Bored By Beckham

Because kids who play youth soccer in the US, the ones who would be most likely to tune it, still want to grow up and play the majors or in the NFL. They really don't want to play MSL soccer. These kids can name you the starting lineup of their favorite MLB team and many of the players on their favorite NFL team, but they can only name about a dozen soccer players in the whole world. There aren't many stars in soccer they want to grow up and emulate. On the other hand, there are tons of baseball and football players they would like to be.

 

My first-hand answer:

My 12-year-old nephew loves playing soccer and loves playing baseball.

He also thought the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game were among the events he absolutelty had to see.
And he cares less about Beckham than his 16-year-old sister cares about the Spice Gilrs reunion.

 

Yeah, but your niece probably thinks he's hot.

 

My niece --the world's greatest 16-year-old -- couldn't care less about Beckham. But since she was a 9-year Spice Girls fan and never saw them perform (my sister wouldn't take her) she is definitely going to the reunion shows.
When I mentioned "Posh" sure isn't doing it for the money her reply was "Oh, yeah, that rich soccer guy she married."

 

Man, people sure are spending a lot of time and energy discussing a sport they don't like.

As for Plaschke, a middle-aged white American columnist ripping on soccer is much more boring than Becks' arrival in LA.

 

Flipside -- thank you. You have provided a very open and honest post. To your question I don't think think non soccer fans are "threatened" by the sport. ( except perhaps at youth level) I think a better word is wonderment as to why U.S. soccer fans have such a need to have to sport measured through the success of the MLS. It seems "needy"

Obviously soccer is succesful on an international scale. Shouldn't that be enough?

If the game were ever going to take hold in the U.S it has to be on merrits of game itself -- not because Dave Beckham and Posh Spice show up on the cover of magazines in minimal clothing.

When soccer enjoyed it's short term success in late 70's with the Cosmos, it was because of the game itself and the players they brought in. Pele was not showing up on the cover of magazines without his shirt on.

In comparing soccer fans to true hockey fans I believe hockey fans are in a much more resourceful state of mind. They do not seem to feel the need to "sell" the game and look to a network tv contract for validation that their sport has arrived. They are embarrised by such attempts by Gary Bettman.

One thing I think would help the MLS is that they should make it a requirment that all games are broadcast in spanish only. The game sounds so much more exciting when Andres Cantor is the announcer

 

Quarterbacks don't dive to get a roughing the passer and receivers don't dive to draw pass interference. Referees may award penalties too easily for incidental contact in such instances, but it's not the players drawing penalties; they're not collapsing and flailing upon contact. Quarterbacks are trying to get rid of the ball and receivers are trying to catch it. Not parallel to soccer diving, at all.

As to starman's point about defense: Youth coaches focus on it because offense is sexier; it takes effort and work to make kids see the value of defense.

 

If I were a real soccer fan I would take offense that so much time and effort is being spent promoting an inferior product -- the MLS instead of promoting the Premier League.

It's the comparison of football fans promoting arena football to the NFL.

If you really want to get people excited about soccer why not promote the Premeir league?

 

Add soccer to the long list of sports that Bill Plaschke doesn't know shit about.

Isn't there an autistic homeless senior citizen reformed crack addict superfan he could write about instead?

 

Well, you aren't a real soccer fan, so what you think really doesn't matter. You are going to belittle the product regardless of what steps they take.

Apparently, 250,000 people (before the press conference) cared enough to shell out $80 a pop.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/footballNews/idUKL1289419220070712

Beckham sells 250,000 Galaxy shirts before he gets to LA
Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:21PM BST
Email This Article |Print This Article | RSSFeed

MIAMI (Reuters) - David Beckham's move to L.A Galaxy has already set the cash tills ringing at the Major League Soccer club with a quarter of a million replica team shirts ordered before they were even unveiled.

Beckham is due to arrive in Los Angeles later on Thursday and will be officially presented by the Galaxy on Friday.

"We're already well over a quarter of a million units that were ordered ... without knowledge of what they were going to look like," Galaxy president Alexi Lalas told the club's website (http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/).

"We will look to do significant numbers and historic numbers not just with an MLS context but with an international jersey context," he added.

Galaxy have changed from a yellow and green outfit to an all-white home kit very similar to the one Beckham wore with Spanish club Real Madrid.

During his first six months in Madrid the club sold more than one million Beckham shirts.

After he left Spain on a high midway through last month with Real celebrating its first Primera Liga title success for four years, the club's director of marketing Jose Angel Sanchez said Beckham had been worth in excess of $600 million in marketing revenue.

As well as the shirt-buying frenzy, Beckham has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, a rare honor for a soccer player, and will star in a new TV documentary shortly.

He is due to make his debut for L.A in a friendly against Chelsea on July 21.

 

'Soccer is the Canada of American sports, viewed less with contempt than with indifference"

I find it interesting that a person that supposedly views soccer with such indifference finds the need to start multiple threads on the subject.

Boom, why did you start the thread?

Beckham was already discussed and isn't really the high point in the soccer world right now. Nobody from the soccer thread started this thread to discuss the player. Nope, it was you.

I'm going to guess that it isn't because you are indifferent.

Oh, and my invite stands: If you ever want to see a game. You are invited out.

 

Can anyone who would know discribe how far off quality of play is in MLS to that of Premier league?

Would the comparison be say triple A baseball to MLB?