David Beckham

Let's start this off by getting one thing straight: David Beckham is not going to 'save' soccer in the United States. He's not going to make Major League Soccer the fifth national sport and he isn't going to have the kind of impact Pele did in the 1970s because everything looks better in the rear view mirror. David Beckham is not going to do anything more than sell some tickets (for a while) and some jerseys to the People Magazine crowd. The man's mere presence in this country is not going to change the perception of soccer in this country from what it is as the ideal non-competitive sport for all children when they are super young. It just ain't gonna happen and it doesn't matter who shows up here to play in the league.

What will David Beckham mean in America? Well, his wife will have a whole new crowd of reporters to talk to. The couple will have ample opportunity to stop and pose on red carpets. They can enjoy being the new kids in town and all of that for a while before the whole thing peters out. And that is how it is going to go. Anyone who thinks differently is kidding themselves.

I am a soccer fan. What's more, I am a Major League Soccer fan. I don't care one bit about what goes on in those so-called better leagues in Europe. I don't care at all. Major League Soccer is in my country and I support it. I'm a fan of the New England Revolution and the United States Men's National Team. Those are the only two teams I want to see win. Do I want the sport (in this country) to get more (ahem) mainstream coverage? Yes. Do I want to see more games on TV? Yes, I most certainly do. I just don't want the games to be about David Beckham and not about the game itself.

Case in point: the one game Becks has even played in, the friendly the Galaxy played against Chelsea. ESPN treated the game as a backdrop for the man himself. Bonnie Bernstein was plopped on a red freaking carpet to dish about "celebrities" as they entered the Home Depot Center. The cameras were focused on Posh and all of her celebrity "friends" in her skybox--who never seemed to be bothered to watch the game itself. Commentator (and US Soccer legend) Eric Wynalda begged Posh over and over to actually take off her sunglasses and smile every time they showed her and she did neither. The whole embarrassing exercise was another example of the "US Magazine-ification" of ESPN where the stars are king and the actual game is secondary.

Which brings us to this past Sunday, the game that Becks was rumored to actually be playing in. ESPN2 changed their schedule around to feature Beckham in his first league game and although I am sure they tried to bully their "partner" MLS into getting him to play, Becks instead sat on the bench in Toronto sporting what looked to be a very expensive suit. The contrast was amazing to see: young, hungry guys who make like no money wearing the new Galaxy jersey that Beckham designed intently watching the game and Beckham fiddling like a little kid, checking out the crowd, nursing a bum ankle. No one asked why the ankle was fine for Beckham to play on two weeks prior when Chelsea was in LA but not now in a league game the team needed to take to make the postseason. Could it be that in this instant information age that we live in that film and pictures of Beckham playing against an English team were more important back home than film and pictures of a Sunday night league game in Toronto? Does anyone in MLS want to field that question? Mr. Garber, do I see your hand up?

The talk that bringing Becks into MLS is going to open up some sort of pipeline for other European football stars to make their way to the league is premature at best. The league was doing fine operating as a single-entity that owned all player contracts before the league adopted The Beckham Rule that allowed for one player to be paid by an individual team and not have that contract count against the salary cap. Dalliances with players such as Figo; Zidane; and Ronaldo have been limited and played up in the press at times; but none of these so-called courtships have been anything more than fodder for the player to use in negotiations with their European teams. It's actually been pretty transparent at times--especially with the retired Zidane. I think he might just be enjoying the flattering proposals.

Bottom line is that this whole deal is more about celebrity and the "Beckham Brand" than it is about some deep-seeded, philanthropic desire to grow the world's game in the one country that soccer doesn't mean life or death. That's why you see Becks and Posh posing outside of restaurants in Los Angeles. It's why he hangs out with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. It's why Becks throws out the first pitch at a baseball game in Toronto and has his picture taken with Derek Jeter and Joe Torre. Call me cynical, but that is all it is. America is the one "market" in which David Beckham isn't a well-known brand--and that is what he's about when you do the math. David Beckham wants the Beckham name to be as well known as Wal-Mart, Pepsi, and McDonald's. And if he has to play a few soccer games here and there to do it, he may as well do so. It's not like it's stipulated in his contract or anything.