By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports August 29, 2007 I love NFL fans. I love them in the way you love your neighbor's idiotic and overweight but harmless dog who embarrasses his owners by barking when visitors are around but would rather lick an intruder than bite him. I love the way NFL fans are confused by the recent surge of popularity in Major League Soccer and start using words like "sacred" when getting steamed up in the defense of their own favorite sport. I love Trevor, who can't seem to remember where he comes from but knows one thing – soccer is BAD! I don't think they should contaminate a football field by letting a sport such as soccer be played on it. Even at the high school level, the soccer people are kept off of and far away from the sacred football field. Send the Spice Girl and her husband back to a country that values soccer. Stop wasting the pages in my daily newspaper and sports magazines with this ridiculous soccer stuff … who cares? – Trevor And what about this guy? Who is Beckham? Why waste Yahoo!'s web (site) with this guy's problems. – Roger Sajak, Colorado Springs, Colo. Who is David Beckham? No idea. That is because I, like Roger, have spent the last 10 years on Pluto. Enough with the laughs and on to the serious business of this week's mailbag. Thanks again for all your responses (especially yours, Trevor), most of which centered around foreign stars that MLS should target. There was big support for Thierry Henry, Ronaldo and Claude Makelele to be brought in as star signings, but some complained that Andriy Shevchenko, Luis Figo, Francesco Totti and Jay-Jay Okocha were left out of my top 10. I will address the issue of each of those players individually. My comments appear in italics. FOLLOWING IN BECKHAM'S FOOTSTEPS ("Giving MLS more star power," Aug. 22, 2007) Just curious as to why you left Andriy Shevchenko off your list of potential MLS players? He's got an American wife and a kid named after Michael Jordan! Andrew Newman Dallas I actually think there is a good chance Shevchenko will end up playing here in the U.S., but I would not like to see MLS go after him as I am worried he may not offer value for money. At his best, he is a wonderful player, but I have been disappointed with him at Chelsea. He seems to have lost some hunger and drive. If he can't get "up" for competing in the Premiership and Champions League, is he going to get excited by a Thursday night game at Real Salt Lake? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luis Figo is an older player with Beckham-like skills and could improve a team with his experience. Martin Mihal Toronto Figo and Shevchenko were by far the two most popular names mentioned in the mailbag. Unlike Shevchenko, I think it would be great if Figo came to the U.S. I actually hope my sources are wrong on this and that we see him in MLS, but I have heard he is a lock to be fast-tracked into a senior executive role at Inter Milan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was surpised you omitted my favorite player and one of the most famous defensive players in the world: Paolo Maldini. He may be older than most of the names on your list, but he can still play at the highest level and has expressed an interest. Guy Gipson Brescia, Italy Maldini is a true legend of the game – a top-class player and a first-rate individual. Problem is, he will be 40 next year. It would be nice to see him come over for a season, but MLS should not make him a priority. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Americans would have a much better chance of watching soccer if L.A. had brought hot-tempered Wayne Rooney over. If they would have offered him the money they offered Beckham, it would be a good possibility. John Kennesaw, Ga. You can't be serious, John. They could have offered Rooney four times as much and he still wouldn't have come. It just doesn't make sense at this stage of his career. We won't see him in MLS for at least 10 years, if ever. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totti would be a huge addition to MLS and would help the league prosper even more. What do you think? Adam New York I don't think Totti will play for another club apart from Roma, or live in a city other than Rome. He would be great for MLS, but I can't see it happening. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where's Jay-Jay Okocha on your list? He's got the dazzling skills that would get fans excited for the right reasons. David Edoh-Bedi Seattle Okocha's breathtaking skills are wonderful to watch and he would be a real crowd pleaser. But he is on a highly lucrative contract in Qatar and will probably end his career there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zidane? NO! The guy has absolutely no class! He was willing to cost his team everything based on a hollow insult. Materazzi won that day when Zidane played right into his hands. Rachel Mississippi What a shame that a true soccer genius will be remembered for one moment of madness rather than the beautiful skills he displayed for years. To say he has no class is false. He brought joy to millions with his magnificent play and apart from his actions in the World Cup final has been a good ambassador. It still haunts me, though – I know he was horribly provoked, but why did he do it? