At times, following the latest news on English-born soccer star David Beckham, one has been reminded of that great piece of Esquire journalism by Gay Talese, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold." So valuable is Mr. Beckham to his new Major League Soccer club, the LA Galaxy -- and evidently to American soccer as a whole -- that his every fluctuation in health has been subject to close media scrutiny. Normally hardy sports journalists have adopted the tone of solicitous royal physicians when writing about him. Witness recent headlines: "[Beckham] Ankle Still Ailing," "Beckham Waits on Scan," "Beckham Ankle Injury Perks Up," "Tired Beckham Sits Out," and so on. The latest news is the most significant yet. Mr. Beckham was diagnosed with a sprained right knee, suffered in the Galaxy's Aug. 29 SuperLiga final loss to Pachuca, and will be out of action for as long as 10 weeks, the rest of the Galaxy's season. Make no mistake: His injury is indeed disastrous news for the Galaxy, a nightmare for MLS, and extreme ill fortune for American soccer. It's still possible to envision that future America where kids dream of scoring wicked free-kick goals at the World Cup in the image of their hero David Beckham, but there are obstacles. When Mr. Beckham does return to action, he will have to stay healthy and he will have to lift his new club to the top of the league to grab the public's attention again. And perhaps more stars will be needed to build on the excitement Mr. Beckham creates. Still, with the midfielder out of action for the rest of this season, we may be seeing more of wife Victoria Beckham, who is slated to make an appearance on ABC's "Ugly Betty" this season. America is the land of opportunity, after all. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119128663495145912.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
We'd been discussing this on the attendance thread over on MLS: N&A. I wrote him a letter.... Subject: Your article on Beckham and MLS Mister Barbara, I’m not sure that you did any research at all. First of all, the only people who think Beckham is going to “save” soccer in America and MLS, are writers who have never followed the game. As soon as someone says anything close to that in an article I know that I’m dealing with an uneducated person (not college, book smart educated….but soccer educated). You will never, ever, ever hear anyone associated with MLS refer to Beckham as a savior or say that he will save the game. Not it’s commissioner, not it’s owners, not it’s coaches, not it’s players, not it’s fans….no one. Sorry for harping on this but I just want to make that very clear. Beckham is just part of a process. MLS is currently making strides on almost every measurable aspect of the game. They have been making those strides for a long time. They were small at first and for about 5 years the league was seemingly stagnant or even moving backwards. But in the last 5-6 years the league has slowly turned it around. In the past 2 years that success has gained momentum and is now gaining full steam. If you had looked in to the matter you would have found that the league is now healthier then it has ever been. Expansion teams are lining up to get into the league. Owners across two countries are begging commissioner Don Garber to pay 30 million dollars as an entry fee for the right to start up their own MLS team. But that’s not enough. They also need stadium plans and commitment from their cities. No soccer league in the history of the US had ever had a TV deal before. MLS got four of them before the start of the 2007 season. Teams are selling sponsorships for their jerseys and stadiums. By the end of this season the median attendance will be the highest in the history of the league (average will be 2nd, only behind the opening season which is skewed by some massive early numbers). I can go on but you get the idea. The point is that Beckham is a product of what has already been going on without him. He and the other designated players are a result of the hard work and growth that the league had already made before them and will continue to make after they’re gone. He is not saving anything. He is one piece of a puzzle. I encourage you to spend a little more time learning about the sport before you write your next article. There are many other issues concerning soccer in this country that I haven’t even gotten into. Ninety percent of them are positive. I know it is popular to bash MLS and soccer in this country and I’m saddened that you felt the need to follow the masses. It’s a cheap way to write an article. You should be better then that. Lastly, I’ll say that the next time you’re in DC, let me know. I’ll buy you a ticket to a DC United game. You can come as my guest. Thanks for your time, lawrenceterp
Gotta agree wit what you said Lawrence. I just hope the journo sees your comments as constructive and friendly, the way I know you meant them. Then, hopefully he takes up your offer to be a guest at RFK on an evening when there's a 4-3 thriller and the fans are louder and more colourful than ever.
OMG I shop at Ron Herman too! Becks and I are so besties!!@$&! Btw, I agree that the article is pretty off-base. Unfortunately, a good portion of the WSJ readership won't know any better and consider MLS and American soccer in a 'crisis'. Oh well?
Outside of the writer's misplaced cynicism, the weirdest thing about this column is simply the way it's written. Beckham's knee injury was five weeks ago, yet the column approaches the whole topic as if it's a new development: "will be a blow," "will be a headache," "will have to deal with," "is disastrous news," etc. There's been more than a month to assess the impact of Beckham's absence -- nearly three months, really, when you throw in the ankle stuff -- yet the writer treats the entire issue as if it's a hot new matter of speculation. I actually started to go search to see if this were actually an older column that just happened to get tossed online, but then I noticed it does include the Galaxy's current record and a couple of references to recent games. So I don't know what the heck the deal is. Bizarre.
This crap never ceases to amaze me. I guess they want to create the deepest of depths so they can exalt him on high if/when LA wins any kind of title. It's kinda funny to think what he might have said if LA would have won Superliga? I'm guessing it'd be the same ill thought out tripe. If half the people who speak ill of the league had seen a game more recently than 1997 I might actually be able to take them half seriously. (I've seen people reference Donadoni slagging the quality of the league in 1996 as if it is still somehow completely representative of the state of the league now...crazy)