odds and ends

On the December Jersey Count
There won't be one, unfortunately. The only jerseys I saw on campus were the USMNT jerseys I wore, and since the stats are already padded in my favor, I'm just going to not count this month. Hopefully I'll see more in January.

On my Soccer Library
My Soccer Library has now expanded from 4 to 6, thanks to some awesome Christmas presents from my family. I've already started A Massive Season by Steve Sirk, and I also got Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. They join:
-Bloody Confused (started, didn't have time to finish thanks to school)
-The Beckham Experiment (amazing, amazing, and amazing, a must-read for any MLS fan)
-Fever Pitch (a must-read for any soccer fan-even if you don't like Arsenal)
-The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup (skimmed through, though slightly out of date now, there are good stories and facts)
If I had time to read more, I'd spend all my money on Amazon buying soccer books.

On my upcoming first MLS experience
The Carolina Challenge Cup happens to fall on the front weekend of my Spring Break, and since Charleston's so close (and $25 for a doubleheader is a price nobody could pass up), I've already got my front-row tickets. Even though none of the teams participating are teams I really support, I'm going just for the experience.

Of course, MLS First Kick 2010 falls on the back weekend of my Spring Break. I'm still trying to convince my mom that it'll be worth the trip up to Columbus (Mom, when you read this, I still want to go. :) Also, kickoff is at 4pm.) but hopefully we'll make it up there at some point this season.

November Jersey Count

The number of jerseys I'm seeing on campus is kinda dropping off, but I have a feeling it has more to do with the cooler weather and people not wanting to wear short sleeves. Nothing really exciting about the count this month, unfortunately.

USA 3 (Bradley 1, all me)
Liverpool 3 (Torres 1, Gerrard 1)
AC Milan 1
Barcelona 1
Real Madrid 1 (me)
France 1
Mexico 1

I updated my total jersey count through the four months I've been doing this, and if I discarded all of the jerseys I've worn, AC Milan and Liverpool would be tied for most-represented teams with 9 each. I feel like Milan became a popular jersey after the Milan-Club America match at the Georgia Dome, where I think a lot of people bought them. As for Liverpool's high count, I'm going to blame that on the guy with the Fernando Torres jersey who I see eating lunch in the Student Center all the time. All the Torres jerseys have been him (although I can't really say much about wearing the same jersey all the time). But since I'm counting my jerseys, Real Madrid is tied with Milan and Liverpool for second, and the three times a month I wear my USMNT jerseys (usually once each, though I apparently wore my Michael Bradley jersey twice in October?) brings the USMNT up to first place with 12.

Also, since the list was getting sorta crowded on the sidebar, I've split it up to have a teams list and a players list. The players still count towards the overall team count, but with the two it'll be less crowded.