u/OK_Compooper

For some reason, I always find myself wearing the same jacket because it's not too thick, just warm enough, and not a pain to carry if I do get hot. Also has the perfect water bottle pockets.

Also, I don't care how unstylish they look. I'm wearing running shoes or cross trainers. Ain't no aura in the fog when your feet hurt.

I see fans in a lot of jersey & team reddits that absolutely go wild over these. But I'm wondering how you feel about these as a player.

Maybe it's because I grew up and played where the temperature was usually over 80f/27c, and often over 90f/32c (and higher), I can't stand them. Even in colder weather games, I just found sweating in them uncomfortable.

How about you? Maybe I just have had some horrible quality ones in my youth.

I’m not cheering for any mall to close, but I was shocked when I went to the outdoor part of the BP mall where the food and theaters were. None of the restaurants from even 4 years ago were left.

Hope they make it. Seems like other parts of that mall are fine.

TL;DR: for me, not worth the hassle. Burlington Coat Factory awkwardness at bottom.

First off, for those that found elites, etc. Awesome finds and congrats.

Better Practice Jerseys (and official ones) can be found at manufacturer outlet stores

For the last week, out of boredom, I popped in a few stores like Ross, Marshalls and TJ Max. Really didn't find anything great, but did get a bright Nike orange practice jersey (actually great), and some Mitre practice shorts.

But the effort to sift through all those shirts to get some hidden treasure? Well, they weren't there for me. I found most of the same stuff at all the stores. I have much better luck, and a more pleasant experience just going to outlet malls for adidas, nike, etc. Or just waiting for some good deals online. Scored some Nike world cup GK jerseys recently this way, at better than 80% off.

Now for the BCF. Who wants to be treated this way while shopping?

I don't live near a Burlington, so I had to drive maybe 20 minutes to one. The first time I went, it was nothing funky. But going a few days ago, I was stopped on the way in by a greeter who made me stand in front of a camera above that took my photo. What!?!?!! Okay, I went in anyway.

A little while later, I found some cleats, and I got excited thinking they might be Pro or Elites. But there were no tags. I got out my phone trying to scan the internal tag, and then the alarm tag on the cleats started going off.

I guess maybe a few years ago, this would have greatly embarrassed me, but I walked from the back of the store to the front - siren blazing the whole way - to give them to a cashier. She was cool, turned off the alarm, and gave them back to me. I finished trying to scan the tag to find out these were Play level cleats - worth $60 -selling for $30. Anyway, between this and all the "we prosecute shoplifter signs" on every rack, it's just not pleasant. I'd rather just pay full price and work extra hours.

But good discounts are everywhere with less hassle.

I've been trying to replace my old K-leather mercurials (25 years old!), so I've been on a boot buying run. For me, I've found much more luck online with the box stores and manufacturers (nike, adidas, puma), by buying pro takedowns at better discount. I'm 5 boots into the hunt, but that's another post.

What would you tell my son? He's in summer soccer camp as an incoming freshman for HS. We're in a high soccer club town, so lots of the alphabet league level players. He's played GK on rec, then select (extras) team for the last few years. He has dedicated GK training during winter, and was invited to a club team by the trainer.

Anyway, he's maybe a bit out of practice as GK this Summer, as his coach needed him as left back this last spring. But week 1 went good for him in camp. But today (Monday), I guess they scrimmaged, and he conceded 8. He said he had over 12 saves though, but varsity players were yelling at him, telling the coach to sub him out.

No doubt, some of those were his fault. Also no doubt, I think facing 20 shots in a scrimmage says as much about the defense than the GK.

Anyway, he wants to quit, and focus on football (it's his first year) where he's already starting on defense for the frosh team, and everyone is positive. The captain of varsity gave him his phone number in case he ever needs anything, and the other varsity players do thing like lend him equipment they think might be better for him.

I'm trying to keep him positive, but he wants to quit GK, at least, and maybe camp. He already told me before today that week 1 was toxic, and everyone is cut-throat there, like against each other. It's the polar opposite of his football camp.

What would you tell him? He's dejected.

True, the quality might be higher on France, but not deploying a 4-3-3, or 4-1-3-2 or even 4-2-3-1 (with at least one CAM or #10) was a mistake in retrospect. Yes, having Xavi would have forced that formation, but I don't know why Reijnders was left on the bench.

Anyway, would have loved to see NL vs France today. France probably wins that, but two more games would have been awesome.

Full credit to Morocco. Well played by France. They look the best so far.

One last note: Morocco had the crowd behind them in MX. I wonder if that pushed them over as they looked much better that game. France made their very good team look pretty average today.

I don't have a lot of tent experience, but we already have two tents that work just perfectly for our California Summer camping.

However, we thought we might need a third for a special situation, so I picked up some cheap "on sale" tent from Big5. Not even at the sale price at $40 was that worth it. Felt like cheap parachute pants from the 80s, with sussy zippers. I wouldn't even sleep in it in the Summer. We just kept it for a changing room for the tents, but I'm pretty sure it's going in the trash.

On the plus side, Big5 had a great price on a camp stove I will use forever when room allows.