The Sports Rumors

Credit Deserved

If you’ve been reading my posts for the past few months, or if you know me in person, it is clear that I am no David Beckham fan. You’ve read or heard me go on about how I think he’s more into his image than he is into playing the game at the MLS level. You’ve heard me ridicule him for not rehabbing fast enough, while choosing to spend time getting his pictures taken with Arod and Jeter instead. You’ve read my posts in which I all but call him a phony and a fraud. I’m not going to quickly jump on the bandwagon and change my opinion of him so fast, but I will give him his due.

This past weekend, he was phenomenal. He scored his first goal against D.C. United in thrilling fashion. It made even me, a Beckham-basher if you want to call me that, say, “Wow, that was a hell of a kick.” He followed up that performance with a three assist game which is an example of his playmaking ability. Three assists in one game is like the equivalent of Jason Kidd’s 20 assist performances. Now before you say, “You ARE jumping on the bandwagon”, let me stop you. I never questioned Beckham’s skill or ability. I questioned his motives, which I still do until proven otherwise. But at least I can bring myself to say that he had a hell of a performance this weekend.

That doesn’t change the fact that I think it’s a little too late. The dog days of summer are all but finished. We are now approaching the two most thrilling months in baseball; September and October. We are halfway through the NFL preseason which can only mean one thing; we’re two games closer to Opening Day 2007. If Beckham had these performances earlier on, say in the end of July early August area, I think he would have had a great chance of drawing in more of the casual sports fans. I think that time has passed. Despite his thrilling “Bend it like Beckham” type goal followed by Steve Nash like assists, the news was thirty five minutes into the Sportscenter broadcast. A rundown of what preceded it? Lots of baseball, lots of NFL preseason, and golf (even though it wasn’t a major weekend). What followed Beckham’s highlights, which lasted all but a minute? WNBA highlights and analysis of their playoff chase. I kid you not. So my point remains that the casual fan won’t be as exposed to the MLS as they could have been. Most people only watch the first 15 minutes of Sportscenter to begin with.

However, on this day, I will put all that aside and give Beckham his props. He did good and good deserves recognition.

(Beckham celebrates after scoring his first goal in the MLS)