Rocky Marciano keeps his eye on a worthy opponent, the BenLee speedbag. Image via Fight Toys.
A.J. Liebling, who wrote The Sweet Science in 1956, was nostalgic for a time when neighborhood boxing clubs were common, before they were overtaken by family circle TV. I won’t go that far but I do happen to believe in the value of neighborhood boxing clubs as a venue to learn and grow, and also as an outlet to explode and work out the jitters. The heavy bag and the speed bag are the iconic pieces of boxing paraphernalia, but there are others, and the intent here isn’t to hand hold or bury you in information, but give a little history and perhaps inspire you to try these tools of the sweet science. (Note that this isn’t an endorsement of professional boxing, which I see as a mismanaged and crooked beast.)
Shoe Shine
A well cared-for pair. Photo by Ryan Plett of You Have Broken the Internet.
Rather than give you another fanatical instruction guide on how to polish your shoes, we interviewed three experts about why you should do it. For me, part of it is ritual and nostalgia. I associate it with my father and grandfather getting their shoes and boots out on Sunday and polishing them all. But there’s more to it than the smell of polish and mink oil. I asked a leather guy, a style guy and a shoe shine guy about their takes on polishing and maintenance. Nick Horween breaks down shoe leather and how and why to treat it right, Ryan Plett displays some very tasty brogues and discusses his thoughts on style and investing in quality, and Nicolo Timore distills hundreds of shoe shines into one word: preservation.
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