The first live pro sporting event I ever attended was a Minnesota Kicks indoor game. I was nine or so and had recently decided I liked soccer, no doubt because it was one of the few activities in gym I didn't completely suck at. The tickets were a Christmas present. My folks did an amazing job with them, wrapping them in a succession of larger boxes so that these slips of pasteboard were in the largest package under the tree. The physical surprise of the gift, plus the novelty of getting to go to what seemed like such a grown-up (ha!), exotic (double ha!) thing, made this one of the most memorable Christmas presents I've ever received. I may have been more excited about a present, but I can't remember when. I also learned some things about packaging gifts to make them more interesting -- like when I stuck the 5-pound weights in a present for my sister.

Of course I don't remember much about the game itself, and there's no indoor-NASL equivalent of Retrosheet to help me out. I think it was against the Tulsa Roughnecks. We were very close to the glass. The only two Kicks I could still name without looking anything up are Tim Twellman (father of current MLS star Taylor), who conducted a brief clinic I went to; and a guy with a funny name who was clearly the best guy on the pitch.

That guy had one of my all-time favorite sports names: Ace Ntsoelengoe. Sadly, he died this week in South Africa. Only 50. Well, I suppose 50 is on the high end of the scale in SA.