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you think Brian McBride will ever come back to MLS? Even though he has been playing for Fulham for a couple of seasons, he still has history in MLS when he used to play for Columbus Crew. What do you think? Dan Fol McBride was on my list, but the serious injury he picked up at the start of the Premiership season knocked him off. We need to see how he recovers and whether he can get back to his best. However, he is a good man for the sport and U.S. soccer is lucky to have him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Didier Drogba, the English Premier League striker and Chelsea forward, will be 30 years old this season. He will be leaving in a year or two. Why don't you mention him as one of the future MLS stars? He is a real bomber, the best striker in soccer. Philbert Seri Lexington Park, Md. Drogba is a brilliant player – I tore apart my fantasy soccer team to accommodate him in attack – but we won't see him in MLS for quite some time. He still has plenty to achieve in Europe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISCELLANEOUS MAIL It's not a "sad trait" of the great English public to knock famous people. It's the media. Please don't portray us like that. Victoria Smith England Following the 1998 World Cup when Beckham was sent off against Argentina, an effigy of him was hung by a noose outside the Pleasant Pheasant pub in south London. This was far from being an isolated incident. I don't know who strung the effigy up, Victoria, but it was not the media. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MLS, much like many other professional leagues, is geared towards the large-market franchises. From the beginning, big-name players constantly have been placed in the large markets while the smaller markets of Columbus and Kansas City suffer to find top players to bring in or are allocated less marketable and less skilled players. Brian Delaware, Ohio I agree with you to an extent. The problem is: How do you bring big-name players to the smaller markets? For many European footballers, the only Columbus they have heard of is Christopher, and plenty of them won't have heard of him. Most of these guys are always going to prefer a move to California or New York. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beckham's value is clear. I have never read an article about soccer in my life. I read about football and basketball daily, but just the fact that he is such a draw has piqued my interest. … He adds value. T.C. Minneapolis That is why whenever anyone questions whether Beckham is worth his big contract (regardless how he plays) the answer is always yes. He gets people interested in the game who would otherwise be apathetic. Martin Rogers is a soccer writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Martin a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ro-mailbag082907&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
You got to be f***** kidding me here? Zidane has no class? That got to be the dumbest thing I read online for a while. Zidane is known to be one of nicest soccer players in the world. Besides, his teammates and his country wouldn't angry at Zidane about head butt incident. Zidane had every right to head butt that prick (Materazzi). Never talk shit about a man’s mother and sister. Zidane was just defending his honour.
Your attitude is ridiculous. You're actually suggesting that throwing away a possible world cup win is acceptable because you feel that headbutting someone after a childish "your momma"-style insult somehow gives you your "honor" back? Why would he even lose any "honor" just because Materazzi makes an idiotic insult about his sister? If he just ignores him and leaves the situation, he wins. That said, he was an amazing player with a lot of class.
We don't know what exactly that prick said to Ziande about his mother and sister. I know it had to be much more than a little "yo momma" joke. Even his teammates supported his action and understand why he did it. Heck, I think it was David Trezeguet who said "somethings are bigger than football" when asked by reporters about head butt incident.
Doesn't matter, it's still just an irrelevant insult. If some idiot walks up to you and says whatever horrible things about your family, and you just ignore him, how have you possibly lost any honor? Also, shouldn't the proper response in such a situation be to punish the guy who insulted you? You realize that by headbutting him he actually REWARDED Materazzi for saying whatever he said, right? If you beat up a guy who just insulted your family on the street, that's a punishment, if you loosely headbutt him in the chest in the world cup final and get sent off, that's the opposite. Not only has he insulted your family, he's also accomplished exactly what he wanted by doing it.
Wow, I come into a thread to read a childish argument about Zidane/Materazzi and there's a wonderful article on MLS in it. Who'da thunk it?
What would people think about Zidane if he didn't stand up against Materazzi? I hope you know that Zidane's mother was ill and was at the hospital during that time. "I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that." – Zinedine Zidane By the way, even Zidane's mother was proud of him about headbutt incident.
Standing up to Materazzi = doing exactly what Materazzi wanted him to do? That's a bit twisted logic. It is understandable that certain insults in such a situation can hurt a man and make him do something in anger, but that doesn't mean it's the recommendable action.