Ladies, is this true?

I was on the phone briefly yesterday w/a buddy in Texas - a buddy who has been hard to reach lately 'cause he's been in pursuit of love. So we began joking about our back-in-the-day pursuit of women and the measures to which we were willing to go in order to "make friends."

We went over the checklist, from making sure our teeth were brushed when we left the house, to making sure our shirts were creased, and our jeans hung loosely.

One thing we couldn't agree on though was feet. My buddy gave me grief 'cause from the time I was a kid, the women in my life have been drilling into my skull that women care about a man's shoes. He, on the other hand, thought shoes were inconsequential. And that's why I got more dates than him. Kidding. We don't know who had the higher numbers, but I always argued that clean shoes helped my case.

I can honestly say that I never believed this theory early on, but to play it safe I made sure I kept my shoes shined, and when they wore thin as long as I could afford it I'd toss 'em and buy a new pair right away. Seriously, my mother and grandmother, and even my older sister, would remind me regularly to not leave the house in scruffy shoes. I don't count my dad in this debate - not just 'cause he's not one of the family women, but also 'cause he was career military. So keeping shiny shoes was as natural to him as walking and breathing.

Anyway, I became a believer when I was 24. I had just returned to the States from London, where I'd done a short gig at the Financial Times. And I was just starting my first full-time job at an American newspaper. And with my first paycheck I paid first month's rent, bought groceries, and bought a really nice new pair of dress shoes - black Chelsea boots, if I remember right. That first day or two of work I was strolling down the sidewalk around the building, clutching a cup of coffee and getting familiar with the neighborhood. A woman - a little older than me - walking toward me, waved me down. I stopped. She smiled and said just two words: "Nice shoes." And then she smiled again and continued walking.

That day I became a believer and though I had polished faithfully before, I began polishing with vigor.

So I say to my Texas bud and the rest of you dudes: cleaning your shoes = impressing at least a few women (and maybe getting the hook-up).

Of course, when you take care of your shoes, don't neglect that other stuff, like washing your behind daily, changing undies and socks daily, brushing and flossing your chompers (multiple times) daily, and not using lame pickup lines, ever.