Common Goods: Box It Out.

Nice belt, boy.

Boys (especially my straight boys), you know you wanna play dress up sometimes, right? I feel sad for you every once in a while because I want you to play dress up too. Us girls, we get to wear makeup and high heels and colors and patterns and have our hair done and paint our nails. I mean, I know you could do that if you wanted, but in general, you stick to the basics, the neutrals, the plain, the undone. It makes me a little sad for you. I feel like you miss out a little; like a bit of your soul is secretly crying to be set free. Until I remember that you have sports. The outfits! The gear! The colorful fan wear, the face paint, the uniforms! It's your version of playing dress up and you like it even more than painting your nails because there is competition involved, aggression is encouraged, and you can possibly see people bleed. You love it. And, I love it because there is an element of fashion in your sports. You don't see it? Well, consider these fantastic portraits of boxers from The Library of Congress's photostream on The Commons:

The flashy finery of the championship belts is enough to prove my point, but check out the unitards and lace up boots; the gloves and striped shorts. It's all so wonderful, like costumes we call uniforms instead. Yes, form follows function when it comes to sports gear, but really there is a filter of aesthetics too: the flourish of something rather than the strict usefulness of it. It's all there in sports, guys. It's settled, this is your dress-up.

And, because these shots blew my mind, take a look at the Boxing Bennet Sisters and Mrs. Edwards and partner in action:

Amazing, right? Who knew they let girls punch each other in the 1910s? Where is the biopic on these ladies? I demand one.