You can take the plastic out of the bottle, but you can't take the bottle out of the plastic

FC Barcelona soccer players have had trouble this season leaving it all on the field, with it being not some vague reference in yet another sports cliche but rather the sweat they produce when they run around and do what soccer players do for 90 minutes plus whatever the person on the sideline with the board with Christmas season lights decides to add.  They blame their fancy new Nike shirts, which are supposed to wick away moisture but apparently retain it.  The shirts are made of recycled materials, with each being the equivalent of 8 recycled bottles (article in Spanish), and the team has engaged in some scientific investigation to prove they do in fact hold too much of their water.  During a recent game in Valencia, they weighed the shirts before kickoff and then again at halftime.  The results: 200 grams and then 500 grams.

Nike says they will fix the problem soon.  The Land Without Bread's ace reporter in Spain has learned, however, that Barcelona's big rival Real Madrid, whose uniforms are made by Adidas, has asked Nike and all members of the international soccer community not to move hastily on the issue, arguing that Barclona's experiment shows just one side of the complicated debate over global sporting apparel water retention, and that everyone involved should wait for all the science to come in before drawing any conclusions.