It's the old Hollywood adage... Bud pub is good pub just spell the names right. -I guess all it took to get some ESPN screen time was some beef between two well known players on the same team. humph, who knew that's how the "four lettered network" operated.
Well, mainly, it is coming at a great time. Any publicity is good publicity for soccer in the US, but it is coming at a time with there is almost non-stop soccer news: US's run in the Confederations Cup Onyewu to Milan MLS All-Star Game vs. Everton Davies to Sochaux Altidore to Olympiakos Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Club America, Inter, and AC Milan all having numerous matches across America this summer (and on tv)
It's really the first time soccer has been discussed without irony or an arch attitude by many US sports outlets.
IMO, it is similar to the Lance Armstrong / Alberto Contador dynamic in the Tour de France this year. Definitely adds a bit more drama when your not sure if a team is going to cannabalize itself.
The US Confederations Cup run and their 2-0 win over Honduras in the Gold Cup are the only soccer stories I've heard on ESPN, other than the Donovan/Beckham infighting. Onyewu to Milan is possibly the biggest signing ever for American soccer and there was no mention of it on ESPN that I was aware of. In response to the topic of this thread, I think the beef has been very good. If they can hold on for another week and hype up Beckham's return game, then MLS ratings might go up a bit and we might even make some new fans.
Onyewu's move was on Sports Center. He has his name on the little tap thing on the right and I saw it running several times throughout the day. I also saw it being discussed with Lalas (i think so). On topic it finally seems that ESPN is not letting its analyst be openly cold towards MLS. This story has been on PTI and Around The Horn and both times it was discussed with a little bit of knowledge and no real cheap shots like in the past. I think we will see more and more stories on ESPN about soccer maybe not MLS related.
Then you weren't paying attention that day. Onyewu to Milan was a front page topic on ESPN and SI.com for the entire day. SportsCenter and other ESPN shows had Alexi Lalas on several times just to talk about Onyewu going to Serie A. ESPN is also televising many of the games with the European powers.
I'd say it is, and the reason is thats it not bad press about players acting stupid off the field. This is a legitimate disagreement that has split the team, its fans and the league on who's right or wrong. Controversy is always important to add that extra level of interest to any entertainment venture. The examples of this are too numerous to mention in the case of the other Big 4 leagues, so if this is what it takes to get a few more ears and eyes trained on MLS then so be it. As long as it isn't the only thing fueling interest.
Meh, just another excuse for the haters to say 'see, it didn't work! He was supposed to skyrocket the sport and league and it's all collapsed' It is getting pub in Europe and what not though
If David Beckham converted every dollar he's ever made into ego points, he still wouldn't be close to Terrell Owens. I don't think Becks has ever gone all "pass me the damn ball."
I agree it's good for MLS from a standpoint of media attention. With the utter failure on the field most outside the sport, the country or LA were decided they didn't care this year but this keeps the gossip going. As posted previous, it's great that with this shite gossip comes positive news like your Confed results. Congrats! If good news continues to be piggybacked on this fluff stuff all MLSers can hope for an overall positive exposure of our game.
The big question is... Has Vegas started accepting bets on potential results? On-field melee (a la Newcastle some time back) between the two: 5 to 1 odds. Victoria Beckham getting involved: even. Bruce Arena ripping off his suit and spanking both players on the sideline: 100 to 1.
The other thing is that this is coming at a time when Beckham is starting to lose his lustre a little bit. I think after the first two so so years, the public at large was starting to forget about him. This feud puts him back in the public eye in America.