Snake America Fifty Two
Snake is a bi-weekly email covering salable goods. This week: A 1982 British World Cup soccer ball and a used track singlet.
eBay: 1982 soccer ball, $2,695: The brisk market for official World Cup soccer balls isn't difficult to understand. People who love collecting things need every thing of the thing they're collecting and everyone outside America loves soccer. Some care goes into designing these balls though not always. The Jabulani, the Adidas ball teams were forced to use through the 2010 World Cup, didn't bend during games and may have ruined competition during that tournament. (Teams' talented strikers can use their talents to bend the ball into the net when they shoot from very sharp angles. More info can be found in this popular documentary.) The soccer ball's physical failings were breathlessly covered in that cup's ensuing soccer coverage. I wondered if similar consternation circled the 1982 game ball, but there weren't any news articles or commentary related to its shape or anything. Part of that was because coverage was a bit thinner in 1982 than it was four years ago. Stateside, especially. Part of it was because the ball was more or less an exact soccer ball. That said, I don't doubt the Gazzetta Dello Sport editorial board made their opinions known about the ball's mechanics before, during and after that 1982 Cup. They only follow one sport in Italy, the Gazzetta counted 200--broadsheet--pages and was published twice daily--inches to fill.
Some collectible balls ask four figures but this one's price is high since it was signed by the 1982 English World Cup squad. I don't know if that includes the reserves. I also don't know anything about old soccer teams. My friend and Snake America initial subscriber Ryan says that English squad "was aiiiiight." Most British soccer coverage, and several Gazzetta columns, intended the opposite. England invented soccer but hasn't won the big prize since 1964. The 1982 team had three players from Ipswich Town. I guess Ipswich were a pretty good team back then but an Ipsiwch Town-heavy national 11 reads now as a shock. A funny theoretical-scenario radio listener phone call to hear on an Irish sports radio's summation of the 1982 and 2010 World Cups, in which England was eliminated by West Germany after a draw and lost in the Round of 16 by a three-goal margin, their largest ever, respectively, would be "I wonder if the English team had been playing with the Jabulani the whole time and that's why they sucked so bad."The limits of what-if scenarios on sports radio tend to stop short of time travel, but I have to wonder if it's a less-disciplined medium in Ireland than abroad.
In researching the above-mentioned I wanted to beef up my soccer history knowledge, but that's easier said than done, since there is a lot of it. Amassing a steel-trap soccer memory lays somewhere between maintaining a comprehensive stamp collection and hearing every rap song recorded. It never ends. There really is a lot of good stuff out there, e.g:
The Disgrace of Gijón, BKA the "Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón": A first-round Group 2 match from the 1982 World Cup between Austria and (West) Germany, who played to a draw so that they could both advance at the expense of Algeria, who was behind on goal differential. El Comercio, Gijon's local newspaper, printed the match report in the paper's crime section. One of the guys playing's nicknames was Das Kopfball-Ungeheuer, which translates to The Header Beast. The Head Beast had great heading skills and his name was Horst Hrubesch. The crowd chanted "let them kiss," them being the two teams, and George Vescey, who was employed by the New York Times but was writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette(1), smelled a rat.
That is just a great scene. The sport's pomp and circumstance renders a $2,500 ball a deal. Why compare sports? They're all fine. But one should consider that the pope and Mussolini both root for the same team(2). Or that one can track the team with the highest number of banning orders by either independent media or through British governmental reports (annual). Or that one team was relegated from EPL to League 2 in a several-year span. What a kick in the balls. Also, this documentary. I keep thinking that pub rock will never have its moment in the sun. The ball is a steal, though. It has seen things.
eBay: USA track and field singlet: Not sure who's buying these and am less sure if whoever's buying this singlet will wear the thing. The used singlet market is not brisk. Only one such item sold for money lately. It was an Athletics West singlet that was more of a tanktop, and it went for $350. Athletics West apparel should be to Nike collectors what Model A cars are to Ford aficionados, since Nike produced that line of clothing after their initial product line but very early still. It was athletic gear mostly. The sweatshirt was printed on a reverse-weave one-color-tag Champion. Two Olympic '88 wrestling singlets went for $149. The Carl Lewis "Santa Monica Track Club" outfit, not pictured, is somewhere in the middle. Lewis wore Santa Monica gear on his upswing into Olympic competition, and he trained there too. Coach Joe Douglas was the main guy and I wouldn't trust him to throw out my garbage. Santa Monica track gear isn't available for purchase aside from shirts reprinted by Nike on dead Amazon.com links. There's a merchandise presence on their Facebook page. Coach Douglas doesn't run the page. On New Year's Day 2013 someone from their Facebook team posted a heads-up about shirt-ordering info soon to become available. That November the shirts were posted and I emailed the two addresses listed there yesterday and got one bounce-back and no response. The shirt of Lewis with a big head wearing a Santa Monica Track Club shirt is flawless, though, and I hadn't seen it before. They also said they'd have sweatshirts, but I'm waiting for the email. Whatever. Better to take a chance and wear this singlet to the mall, or bodega, for a grocery run. This is one step below wearing a full flight suit. Recommended.
Thanks for reading.
Snake
Last Snake: Floorpunch (sold)
Last Snake: Shag hook rug; Nike rug (active; done been sold)
(1) I can't solve that mystery, but the publish date is my cousin's birthday. My cousin is also named Sam.
(2) Check the byli