Have at thee, varlets: Beckham wants to leave MLS

Well, that is like any other league on this planet in just about any sport.

Those international baseball players aren't going into the draft. Hideki Matsui wasn't going to lug his glove out to left field in Cleveland.

It is capitalism. If you have a trade, then you can sell it to the highest bidder. There is a reason the Figo was rumored to go to Dubai.

 

You're right, but any player wanting to play in any professional league should be required to go through the draft, period.

It's one of the few things the NBA does right.

 

I'd like it too.

But following the prevailing logic, you couldn't tell season ticket holders at Iowa State that they're getting a diluted product next year.

 

They aren't getting a diluted product now?

(I know money would stop it from happening. But if I was the sports czar for America, I'd order it to be done. We'd even have promotion/relegation bowl games where the winner gets a berth into BCS conferences and the loser drops to the have-nots conference.)

 

Sure, and then you pretty much lose any international player. Just because the NBA has everyone going through the draft doesn’t mean it is the best option. You can’t force an Italian player to go into a draft when the guy can choose to play anywhere else in the world. That is very shortsighted.

It works for the NBA, to some degree, but only because there are limited options.

 

Beckham didn't, but Guillermo Barros Schelloto, an icon in Argentina for Boca Juniors, did go to Columbus.

Won MLS and MLS Cup MVP honors last season as the Crew won the title.

 

Loney continues to justify my view of him as an unreadable Galaxy fanboy.

The other one is much more measured, though I wonder about this passage:

"The best part about all of this is watching the American Sportswriting Fraternity try to get a handle on the story, because it runs exactly counter to everything in their experience:

They all agreed long ago that he's an over-the-hill, past-his-prime player who came to LA as a sort of semi-retirement. The problem is that while he had very little success in MLS, a league they universally denigrate, he moved to a higher league and was an instant success.

It's like a star third baseman who got sent down to Triple A Pawtucket, stunk the joint up, then came back and hit 50 home runs for the Red Sox. It just doesn't jibe with what they know, and they'll play hell trying to figure it out."

I'm not sure the "American Sportswriting Fraternity" is paying attention, except to chuckle and maybe bash a bit. But I did agree with this:

"Maybe it's just me, but Beckham was brought over here not to transform the league on the field - no one player who ever lived could do that - but to get the league noticed and talked about.

In that mission Beckham succeeded brilliantly. "

Here's a couple readable ones from the LA area:

Grahame Jones, with calmer (and smarter) fire and brimstone than Loney's typical fandork rant:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-jones-beckham-galaxy6-2009feb06,0,265777.story

Nick Green from the Singleton news group:

http://insidesocal.com/soccer/

http://insidesocal.com/soccer/2009/02/the-failures-of-david-beckham.html

 

Good News for Poin and his Galaxy tickets.

Milan hasn't extended a second bid, Beckham will return when his loan expires.

 

I'm sure he will be greeted warmly by the adoring fans.

 

It wasn't a real deadline, just some silly move by the commissioner.

Doesn't mean he'll really be back.

 

The Galaxy is saying he's going to be back on March 9, with the understanding he can opt out of his contract after this season.

I think this gets re-opened in the summer, when the transfer window opens again. Then again, if Milan's not going to offer another bid, what is there to do?

 

Is there a chance he's back in the Premiership in 2010?