The Sports Rumors

Credit Given When 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)

If This Doesn’t Annoy You…

I was reading about Beckham’s game against D.C. United today and I came across this paragraph, which pretty much sums up why I’m so completely, indescribably annoyed with Beckham and the hoopla that surrounds him. This is, word for word, a paragraph describing the game from Si.com:

“The sellout crowd of 46,686 cheered when Beckham stripped off his warmup jacket and T-shirt, displaying his bare chest in a steady rain as he prepared to enter the game in the second half. The three-time World Cup veteran, his hair closely cropped and stubble on his face, then put on his No. 23 jersey and replaced Quavas Kirk in the 72nd minute.”

That sounds more like a description of a Beckham sextape than it does a Beckham soccer game. I’m so irritated right now that I am not going to write anymore, and I’m going to watch preseason football. Here’s the link if you want to read more about his dripping wet body instead of soccer.

David Beckham. MLS. Over-hyped.

Obviously, the guy is here now. The savior of soccer is here in the U.S. Beckham-Mania is in full effect.

I’m not buying into the hype though. I’m not buying into Beckham. I’m not going to get excited about an over the hill European star who decided to come to the paparazzi capital of the world with his snotty looking wife. I’m not going to run out and buy Beckham jerseys because quite frankly, I think this whole thing is going to be a dud. Here’s why:

The argument has been made that Beckham coming to the states will open up the floodgates for more stars to come here and play in the MLS. That’s an “if-then” statement though, and a major if-then at that. If Beckham does GREAT here, then yes, possibly some European players will venture over here to give it a shot. Even if they do come, and when I say ‘they’, I’m not talking about all the superstars from Europe. I’m talking about a few more over the hill stars, or potential stars coming here. Why would stars leave an area like South America or Europe where soccer, without question, is the number one sport viewed and relished by the public? Why would they leave that to come to where soccer wouldn’t even crack the top 4 of major sports. Let me remind you, incase you forgot, what sports soccer would compete with for attention.

1. National Football League (August-February, not even counting the Draft)

2. Major League Baseball (Pretty much all year)

3. National Basketball Association (October-June)

4. NASCAR (All year)

They would be competing with the NHL’s and the WNBA’s and even Golf. So don’t think for a second that European players are dumb enough to leave the money, the fame, and the glory to come to a country that doesn’t know the first thing about soccer, and to a country that would only pay attention to soccer by the masses if nothing else was on TV. Do you think soccer, during a Pennant race would stand a chance with ratings or fan turnout? People from Chicago, New York or other major markets would go to an MLS game over a baseball game when their team is doing well? I think not. Do you think soccer would stand a chance against the NBA playoffs? Do you think soccer would even get on the map in the south where NASCAR is king? No. It wouldn’t. And this is all ASSUMING that Beckham does phenomenal here in the states and draws more stars in the coming years. I’m not talking about today. I’m talking about 5 years from now. Let’s not forget that NASCAR is growing rapidly in their popularity. That’s why the common sports fan can name players like Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. So you can bring a couple of stars over from Europe and have them play in the states. That’s all fine and dandy but don’t expect for soccer to break the top four any time soon.

“Well I’m not talking about cracking the top four sports and becoming that popular. I’m just talking about how Beckham will make the sport, the league better than before.”

That’s a valid statement. But what I’m saying is the hype that he has gotten is the hype that you expect for someone to really make a MAJOR impact on the landscape of a sport that still has contingencies to other major sports. Meaning, Lebron James’ hype was real and valid because his impact on the sport, on Nike, the landscape of sports was enormous. If all this hype for Mr.Beckham is to make the sport “better than before” but not shoot soccer up on the chart of most watched or most profitable sports, then I’m adamantly say that its overdone, over-hyped, overrated, over-whatever. And let me again, remind you, this is all considering the best case scenario in which Beckham thrives in the states.

What if he doesn’t play well? What if he gets injured?

“Oh well what-ifs apply in anything. You can’t think that way”. Yes, I can think that way. I know what-ifs apply in anything, but they are there for a reason. Because they HAPPEN. You can’t just assume the best. Hope for the best, plan for the worst is what wise people do to avoid complete disarray when things don’t go their way. So now let’s assume Beckham has a bad season or a bad injury. What spin does the MLS put on it then? Are you still going to attract the stars from Europe? Not a chance. So basically, the hype, the publicity, the mass advertising of Beckham is all based on assumption that he does great. Well, I hate to be Debbie Downer but if he fails, you’ve set your league back years.

“So what are you saying, don’t bring in a David Beckham?”

No, I’m not saying don’t bring him in. I’m saying this hype is unjustified in my opinion and I feel that he will not live up to the expectations.

One more thing before I close this topic.

I brought up the fact that Beckham isn’t a prolific scorer. He’s not the Kobe Bryant or Allen Iverson of soccer where he’s just knocking goals in left and right. I asked a good friend of mine who is a source of a lot of accurate knowledge about his take on Beckham as a player. He said to think of Beckham as Steve Nash; a facilitator.

