Holiday Gift Guide: Uggs and Beats

On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.....

If you're like me, you buy your boots at Rack Room and your headphones at Wal-Mart. But we're blessed that many of our readers are not like me -- they're young adults, players and former players who understand what hip is. Gifts they like -- and gifts for the fan who wants to be like the player -- are what tops our holiday list today.

Surely you've heard of the Ugg. It's a boot originally from Australia made from sheepskin with fleece inside. While the long, black boot that clings to the leg continues to be my preference, the 18-24 set would rather wear the Ugg. Some have buttons on them; some have laces and a loftier heel. Some are $130; others are $375.Admittedly, they're pretty cool and cozy, too.

Be like ODU's ABW!

The other happening gift that the players seems to dig these days -- beats by DRE. Now when Monet Tellier first told us about these, we confess we thought she was talking about "beets," and were somewhat confused why the red/purple root vegetable would be such coveted by frankly, anyone. Since then we've done our research. Beats by DRE are headphones -- high performance headphones developed by Dr.DRE. Beats are said to "restore the emotional connection between artist and listener," allowing the consumer to hear the music the way the performer intended.

We like 'em cause they feel good on the ear. While they have the inner ear kind, the more popular ones are the larger over-the-ear ones, proving that what goes around comes around. They come in various colors -- there's even a Lady Gaga beat, and ODU's Ashley Betz-White shared with us that she got the pink ones for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. Try them and the Wal-Mart brand, even the Bose kind, won't be good enough anymore.