My cousin is the design team manager for the womens running division at Nike, he never really has anything positive to say about Adidas from a creative license standpoint. And it does show, not just in terms of the lousy/lazy MLS uniform designs, but really across the spectrum of Adidas products. They (Adidas) are a fraction of what Nike is, it's not even close. Living in Portland I get a lot of opportunities to visit the employee stores for several companies headquartered here, Nike, Adidas, Columbia, etc etc. The options Adidas provides are by far the worst, whenever I visit the Nike or Columbia employee store I have a hard time taking stuff out of my cart to fit under the $500 per person limit. Contrast that to Adidas, where I have a hard time putting stuff into my cart. I think Adidas does a few things very very well, things that encompass maybe 5% of their total product lineup. The rest is crap. Nike, they do maybe 25% of their lineup VERY VERY well and then 75% ok. When I played I couldn't really wear any boot that wasn't Adidas, they fit my foot type extremely well (narrow midsole, high arches, pronation, etc). Now I can barely put an Adidas boot or shoe on without immediately thinking how crappy they feel. Something happened with that company over the last 10 years, they've fallen way behind in the game.
And if you have kids that play or coach kids ask them if their heals hurt when they are done playing. If so they are probably in Adidas. Nike youth shoes offer an arch support. My kids play in only Nike for this reason. They used to like Adidas but I had to buy heal pads to insert into them to stop the pain.
That's good to know. My oldest son was diagnosed with Severs disease ("inflammation of the growth plate in the heel of growing children") a few years ago. He wears Adidas outdoor and Nike indoor. He always has more pain after wearing his outdoor cleats. I attributed it to harder ground outdoor than the field turf. I will go get him some Nike outdoor and see if it helps.
Exactly. I could not remember the name of the disease. A number of kids on my sons team had this and just thought it was part of he game.
Ding! Ding! Ding! I can't stand Adidas shoes. I grew up using Diadora Scudetto's, and in high school I switched to Nike (first edition of Total 90's). I've got little to no arch, and even Adidas cleats hurt my feet. Due to the width and flatness of my foot, I'm limited to T90's, CTR 360's, and Tiempos.
I'm loving the Nike Tiempos, switched from AdiPure and the difference was incredible. I'm thinking of trying the premiers next. I've only heard good things about them and the price isn't $200+ for flashy technology. (I'm sorry if we're derailing this thread)
ah, a fat footed man like myself. There is no shoe more comfortable than Diadora. Those guys know how to make a fat footed shoe. I agree with the Nike love and Adidas hate. Nike is a close second to Diadora in making a good fat footed shoe. What Diadora lacks in style (for most of their shoes) Nike makes up for. I'll never wear adidas again. I can't do it. And I can't stand the flashy Vapor-like shoes in Nike, either. That extra couple of grams to protect my foot? Yes, I will take that.
I loved my Diadora's growing up. It's been too long since I played, but I remember using an indoor Adidas that wasn't too bad. Never did try Nikes. I wish I could turn back time and play again.
Hey Boz, good to see you back on the board. Hate to break it to you, but the season started, like, 2 months ago.
I currently wear Adidas Nitrocharge. I have a question for you guys... Do any of you guys double sock? Most of my team double socks, so I tried it out, and I love it. Most of the time I wear Nike Elite socks or something similar (padding around the heels), and I feel great for playing 2-3 hours on weekdays. It is a little tighter for some of the guys on the team, but I think it feels great. Just wanted your opinions on that.
I tried it back in the day but I didn't like it. Lost the feel for the ball, and there was a kind a slippage between the two socks that I didn't like.
I tried it once and didn't like it. My fat feet are tight enough in the boot with one pair of socks. But I also get claustrophobic if my clothes are too tight, so maybe that played into it. For years I've used the Nike socks with the orange band around the arch of your foot (cost roughly $16 per pair), and I've never had a problem with them. Heck, my wife uses them for work socks due to the compression factor of the sock (she's a physical therapist, so she's on her feet all day). However, I've been told that they are releasing a new version of the sock this month. Hopefully they don't change it too much.
this it all depends on your own personal style. In an ideal world, I would play barefoot but not have my feet get torn to shreds. I loved playing barefoot in my backyard growing up.
My son who had some issues with growing out rapidly and played soccer at a fairly high level will not wear anything except for the Nikes. I still prefer the old Nike Tiempos - Just anecdotal I know
I used to double sock only when we had to wear a particular sock to match our uniforms; we had this really awful striped sock and for some reason the foot portion of the sock fit really really poorly on my feet so I double socked with a better fitting sock underneath. Other then those times I never did, didn't like the slippage between the two socks for the most part. One thing I've tried a few times over the last few years was putting my custom footbed from my ski boots into my soccer boots and played. I have such high miserable arches and combined with a narrow foot it's impossible to find a properly fitting boot, I had some nice custom footbeds made for my ski boots because ski boots are even worse in terms of accounting for variable foot types. They made a lot of my regular knee pain go away. It works ok for the soccer boots, but they are a little too short so they don't fit perfectly.
I love the Tiempos from about 4-5 years ago. They made them in entire kangaroo leather. They were the softest and most comfortable cleat I've ever worn. The current version has kangaroo mixed with synthetic, and they have raised the price. Still a great cleat, but I prefer the full k-leather.