Will being a facilitator be enough for people who are tuning into MLS for the first time? I don’t think so. I think when people will tune in to see Beckham, they are going to want to see him do either one of two things:

a) Score goals, or

b) Facilitate and create opportunities for teammates which will lead to them scoring WELL beyond the league average. Meaning they score 4 or 5 goals as opposed to the average of say, 2 or 3.

If Beckham can successfully complete option “b”, then people will stay interested (but still not interested enough to justify the hype or put soccer over the top four sports mind you). If Beckham does lead his team to high scoring games, then yes, he is a facilitator like Nash.

However, if he does not, then he is not a Steve Nash. He’s a Stephon Marbury. Steve Nash facilitates, yes. Steve Nash also leads his team to be the highest scoring team in the league two years running and teams where Nash has played on in the past 5 years have been in the top three scoring ALL FIVE YEARS. So Beckham had better make sure that one way or another, that ball gets in the net and it gets their quite frequently because Americans don’t have the patience to watch low scoring games; not even baseball. (Baseball tweaked many rules to make it more high scoring. That’s why you don’t see 1-0 games that often anymore, for those of you who were going to try and take that angle at me).

“Of course he won’t raise scores, it doesn’t work like that in soccer. You watch to see a good player make magic.”

In the rest of the world: True

United States: False.

Tim Duncan, magical player, doesn’t interest anyone outside of San Antonio. Baltimore Ravens defense of a few years ago, magical, one of the best ever. NFL responds by changing rules to make the games higher scoring because guess what? People didn’t care. And I already mentioned the MLB. I hate to be the barer of bad news but magic in the United States IS high scores. Low scoring NFL games don’t draw ratings. Low scoring Basketball games don’t draw ratings. Low scoring Baseball games don’t draw ratings. Low scoring soccer games with Beckham playing or not, well, I’ll let you finish the sentence.

(Don’t fool yourself into thinking saving the MLS was on Beckham’s mind when he decided to come here. You’re smarter than that.)

In Response to Questions…

Had some really good questions yesterday regarding the soccer column as well as a lot of feedback on the Bonds’ piece. Keep sending me your questions and comments people and I’ll make sure they are responded to.

Colin’s response to soccer related questions…

Three questions regarding the following:

“For reasons I still don’t understand, Bradley decided to ok a roster that was largely young and inexperienced. Why? The MLS felt that if too many ’star’ players were called away for a few weeks then the quality of the league would significantly drop, Hence allowing several of the well known players for the team, including Landon Donovan, to remain with their respective clubs.”

(1) I ask out of ignorance, but how much power does Bradley have in this regard? Can Bradley put his foot down and insist on getting the top tier players? If he does so, does he damage his relationship with MSL?
Although Bradley used to coach in the MLS, he technically no longer has ties or a “relationship” to uphold with them. His duties are to the governing body, the US Soccer Federation, who in turn also regulates the MLS. While I also am not completely familiar with the ins and outs of national team selection, I would assume any appeals he would have in terms of the squad he is picking would go to the USSF, not to the MLS. Technically he should have final say in the squad he chooses, although usually coaches will make exceptions depending on the actual competition and the location of players (ala Bradley wouldn’t expect anyone playing in Europe right now to come back for meaningless friendly or even for the ongoing Copa America tournament, although he should). In my opinion though, the way we get the international scene interested in US soccer, and in turn the MLS, starts with the National Team. So if we go 0-3 on a big stage because we field a young, inexperienced team, it could reflect poorly on the quality of US Soccer in general. The players are at Bradley’s disposal, and it is up to him to put in the necessary effort to assure the best players are representing us at all times.

(2) Should MLS change its schedule to account for the international competitions?
I’ve always thought the MLS was on an awkward schedule. The well known leagues in Europe run from August-May (only a 10 week offseason), while the MLS runs only from April-November (over 4 months off). International competitions, such as World Cup Qualifying, tournaments like Copa America, and friendlies run year round. However, while the majority of the world was on break from their respective domestic league play, the MLS was in full stride during the world cup. Did anyone pay attention? I would assume not, with the greatest tournament every four years being played concurrently. Not only did the quality of play in the MLS suffer, so did the fan base, at least for that month. In my opinion it would fare well for the MLS to try to adopt the European league schedule; it seems to be working just fine for them.

(3) If Beckham is still on England’s team after he arrives here, is it possible that Beckham will cause some changes in MLS’s attitude toward international competitions?
Well, Beckham should remain on the team, being as he was recalled only recently, and will be introduced in LA in only 2 days. Steve McClaren, coach of the England National Team, tried his luck by not only relieving Beckham of his duties as a captain, but also failing to call him up for several world cup qualifiers. Beckham was left out of a friendly against Greece in August 2006, and it wasn’t until a friendly against Brasil on June 1st of this year that he was called up again. Because of the team’s struggle to earn results, McClaren was adamant about bringing him back, and is adamant about calling him up for every national team competition now as well, even if it is only a friendly. The MLS has no set rules nor very expressed opinions about international competitions (they’ve never held Jaime Moreno back from playing for Bolivia, nor Stern John for Trinidad and Tobago, etc) but it is supposed to be a given that international obligations trump those of domestic league play. Alexi Lalas, current President and GM of the LA Galaxy, has said ” He has a responsibility on and off the field to our organization and our sport and he recognizes that,” and that he doesn’t “want to stand in the way of a player representing his country but they have to be the appropriate games.” However, under FIFA regulations, no club can prevent a player from representing his country, even if just for a friendly. It will definitely be interesting to see if the the small feud between Lalas and McClaren grows into something bigger over Becks in the coming months.

