By now you’ve all seen the ball in some shape, size or form kicking about the internet… but have you had a chance to physically kick it around yet? I did and I’m so embarrassed that it was recorded live on air and has now been made a podcast for all to download and listen too… matter of fact, for your chance to actually win the official ball of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, simply download the podcast from the weekend’s Totally Football show, follow the instructions at the start and you’ll go into the running to win.

And just in case you need to be convinced even more of how awesome this prize is, here are some super, duper high res shots for your viewing pleasure:

Feel free to abuse me and my poor juggling skills below!

North London’s favourite midget, Jermain Defoe, is the toast of the town today after taking a chance on a silver pair of Adidas F50i Tunit’s and scoring 5 goals. Press Association writes:

I had a funny feeling before the game,” Defoe said. “Adidas gave me a pair of green boots and I tried them on before the game, but Clive Allen said I couldn’t wear them, so I changed them.

“They were pinkish silver ones in the end, and I go and score five.”

I jumped the gun a little overnight and wrote my best bit on Jermain Defoe’s performance against Wigan here… but today is a new day and I’m always full of shit, so give me a moment and I’ll be back with more. While you wait please ask yourself…
What do you get from a glut of TV?
A pain in the neck and an IQ of three
Why don’t you try simply reading a book?
Or could you just not bear to look?
You’ll get no commercials
Oompa Loompa Doompadee Dah…

Other players wearing the new F50i colourways over the last week:

What’s an Adidas football boot if it can’t be fully customised for the biggest name in world football and Adidas’ biggest asset right? Well that’s what the geniuses over at the three stripes must have been thinking, so naturally they created this custom colourway and unleashed them through the PR machine that is David Becks when LA Galaxy took on Chivas USA. I haven’t had much time recently to comment on the Predator X range, however I do think the boot itself looks shit hot and gets another two thumbs up in terms of aesthetic design. I’m not entirely convinced by this particular colourway (give me the black pair any day of the week), but it seems to work so well for ‘Golden Balls’ as most things do… even without his infamous mutton chops!

What do you think of the boot / colourway / mutton chops?

The Power of X:

Older Adidas news:
Beckham Grows Mutton – Wears silver Adidas Predator Absolado’s
Scoring Four Fun! Racing Santander 1 v 4 Barcelona
Adebayors Weapons Of Choice- Adidas F50i Tunit – White
Take It Away Barca! Barcelona 2 v 0 Manchester United

Mutton chops, may just be the best thing to happen to the side of the head since ears and you know that if Becks is sporting them sooner or later, gay and straight men the world over will be running around with “designer” forests growing off their faces… just wait till you see see my lame attempt!
What you probably won’t see them [straight men] wearing though are these hideous Silver / Gold Predator Absolado TRX FG DB J thingamabobs that Becks decided to wear against Belarus last night. He may have assisted in a goal and had a half-descent hit out against a lower class opponent, but his choice of boots were questionable… if it wasn’t for his facial hair, I’d be summoning my pack of robot attack dogs to LA with strict orders to find the boots and for the good of all man kind (queers included) chew them to bits!

Match highlights:
9 out of 10 aint all that bad heading to the World Cup… I wonder how they’ll fair against real opposition though.

Older David Beckham news:
Beck In The Good Books – LA Galaxy 1 v 2 Barcelona
Yep, They Were The Actual Kits… England 4 v 0 Slovakia
Hey Galaxy, screw you! Beckham at Milan till end of season
International Friendly – Spain 2 v 0 England

Barcelona will destroy you if you forget to bring your A-game when you play them… actually, even if you brought it, they’d still tear you and new A-hole! And let’s face it, going off current form, Lionel Messi is the best player in the world who just seems to be getting more and more ferocious in front of goal making impossible goals possible. All he needs to do is win a world cup single handedly (no pun intended) and he’ll be up there with the greats of all time… that’s if he isn’t already!

In case you haven’t worked it out yet, I’m really loving what Adidas have done with their new F50i range (here and here) and this latest limited edition masterpiece combines Navy / Gold / Argentina Blue perfectly for the little Argentine maestro. While other players are already having a hard time keeping up with him, this colourway just keeps him miles ahead of the pack… not that the boots have anything to do with the way he kicks ass, I’m just saying thats all.

Match highlights:

Older Lionel Messi news:
Barca Claim Supercup – Barcelona 3 v 0 Atletico Bilbao
Beck In The Good Books – LA Galaxy 1 v 2 Barcelona
Take It Away Barca! Barcelona 2 v 0 Manchester United
Spotlight: Lionel Messi wearing – Adidas F50i Tunit

What better way to promote a new pair of boots than by wreaking havoc against your old team and literally tearing them apart! Getting stuck into Fabergas’ ankles, taking a chunk out of Van Persies face and then basking in glory in front of the Arsenal fans when scoring have all been major talking points since the weekend. What caught my eye however, was the new colourway for Adidas’ highly successful Tunit range. Before the F50i was released, I wasn’t much of a fan of these puppies, however ever since their relaunch and minimalistic redesign, I’ve been hooked and these white unicorns are definitely a fav. So can’t wait to see the next new colourway!

