2007.01.11
Bend It in LA
It looks like soccer superstar David Beckham will be moving to Los Angeles to play for the LA Galaxy. I’m not sure what to think about this. One the one had it will be brilliant for American soccer. On the other hand Beckham and his wife Posh seem to be about as shallow as a celebrity couple can be (based on what can be read in the media). Hmm… Maybe LA is the perfect place for them to go, then.
UPDATE 2007.01.14: Somehow Beckham as a Chia Pet seems frighteningly appropriate, though I can’t put my finger on the connection with LA…
7 Comments Categorized: games
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7 Responses to “Bend It in LA”
- Mookee says (January 12th, 2007 at 11:41:05 )
Did you see he was getting 250 million to cut out of his Real Madrid team? The article I read (possibly the same one you linked, I don’t know and I’m not going to look) didn’t say anything about how much the contract was worth, it just mentioned the 250 million being accepted to leave the Spanish team.
If that’s in addition to his contract, MLS must be more desperate than I thought, because there are few baseball, football, or basketball contracts that involve that much, and I don’t think MLS has anything remotely similar (up till now).
Kind of reminds me of the old NASL … got Pelé, things going great, Pelé leaves … NASL bankrupt.
Who said the thing about history and being doomed to repeat it?
- Mookee says (January 12th, 2007 at 15:14:04 )
Looks like it’s 50 million / year for the next 5 years.
- Kevin says (January 13th, 2007 at 16:54:58 )
I don’t think that Beckham will get the U.S of A. all gung-ho on soccer. For as popular as it is in grade school and high school, it just doesn’t seem to be a game that’s enjoyable to watch (unless you have a kid or a friend on the team).
- douglas says (January 13th, 2007 at 19:05:26 )
Well, I’d have to disagree that it’s not an enjoyable game to watch. It isn’t very popular in America, though, that’s true. I think most Americans don’t give it much of a chance. It doesn’t have the history, marketing or star power that football, baseball and basketball have. When Pele was playing soccer was getting attention, as Mookee pointed out. Maybe if a few other big name players came to America it would jump start the process and make soccer here into a world class sport again.
We can hope, neh?
- Mookee says (January 14th, 2007 at 14:43:04 )
Not likely.
Soccer is no where near as exciting to watch as football. I have to agree with Kevin.
- douglas says (January 14th, 2007 at 17:19:50 )
Then I’d have to disagree with both of you. Football is sometimes interesting, and I know a lot of people get very excited following football and thinking about teams, players and matchups but… soccer is far more interesting to me. To me football is a bunch of soldiers marching back and forth across a field similar to war up to and including the Civil War. Two sides in orderly lines fighting for territory. That’s all fine and dandy but soccer is like actual war; it is unpredictable and forces the players to adapt to the situations as they arise.
The biggest weakness soccer has is that it is not television friendly. There are no clear pauses in which to insert advertisements. This is a sadly serious drawback because unless broadcasters can figure out how to make their money then soccer won’t be broadcast and if it’s not broadcast then no one will really care. We are a nation of primarily TV sports watchers (correct me if I’m wrong with that assumption) and less people are going to the games less oftenly as attendance gets more and more expensive.
- douglas.nerad » Reassessing Beckham in LA says (January 20th, 2007 at 19:49:20 )
[...] Reassessing Beckham in LA thoughts games It’s been over a week since I learned thatsoccer superstar David Beckham was moving to the States to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy. My initial thoughts were somewhat optimistic. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, though, I’m becoming less than enthusiastic. I think I’m moving much more clearly in line with Robert Weintraub at Slate and Carlos at Population Statistic. [...]
