I was actually talking to TR, who is probably what I would consider a big football (soccer) fan - feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken though, TR. If I recall, he doesn't think Beckham is the right fit to sort of..dazzle people into liking soccer. In other words, he doesn't seem flashy enough, I think. Could be mistaken, so again, feel free to correct me - I by no means an expert.
I think Beckham might gain some interest for the sport here. I am a pretty avid soccer fan, at least when it comes to the World Cup - as that's the only soccer event that actually gets some good coverage in the US.
I'll admit, the sensation that has come with him peaks my interest, I'd love for soccer to become bigger in the US, I think it'd be great. I think if the US Team had a better college scouting system and soccer was more prominent here, then US Soccer team would be a really big threat to major countries like Brazil, Italy, England, Spain and France.
Well Beckham here in the US is a big deal for the 1,000 people who watch soccor. IN about 6 mon ths he will not be talked about unless he does soemthing never to be done by before.
I say be it all ends He has cheted on his wife and she becomes a movie star and he has 3 more kids. Its the way L.A. does to a superstar.
Yep... I think most of the US just doesn't care. Just like most of Europe doesn't care about the NFL type football.
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I do like the announcer who yells goal for about 5 minutes without taking a breath though......i guess he can do that since they can only score once or twice a year.
LOL, my thoughs exactly.. Just don't care about Beckham's arrival. When they talk about him on ESPN in my house, most of the time, the channel is switched. In fact, I was over my friends house the other day (who is a big soccer fan) and even he said he doesn't care about David Beckham coming to America to play soccer.
When I saw the poll on ESPN the other day it was something like 58% don't care with the rest split between somewhat intrigued, moderately excited, and excited..
The simple fact is that he is a over rated piece of **** that can't cover. He makes bad reads on routes and lacks the ability to recover when he is beaten.
For Madden people the best way to explain it is that he has a very low awareness.
I feel like it is a good move. Beckham is a great player, but it isn't really his play isn't really the biggest factor here. Getting Beckham is a move to draw more attention to the sport, and I'm all about that. I'm a huge futbol fan, played in the ODP league, and many others growing up. It is an awesome sport, but a hard sport to follow for a casual fan. Games that end up 0-0 are generally thought of as boring, but to the educated soccer fan these games can be incredible. I think that anything that brings positive attention to the sport is a good thing, because it creates an opportunity to bring more education to a growing fan base.
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Yeah, Forenci, you are spot on. He isnt the right player, skills wise, to draw any more attention to the sport in the US...Basically, because he aint that interesting of a player to watch. Nothing fancy about him.
Gonna have to correct you Bluff...Beckham is not a great player...
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Great player for the situation is what I meant to say (titans always outwords me!) Obviously we would prefer to watch a player like Ronaldhino, but the Beckham name is going to bring a lot of fans to the sport.
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Haha, fair enough. Yeah he is very very high profile, so he fits the bill in that regard, but in actual play, not so much.
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I guess it's more about who Beckham is, rather than how good of a player he is.
The idea here is that MLS needs someone they can market. They need a face that has been seen in advertisements. A guy who has a male model body and Posh Spice as his wife. A body women want and an attitude men respect.
Will America buy into it? We are talking about a society that funds the music industry to keep putting the likes of Britney Spears on the top of the charts. It's not going to put MLS over the top, but it will have an impact.
The bigger question is... with Soccer mom's single handedly funding the mini van industry, children making their way through the ranks of US soccer leagues since the inception of the U.S. Soccer Federation in 1913, and posters of Mia Hamm on many little girls bedroom doors, why aren't there any legitimate U.S. Male Soccer stars?
Yeah, Forenci, you are spot on. He isnt the right player, skills wise, to draw any more attention to the sport in the US...Basically, because he aint that interesting of a player to watch. Nothing fancy about him.
Gonna have to correct you Bluff...Beckham is not a great player...
I agree with this, and when I was abroad (where they actually talk about soccer on sports shows) one of the analysts mentioned this wrinkle, how in our SportsCenter-saturated culture we appreciate flashy offensive displays more than fundamentals like passing and defense, but Beckham is a playmaker kind of behind the scenes, not a sharpshooter like Ronaldinho or Thierry Henry.
I say the move doesn't work, because Pele, the greatest soccer player EVER, played in the US soccer league in the 70s and look what that did for soccer here. The thing that gets me is that kids play soccer more than any other sport but hardly stick with it past the high school level. I also think it's interesting that Beckham is going to a mediocre MLS team in LA rather than one of the "powerhouses" like the Chicago Fire.
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What amazes me is that he is slated to make upwards of 250 million dollars lol. I would definately say the whole MLS isn't even worth that amount lol. Beckham is greatest gimic/act in the world. He makes Hitler's brilliant war propaganda look like child's play. The man knows how to sell himself.
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Godwin's Law succeeds again, on only the 16th post too. I'm not sure I'd call Beckham's self-promotion THAT good, I mean he's just really famous. I think we shouldn't give him this credit so much as his agent I mean jeez a movie a few years back and now this, like the biggest contract ever in any sport?
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