Beckham’s indecision damages American soccer

In the case of this article and journalism in general, clarity should be at the forefront of the authors mind. And in an article about American football, the fact that it's officially recognised as 'Soccer' over there means that 'soccer' is the right word to use in this context. As a Melbournian I sometimes get called out for calling 'soccer' football or footy, but seeing as football is the official name for the sport here, there's no real issue. Not so in the US.

Or should that be "disrepute"... ? ~~~~~~~~~ KB

Adrian, and Ben, Maybe now Becks can start calling the game “Football” to bring American soccer under dispute... That will get up their noses... “I came to play Football, I played football, and when I leave I will continue to play Football”..... ~~~~~~~~ KB

Now that is the sign of a true fan!

Fair call by the Galaxy fans. How much Beckham wouldve loved to have been in the red and black.

“Hey Becks, Here Before You, Here After You, Here Despite You.” Ouch.

If David Beckham wants to be in South Africa in 2010 then he should go back to Europe ASAP. MLS is a waste of time for him. Americans should save their football themselves not Beckham.

MVDave, I believe you are correct on that score. One could reasonably query as to whether we would be talking about the MLS at all if it were not for Beckham. One would assume not.

I'll file a view from America here. Beckham has probably strengthened MLS, ultimately. For a lot of people, the attention Beckham generated ultimately got them looking at some other things MLS has done right. For instance: * There was an expansion underway in Toronto, and sales were going fairly well, with 7,000 season tickets sold. But when the Beckham announcement was made, another 3,000 were bought within the next 48 hours, and kept going--not so much for Beckham per se, but rather a signal to people in Toronto that the league was ambitious and worth watching. Soon, the very fact that individual games might sell out (capacity 20,000) caused people to buy season tickets, and they hit their self-imposed cap of 14,000. (Today that's 16,000). It's become a self-reinforcing phenomenon--every game sells out, therefore if you go to a Toronto FC match, you know it will be full and passionate, therefore every game sells out. * Financial heavyweights had been starting to pay attention to MLS before this, but Beckham enhanced the trend. One of these, Joe Roth in Seattle, was able to get an MLS club off to a better launch than any previous club in league history (22,000 season tickets, every game sold out at 30,000). Beckham can say his presence helped these events. (He's probably not savvy enough to have thought of it himself, but his people at 19 Entertainment are, and they fed him the line for his last press conference. PR line, but it's true.) Plus it helps of course that everyone made scads of money on the whole thing. As to why he signed with MLS, he did jump the gun on what other teams would be interested. At the time, his best other offer was running out the clock at a club like Bolton, and the English national side looked out of the question regardless, and expanding the game in a new land seemed more interesting than that. He couldn't have known he'd help Madrid to a championship, be back in the England squad, and be able to write his own ticket six months later. And to be fair to the man, he signed for a truly horrible team with no semblance of defense and no midfield organization (and Becks was never the type to carry a team himself). He didn't mentally check out until it was pretty obvious that Galaxy team was no good. Now, in that sense, he has a chance he never had before, because these problems have been fixed. LA now has a credible defense, some other midfield options (mostly because Donovan has moved back to midfield due to LA's adding a forward), and is in playoff position. Ironically, the controversy with Donovan, the best player America has produced in modern times, helps put some 'juice' back into the Beckham phenomenon (put him back on the sports shows and morning talk shows) at a time where it might work. You never quite get a second chance to make a first impression, but at the same time, the game's not quite yet over in terms of Beckham in America.

Adrian is going for clarity.....what all good journalists should be doing....they (the Americans) refer to the game as soccer, not football. Why are you idiots questioning his choice of words ?? get a life, or better still, get an education !!!!

megatron, I also am guessing that it wasn't his call to go. Or if it was I think the endless preseason bs exhibition games would have made him realise his mistake. But he hasn't done anything in MLS, there's not a lot of goals or man of the match performances. If he was doing well then I think he would have been able to get away with just going back to europe for 6 to 8 weeks. Personally if I was the England manager I would prefer he plays and does well for AC Milan, but if he was doing well in MLS I would still pick him. similar to jason cullina, if he plays well and is a cut above the rest in the A league i would still pick him for Australia in the starting 11. If he is simply above average i would only consider him for a squad position and he would have to impress in camp. i should clarify the remark about the shirt changing. it's not true in this case and doesn'y apply becasue he seems to be half hearted at LA but 100% at Milan. If he was playing 100% at LA, then I would pick him over (looks at English squad from last game) James milner, european club football or not.

Andrew I don't necessarily agree. While he is the same player, playing in Italy compared to America is much better at keeping him at the level he needs to be at for England. Hes move to LA was for the celebrity and I still think he didn't wanna go but was pushed into going by his wife and managers.

