Holiday gift guide for the sports fan

Swinging for the Fences

By: Matt Watson

Posted: 12/8/08

With two and a half weeks til Christmas, here are the top 10 sports-related gifts for 2008.

10. Scene it? Sports Edition DVD game
What good is knowing everything about sports unless everyone else knows it too?

9. DVD bundle: Fever Pitch (2005), The Replacements (2000), Days of Thunder (1990) and Rocky V (1990)
This is the four-pack you can't live without. On a cold winter day, you can relax by the fireplace, put in a good movie and then use these DVDs to keep the fire going. They have more value in your fireplace than in your DVD player. Most fans pretend Rocky V never happened. How about Tom Cruise and NASCAR? Keanu Reeves as a quarterback? Jimmy Fallon and comedy? No. Just no.

8. But seriously, DVD bundle: The Natural (1984), We are Marshall (2006), Blades of Glory (2007) and Space Jam (1996)
Something old, something new, something funny and something with cartoons. Best line from each, respectively: "There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game."
"This is your opportunity to rise from these ashes and grab glory."
"Troubled childhood? If you consider a 9-year-old kid with a 35-year-old girlfriend troubled."
"Michael, it's game time. Slip on your Hanes, lace up your Nikes, take your Wheaties and your Gatorade, and we'll grab a Big Mac on the way to the ballpark."

7. Customized ESPN The Magazine cover
Always thought your jump shot was underrated? Think you can throw the deep ball like the pros do? For just $29.95, you too can be an ESPN coverboy. Just upload a picture, write your own headlines and have an authentic cover sent to your doorstep, starring you.

6. Team apparel
To at least subdue the urge to tattoo your favorite player's name or team logo on your bicep, try wearing it on a t-shirt or hat first. What's the Rays' fan with "Longoria" stamped on his shoulder supposed to do when he's playing for the Yankees in ten years?

5. Fathead life-size poster
Who needs wallpaper when you can tattoo your favorite athlete or logo on the wall? Fatheads are a little pricey, most in excess of $130, but they are the ultimate poster - they're wall-friendly and moveable, but made of a durable material that will last for years (so think twice about getting Brett Favre in a Jets jersey). No dorm room or den is complete without a life-size Albert Pujols swinging for the fences next to the big screen TV.

4. iPhone
What does an iPhone really have to do with sports? Not much. But who wouldn't want an iPhone?

3. Championship memorabilia
This is urgent for fans of the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, Boston Celtics, LSU football, Kansas basketball and Fresno State baseball. Whenever those commercials come on with all the Sports Illustrated "commemorating championships" footballs and sweatshirts, buy it all. You never know when your team will win again. How many Chicago Cubs fans wish they had bought the World Series DVD when they won it back in 1908?

2. Tickets to a game
Whether it's to the Super Bowl (a front row seat on the 50-yard line is going for $6300 right now) or a Razorback basketball game (you can usually find student tickets on Facebook for five or 10 bucks), there's nothing like actually being at the game. You can insult the opposing players all you want from the living room, but they can't hear you unless you're in the arena.

1. High-definition television
Okay, game tickets are great, but after the game is over all you have is ripped up pieces of paper. It's hard to rip a TV in half, so they last a lot longer. And if you don't have a TV, how are you going to watch Lost when it comes back in January?

Matt Watson is the assistant sports editor of The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Monday.