Older Adidas news:
Take It Away Barca! Barcelona 2 v 0 Manchester United
Spotlight: Lionel Messi wearing – Adidas F50i Tunit
Spotlight: Xavi wearing – Adidas Predator Absolado
New Adidas Boots, Pure Kaka!

Ok, so Thursday and Friday still feel like a blur and well today, all that’s left is the smell of two day old vomit in a bucket and pictures to remind me of the mess Manchester United made of the UEFA Champions League final. By now though, you’ve probably seen and read just about every report in the world analysing the match so I’m going to take it from another angle. Check it. In a match completely dominated by Nike sponsorship deals, the two goal scorers actually came from sponsors of their direct competitors…

Samuel Eto’o in his gold Puma v1.08’s

and Lionel Messi in this Adidas Tunit F50i’s.
What, no Nike heros? Oh, how’s that for a slap in the face?

Match highlights:

Older FC Barcelona news:
Prediction: UEFA Champions League Final – Barcelona v Manchester United
Can You Feel The Buzz!?
Results – La Liga – 16th / 17th May
One Down, Two To Go – Copa del Rey Final – FC Barcelona 4 v 1 Atletico Bilbao
Conspiracy And Controversy At The Bridge! Chelsea 1 v 1 Barcelona

With all the hype surrounding the UCL final, I almost let the ball slip on posting about the new F50i Tunit’s that Lionel Messi will be kitted in for tonight’s match. FINALLY, Adidas have made a boot that will compete with the slickness and sophistication of the Nike Mercurial Vapors and Superflys!
At heart I’m a minimalist, so looking at this design is like looking at Adidas in a new light, as though they tossed their rich history of plunking three solid lines all over our their products out the window and opted to be a bit more subtle about their approach. And the colour isn’t all that bad either. It’s almost an electric blue, which works well to push their marketing tag line “Every team needs the spark”. I’m surprisingly impressed and as long as they can keep them off the feet of that Togolese elephant Emanuel Adebayor, they’ll be on a winner.
Whether Messi is “The Spark” that Barca need tonight is a different issue saved for a later post… whatever the case though, tonight’s going to be electrifying match! (lame pun intended).

Older Lionel Messi news:
Can You Feel The Buzz!?
Munchen Get Shpoonkten! Ax Ya! Barcelona 4 v 0 Bayern
Argentina On Fire! – Argentina 4 v 0 Venezuela
All aboard! Barcelona 5 v 2 Lyon

In a lame attempt to try and play as good as Barcelona’s Xavi, I recently went out and get myself a spanking new pair of the Adidas Absolado PS TRX FG… you know the cheaper version of the much fancied Predator Powerswerves.
So did they make me play any better? Well in the 5 matches I’ve played so far, I still haven’t managed a goal… however I don’t think the boots have anything to do with that.
Am I controlling the midfield, kicking ass and taking names? Hells yeah I am!… but that’s probably cause I’m playing against geriatrics and retired, overweight has-beens.
And finally, are opposition players falling in slow-mo at my feet in an attempt to stop me making splitting runs through the middle? Oh yes… but I seem to be falling flat on my ass straight after they hit the ground.
Who knows, at this rate maybe one day I’ll be playing Champions League football too! Bahahaha… who am I kidding? At best, I’ll be lucky to line up with a Sunday league team!

Older Adidas boot news:
New Adidas Boots, Pure Kaka!
Beckhams Custom Adidas Predator Powerswerve DB
New Adidas boots…no Kaka

Other players to wear these boots:
Help me by adding to this list.
Karim Benzema

If you live in the fairytale world of the Beckhams you’re every wish is somebody’s command, so I’m really jealous right now of the dwarf that weaved the straw into the boots that ‘Golden Balls’ will most likely be wearing in tonight’s match against Hamburger SV. And he didn’t even have to sacrifice his first born for them… instead, the dwarf inscribed Beck’s sons names onto each boot plus a host of other shite too. Anyone care to have a crack at what’s written?

Older David Beckham news:
AC Milan in Dubai – The Circus Continues…
Beckham Unveiled by Milan

In the meantime though, we’ll just have to relive the greatest moments of Euro 2004:

Only when you have a true feel for the ball can you truly make it do what you want.

At the heart of this new football boot made of fine, shiny K-leather is incredible elegance. The name “adiPURE” symbolizes the main features of the handcrafted football boot: pureness, simplicity, naturalness and elegance. However, the key benefit of this boot is its fantastic fit. The high-quality materials, soft leather and pre-moulded sockliner provide outstanding comfort as well as an excellent, natural feel for the ball. Their striking resemblance to the Adidas Copa Mundials and Adidas World Cups, together with their fine craftsmanship and materials also mean that this boot will be here for the long term. The adiPURE football boots in black/white and white/black, together with matching apparel items, will be available early next year.