’re buying season tickets then, wowza! You’re the best gift buyer ever.
Problem is, tickets are darn expensive, especially tickets to an NFL or NBA game.
Baseball’s a bit more affordable, but here’s the real crux: There’s no pro team within a 100-mile radius of Santa Maria.
You could always get the sports fan in your life another team jersey, hat, bumper sticker, or one of those footballs that stick out of their rear-car window (you know, the ones that looked oh-so-creative until everyone in town got one), but those ideas are tired. Been done. Booooring.
Let’s try something new this year.
We’ll start with what I want for the holidays: a Kindle. You know, the electronic book from Amazon. What? That’s not sports-related? Oh, I’m sorry. My mistake. I don’t know why I put that in here. I hope nobody I know is reading this … (cough, *hint*, cough).
Anyway … the hot ticket this year is Kinesio tape, the weird tape that was all over Olympic athletes in Beijing this summer. The tape is applied along the grain of the muscles and allows for full range of movement while increasing circulation and helping with rehabilitation. (I got that off their website). Go to kinesiotaping.com for more details, because that’s all I know, people.
If it’s good enough for Kerri Walsh, it’s good enough for me. The tape is $15 a box and can be bought through the company’s website. You get gift-getter bonus points for being in the know on this one.
“Well, yes, this was all the rage at the Olympics,” you can say while the recipient opens the present.
Here’s a gift idea for the hip/young person in your life: the Nike+ Sports Kit. It’s a receiver that fits into a Nike+ running shoe and transmits music to the wearer’s iPod. It also stores the info—think distance, intensity, etc.—from your run.
Look, it’s Nike and it’s Apple, so you know it’s cool. The kit costs $29, but the catch is that you also need the Nike+ shoes, which start at around $100. My little brother has one of these kits (and shoes), so I know it’s cool. Seventeen-year-olds tend to be a bit cooler than the rest of us, surpassed in coolness only by 15-year-olds, who are even more cutting edge.
Get this one for the teens in your life who always roll their eyes at your attempts to buy them things and instead request that you only get them gift cards from now on. You know the type. Yes, I’m talking to you, Meghann. The kit is available at Amazon.com, Nike.com, the Apple store, and Best Buy.
Now that we’ve talked cool, let’s go in another direction. I’m about to suggest that you buy socks. Not just socks, mind you: SmartWool socks. That’s a brand, by the way, not a new way to describe wool from sheep with high IQs. My slightly hippie-ish sister-in-law suggested that I buy SmartWool hiking socks for my trip to Yosemite. I wore them all up and down that mountain and they were great. The wool dries quickly, resists smells, and doesn’t itch. Seriously. I wore the Adrenaline Hikers, but they have running socks, cycling socks, and skiing socks, too.
They’re a bit pricey for socks, and range from $13 to around $18, so only buy them for someone who appreciates quality, comfort, and getting something that they’ll actually use. You know, the utilitarian type.
As a bonus, these socks are indestructible as long as you air-dry them. T & B Boots Inc. in Santa Maria is the only local dealer, according to smartwool.com. They’re available at multiple locations in San Luis Obispo (like the Sock Drawer on Higuera) and Santa Barbara.
While we’re talking about gifts for outdoorsy types, how about a Klean Kanteen? And, yes the misspelling is intentional. You can’t have a product name that’s actually spelled correctly—that would be unprofessional.
The Kanteen is what all the cool people who used to carry Nalgene bottles are now carrying. The extra cool people are carrying SIGG bottles. These are like Klean Kanteen bottles, except they’re Swiss, which makes them cooler by association.
Basically, these are stainless steel bottles that hold water. The metal doesn’t contain BPA, an abbreviation for a complicated chemical found in plastic. But that’s not what matters. What matters is that the environmentally friendly, outdoorsy folks on your list will be impressed by you, the gift giver.
The SIGG and Klean Kanteen bottles range in price from $14 to $25. You can get them, sigh, online at www.kleankanteen.com and mysigg.com. (Are there no trendy products anywhere in Santa Maria?) On a side note, I suggest getting the womenfolk a SIGG instead of a Kanteen. (They’re much cuter).
This next suggestion comes from my brother Joe, and it’s a good one. Joe is a bird watcher. He’s also been known to take in a Giants game, or even some hockey in San Jose. So what tool can be used for all of these pursuits? Binoculars. They range in price from cheapie $25 ones to the big time at around $500, but all binoculars do basically the same thing: make stuff appear closer.
Binoculars are great for the sports fan who likes to take in a live game, because—let’s face it—when was the last time you sat on the sideline? Parents with kids in high school would also love a pair of binoculars. Football, baseball, even basketball games can all be seen through the lenses of binoculars.
Warning: Don’t buy these for the parent who likes to yell at the ref from the sidelines. Binoculars would just give these people more ammo, and that, my friends, is called enabling.
Lastly, I know I said pro teams are far away, and tickets are expensive, but there are local teams that could satisfy the sports fan’s cravings with cheap tickets and proximity. The Packers or the Indians baseball teams are nearby and season tickets are a steal—$40 for the Packers and $55 for the Indians.
If baseball’s not your thing, try going to an Allan Hancock College game or even some high school games. These can be mighty entertaining even if you don’t have a kid in school. Trust me. Besides, going to a game gets you out of the house, and practically forces you to spend time with friends and family. In the end, isn’t that what the holidays are all about? Okay, I’ll just tell you: Yes, that’s what they’re all about.
Now get off your butt and go shopping.
Former Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien is technically no longer working for the Sun, but she wrote this column anyway. Thank her through the executive editor at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 20-27, 2008.