I think he went at the right age but the move was hurt by other circumstances. Mclaren took over and wanted to put his own stamp on the national team. I am sure if Sven was still in charge he would be tough enough to pick beckham while he played in MLS, it just wouldn't be as a starter. Beckham would be great off the bench for when your playing team that sit back. Unfortunately he had to have a coach that wasn't so bigotted towards lower level football. I am really surprised that Capello wouldn't pick someone who was playing well in MLS. It seems very shortsighted and political. Then he got to galaxy and he was treated as a show pony, having to travel and play way too much. I thought it would have been a plus for someone on the wrong side of thirty to get a less punishing schedule so he could look after his body. someone like beckham or craig moore know how to look after themselves. they have proven they have the skills and I dont think their abilty is going to fall waya much from playing at a lower level. The loan to AC milan shouldn't have been extended, he could of gone there had a short term impact to prove the still had it and then gone back to MLS for the start of round one.. The fact that he wasn't going to be considered before going to Milan just shows the blinkeredness of europeans. He is the same player at mIlan that he is at LA... it's only the shirt that has changed.

Beckham is just playing normally at 70% for Los angeles but when he is with AC mlan he played 100% Because the mls teams are very weak incompared to Ac milan, Man u, fc porto, ajax, etc, so Beckham wont put his best foot out to improve the mls status.... he is playing to show he is just Beckham the man with the name and not the star from England that everyone knows...........this is a deception to the world of football on the behalf of Beckham ....

This was taken from : http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090717 Bill Simmons is a espn guy who has started to get into soccer. His theory on how the evolution of soccer will progress in the States is very interesting. This is the question raised about soccer. His Godfather quote at the end is pure gold!!! Q: I am a die-hard soccer fan living abroad and agree with your theory that international soccer could take off in the States. But not everyone listens to your podcasts, so could you please make the same case in one of your columns so everyone can see it? I think it's important. Thanks and cheers from the UK! -- T.J., Leeds, England SG: Sure. I'll do it in five short paragraphs and 500 words total. The theory goes like this … 1. Americans enjoy watching the best (fill in any sport). We are elitists. That's why we like the Olympics, that's why we enjoy any finals, that's why we watch Wimbledon and the Masters, that's why we don't care about sports like the WNBA, MLS or arena football as anything other than a niche sport. International soccer plays into this. It's the best of the best. Hell, we even liked "The Best of the Best" even though Eric Roberts was the biggest star in it. 2. The games zoom along: no commercials, no sideline reporters, no corporate tie-ins, no four-hour games like in baseball, no "takes 20 minutes to play the last two" like in the NBA. You can sit down for a soccer game and say, "I'm going to spend the next two hours watching this and then I'm going to do something else." Like watch more TV. 3. Give credit to ESPN for committing air time in non-Cup years to elite international soccer tournaments like the UEFA Cup. I know that's how I started paying more attention. If you like sports, you cannot NOT get caught up in the level of play, the maniacal crowds, the intensity and tension and everything else. It's impossible. 4. Widescreen TVs make it easier to see the field; HD makes it easier to see faces and numbers (and the grass looks green and vibrant); and better camerawork (and also more cameras) make the games more intimate. Now you feel like the players are flopping right onto your living room rug! Just kidding, soccer fans. Seriously, settle down. Jokes. 5. International soccer never took off here for the simple reason that American sports fans had trouble following anything they couldn't attend in person and/or watch on television at their leisure. Now? We're turning into a sofa culture; since it's more expensive to go to games, many of us find it just as rewarding to stay home, save money and watch games on a nice TV. Throw in the Internet, DirecTV, fan blogs and everything else and you really can follow soccer from across the Atlantic. That's why, over the next decade -- starting with the World Cup in 2010 -- I predict international soccer takes off to a modest degree in America during the '10s. Not to compare everything to "The Godfather," but for America, the NASL was Sonny (exciting, impetuous and ultimately self-destructive), the MLS is Fredo (weak) and international soccer is Michael (the heavy hitter who was lurking all along). That's how this plays out I think.

Adrian im not sure you are correct. When it comes to soccer in the USA you have to look at it at two different levels. one is International soccer the other is MLS. Currently in the USA the MLS season is on but so is a lot of friendly games. Even though MLS struggles, Chelsea played Seattle Sounders in front of 65,000 last night in Seattle. AC Milan will play chelsea in Baltimore in front of a sold out crowd of over 70,000 people. AC milan will play The Galaxy in LA in front of a sold out crowd also. So as you can see, beckham or not, americans are more than willing to watch soccer but want to see the best. If anything Beckham now gives the americans someone to hate which is important.

MVDave what you're saying is all fair enough - nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned and we should simply take heed. The superstar/wow factor can work, can make a big difference, but it would be a mistake to rely solely on that (just talking generally now). I think back to the LA Galaxy v SFC game drawing 80,000, more than five times what SFC normally draw. It was actually a comical game, with sub-par football (although most of the crowd would have been blissfully unaware of that) - in the end - what did it all mean? It meant nothing.

Pip Ben Adrian Whilst l have alreadt stated above Becks probably came 2 seasons too early l still think the exposure (for himself and the game) has been good. MLS is doing very well and the national team is on a high. The game in America has never had so many perticipants, teams, spectators, success and media. l have been monitoring the on line media in particular NYTimes, and football often has a leading or near leading story in the sports section. Becks is only partly the reason. Players such as Landon Donovan are blazing the trail for home grown talent of which there will be plenty rising through to the top of the pile in coming years.