4.5 stars champions has been a neighborhood store for as long as I can remember. It's a smaller…read morestore, but the staff is really helpful. I came in at the end of the hockey season and the stock was pretty picked over at that point. Plan to shop at the store early in the season of whatever sport you play to get the best selection. Prices seemed pretty standard. I bought a hockey stick that was too long for me and they kindly cut it down for free. I was able to find some of what I was looking for, but had to shop elsewhere for other items.

You know those stores with the super friendly and chatty (often cute) salespeople that just make…read moreyou feel good about being you, while selling you too much stuff, even though you were happy to participate? That's not this guy. The owner is old school: direct, unchatty, and honest. He tells you when you don't need something - actually preventing sales. He helps you avoid the Amazon-too-many-choices problem by stocking ~ 2 choices for shoes and often 1 choice for other products (this actually can be helpful - no need to weed through hundreds of fake reviews). He gives you what you need and you're done. Here's a typical experience (after multiple visits): me walking in smiling and chatty. I ask for XYZ. He - not smiling and not chatty - gets me XYZ with minimal fuss and fanfare. I check out. That's it. Prices aren't too bad and it's nice to go someplace local, where he has what you need and you walk out with what you need and sized correctly. If that sounds good to you, and you don't require long, pleasant conversation, go here.

After a half-dozen trips to Harvard Stadium to see the Breakers during their inaugural season, I…read morebought a pair of season tickets before the season was even over - I couldn't be happier that I did. The reasons are endless, thus 5 stars. 1. Great soccer - the women's game has a certain beauty to it that is undeniable and WPS is world class. 2. Great price - inexpensive tickets to be up close, inexpensive parking which is easy to get in and out quick, and inexpensive top notch concessions. 3. Great for kids - I'm the father of 3 girls under the age of 13. It's a great atmosphere for fans. The players are incredible role models and their accessibility after the games is great for the kids.

The Boston Breakers are Boston's own professional women's soccer team, and play at Harvard Stadium…read moreduring the summer. The breakers didn't make the playoffs in this first year of the WPS league, mostly because we had some injuries and Kelly Smith left us for international duty for a long time. Straight up, though, despite the no-playoffs, the Breakers rule. This is the best opportunity to see high-level soccer in Boston (significantly better than the Revs), and for cheap, too - tickets usually run between $13 and $25 or so. And the hot dogs are cheap, too. The captain, Kristine Lilly, is total boss, even though she's almost 40. Most of the stars of the league are solid U.S. or international players, and it shows. The product on the field is hot. The atmosphere in Harvard Stadium is pretty cool, too - if you like giant concrete horseshoes, which I happen to love. Tickets are technically for specific sections of the stadium, but if you actually worry about sitting where you're supposed to, you've clearly never been to a game. Stupid non-fans who come to the games because they think it will boost their 5-year old daughters' self-esteem tend to be the sticklers for sitting in the "right spot." Also, because the stadium is just a giant open concrete U, it gets windy and cold at times, and rocky. If you don't have a giant ass like I do, you might want to bring something to sit on so your butt cheeks don't fall asleep. The only downsides to the breakers are the HUGE number of tweens in the stands. Because the WPS doesn't think that high-level female soccer can stand on its own as a sporting product (and unfortunately they are probably right), they've marketed the league really heavily as a method of building up young girls' sporting talents and confidence. I don't have a problem with that per se, but the mass of screaming 12 year-old girls who don't really know anything about the game gets irritating after a while. On the other hand, I'm a cantankerous bastard who hates children. Also, Harvard Stadium has football lines on the field. It's an unnecessary blemish, but it is kind of funny watching international players who've never dealt with an American mixed-use stadium try to figure out where the end lines are. The samba band that plays at the games is solid, the soccer is hot, our captain is a storm trooper (in the Star Wars sense: she's scary), and it's easy to get to on the 86, 66, 70 and 70a buses, or the red line. If you like good soccer, this is the place to check some out.

1 star is even too high to give for this awful league. We wanted to play in a men's league this…read moresummer, were ok with the fee stated online, and registered early. Before the first game, which was moved to a later date than stated online because they wanted to wait for another team to join (which screwed the entire scheduling over), the league came up with referee fees that needed to be paid in addition to the original fee. This was never stated anywhere and was simply made up for the referees to breath fresh air for about an hour and stand in one place the whole game. Not following the rules of soccer and concussion protocols is another issue. We emailed Ryder, the Program Manager for this league, who often did not answer emails that had simple questions from our team. His scheduling was awful, originally stating that games would be between 8-10, and then scheduled us two games at 7, knowing that adults have work on weekdays. Everything that is written online is fake, and is only used to get you to sign up. None of these people can run this league normally. During our third game of the season, half of our team could not continue and finish the game. One of these injuries is was a Torn ACL (meaning no soccer for our teammate for over a year), another was a hamstring injury for about a month, another was a groin injury for about a month. None of these injuries were even called to be a foul. The refs just stand in one spot and could not care less about what happens on the field. Our teammate said that he heard his knee pop, but did not even hear a whistle. Two games after that, our goalie saves a shot and has the ball in his hands. The other team just runs at him and kicks it out of his hands, hitting him in the head while doing so, scoring a goal after that, while our goalie is down. Do these refs even do concussion trainings, or any trainings at all? Do they know what can happen if someone gets kicked in the head? Then in the playoffs, we played a team we faced twice already. We know every player on that team already. The game is already starting late as the previous game went to penalties, but the ref calmly waits until some of their players are getting dressed. They have more than enough players to start the game, but he waits until their new players get ready. These new players don't even have the team jersey (which is required as stated online, don't have shinguards, which is also required as stated online, and have shirt colors that conflict with us). Then when they win by cheating, they go and have very very poor sportsmanship while we simply quietly go back to our bench after losing (I know sportsmanship policies are also stated online). All of these games, the ref uses very very bad and insulting language to one of our registered players who is on the sideline, who partially acts as a coach. Overall, terrible communication throughout, rules online that are not followed at all, and the league runs a month later than stated online. If you want to have fun playing soccer, please find another league. You will thank me later.

Absolutely awful soccer league and awful people to deal with…read more The league started late, finished a month later than promised. Games were cancelled. Hidden fees came out. Little communication. Emails are not answered. Referees are just there to get paid. Lots of injuries, including many serious ones, as a result. Teams cheat by bringing unregistered players for playoffs. One of our players forgot the jersey and could not play, but in the next game the other team had 4 players in different jerseys (who were brought in for the playoff game and not part of the team) and they were allowed to play. The worst league ever encountered. Find another league. And the field is very small to play soccer, because BSSC tries to fit lots of games on a small field to maximize $$$. On top of that they just change the rules to accommodate their agenda and manipulate key calls to let the teams they know players on win.

We LOVE Gary Wood and the folks at Belmont Wheelworks. We met when my son (who has Cerebral Palsy…read morefrom a stroke in utero) was in his first bike race-- Gary helped us adjust our bike before the race. My son bit the bug on bicycling and when he was ready for a new bike, Gary helped us find the perfect bike, making some accessibility modifications like switching the brake sides to favor my son's stronger side, etc. I got my Stumpjumper here 20 years ago and Belmont Wheelworks keeps on delivering because of the people!

Here's a collection of my terrible experiences at Wheel Works:…read more Story #1: Took a bike in to get an insurance write up for estimated cost of repair/replacement (my biked was pretty much totaled). They said the estimated time for this would be around 5 days. After 10 days of them not contacting me, I called them. They said the write up was ready so I went to shop only for them to tell me it is not ready and to come back in a couple days. When I went back, the person who did the write up lost the paper and we had to go back AGAIN for a new paper. A 5 day simple write up turned into a 3 week back and fourth with this shop (and 3 weeks with no bike which is my main form of transportation). Story #2: I asked for 2 tubes for my bike and they gave me 2 different sized tubes BOTH OF WHICH WERE NOT THE CORRECT TUBE. Story #3: I asked for a tube for my bike and I gave them the model (which they sold to me). The person asked me what size it is which I forgot. So he replied "well I don't know that bike go figure that out yourself" (while he was at a functioning computer in which he could have looked it up for me). Story #4: I also had a kick stand repair after it fell off (my bike has a specialize built in kickstand) and it fell off again after 2 rides.

If you need hockey equipment for yourself or your child, and need assistance with choosing the…read moreright gear you should go to Sports Etc. The staff is well trained and knows how to fit the equipment to you. It's a family owned store and it has a really great selection of hockey equipment, including an entire basement of sticks with fake ice for trying them out. Prices are decent. Less expensive than some of the chains. This is my favorite hockey store. I will say that my daughter prefers to have her skates sharpened elsewhere though. Not really sure why.

Great store for the young hockey player. Our kids' coaches and other hockey parents had highly…read morerecommended this store since they have a broad selection of equipment at different price points, and there is a small "ice" area to test out sticks. The sales associate that worked with us- Will- was super helpful, and even helped to size my son for the right goalie leg pads, adjust the straps on our existing pads, and add toe bungee cords that we purchased from the store. He was very patient in explaining the gear to us. Would definitely recommend to all hockey parents!

My mom and I visited today to get some new sneakers. My mom walks with a cane and was disappointed…read morethat her favorite walking shoes were no longer being made. All was not lost as Sylvia was helping us and offered several different options for my mom to try. She was super helpful, even helping my mom get the shoes on and lacing them up. I can't remember the last time I've seen that level of assistance in a shoe store. She was absolutely fantastic with my mom, answering questions and even showing her a special way of lacing her sneakers to help prevent heel slippage. My mom ended up getting two pairs of shoes that she said were so comfortable, and raved about Sylvia to the woman at the register. I took a star off as I'm a size 11ish and can rarely find shoes that fit me-most shoes only had sizes up to 10 available, but I'm so glad my mom had such a great experience today.

A new fan of new balance I had to make a stop while attending the new balance indoor nationals…read more The store is walking distance from the village and made it convenient for us after the meet to get some new gear . We both loved the selections and picked out a few things to add to our collection. Customer service was excellent and the value was even better ! Less than $125 for our items and I could've splurged but I had no room in my suitcase lol .

What a beautiful store right under the New Balance HQ. It's massive with all New Balance shoes and…read moreapparel as well as places to sit, fancy fitting rooms, and shoes from American athletes on display. It's inspiring!

This flagship new balance store is pretty big and it is conveniently located by the NB…read moreheadquarters and the NB track! It has a variety of sneakers and clothes. The staff are helpful. Just the location is a bit out of the way. Easiest way to get here is by the commuter rail going to the boston landing stop and then walking a block or so.