State of the USMNT Union Address:

By: Colin
Let me preface this by answering the question you are asking. WTF does USMNT stand for? If only it was as cool as Mexico’s nickname, “El Tri,” or Italy’s “Azzuri,” or even France’s “Les Bleus.” Hell, even the Ninja Turtles are known as “TMNT.” But on the international soccer scene, the US Men’s National Team (lame, right?) showed no creativity, no vision, and no flair in coming up with a nickname, and the problem is reflected in our play. After starting the year with a 10-0-1 record, including the recent Gold Cup Final victory over Mexico on our home soil, we proceeded to totally backtrack all the progress made since Bob Bradley was named the official successor of Bruce Arena. The Copa America tournament taking place in Venezuela right now has not even reached the second round and we have already been bounced. Embarrassed, and then kicked out. Sort of like the guy who gets a drink poured on him in the club and then bouncers escort him out in front of everyone. Awkwarrrd! For reasons I still don’t understand, Bradley decided to ok a roster that was largely young and inexperienced. Why? The MLS felt that if too many “star” players were called away for a few weeks then the quality of the league would significantly drop, Hence allowing several of the well known players for the team, including Landon Donovan, to remain with their respective clubs. In our first match against Argentina, the US got off to a dream start, converting a penalty kick in the 9th minute on a play that turned out to be the only thing worth remembering from our side. Not to be outdone, Argentina scored just two minutes later, and went on to pound 3 more in before full time was called, schooling us on the reason why you don’t bring boys to the men’s table. We followed up that classy performance with a 1-3 loss to Paraguay, who took advantage of their opportunities while we squandered several easy ones. Could it get any worse? Yes. Last night we rounded out our tournament with a 0-1 loss to Columbia, with very little organization and a follow-up on our inability to create or execute on chances. The US psyche is hurt, but not for good reason. Would we have had a chance at winning the tournament had we brought more older, more experienced players? No. But it would’ve given the younger guys a chance to fit into the system they are trying to compete for a spot in, instead of throwing them all to the wolves at once. When Bruce Arena was fired, the US Soccer Federation felt he had done well in bringing the team to the prominence it now enjoys, but that the time called for a change and an X-Factor was needed to give the National Team a push towards actually competing for a World Cup trophy. Bradley was elected as interim coach, but after a strong start he was named the official successor after talks with Germany’s 1st year coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a former German national team great, fell through. But when stupid decisions, like leaving quality players home so they can play for the MLS (you would never see Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Arsenal do such a thing) are not vetoed by Bradley, he not only puts his credibility on the line, but also that of the national team. How can we ever expect to win a World Cup if we cannot even make it past the first round of the biggest tournament in Latin America? Changes definitely need to be made, and it starts with the ridiculous nickname of USMNT. What a joke.

(Little Joey earned his first USMNT cap against Argentina last week)

Step It Up Sports Fans

What is it with us Americans? Why do we not pay attention to soccer? The first sport that EVERYBODY plays in little league isn’t football, it’s not baseball, it’s not basketball either. It’s soccer. Every child plays soccer at some point before the age of ten. Girls play it. Boys play it. It’s often the sport of choice at recess in elementary school. The majority of us enjoy it. So why is it that as we get older, it seems like less and less of us continue playing the sport, and even fewer watch the sport on television. The entire world plays soccer, some better than others. I’m not going to sit here and say that India is as competitive as Brazil or Italy but at least they play soccer and their citizens watch and cheer on as a unit. There is no question that the three major sports right now in the U.S. are football, baseball, and basketball. But why is soccer taking a backseat to professional hockey, NASCAR driving, and even the WNBA! The WNBA, seriously, are you kidding me? I mean, nothing against women or anything but lets be real.. how are we more interested in watching 6’7 women blow two foot layups than we are in watching some of the most well conditioned athletes in the world battling it out on a field longer than that of football.

The reason is simple. USA Soccer sucks. It’s terrible. It’s a joke. We are basically the Atlanta Hawks of the world. We have so much money, so much research, so many training facilities, but countries that can’t afford to buy a happy meal are whooping us like we stole something. That’s the main reason no one gives a crap about soccer in this country in this day and age. No one wants to follow a loser. Face it; kids want to grow up to be Lebron, Jeter, or Tom Brady. They don’t want to be Landan Donovan or someone else on a team that simply cannot win on the highest level. But this is where I have a gripe with two entities; Sports Networks (mainly ESPN, since they own everything) and the general public.

How often do you see soccer being shown or reported on ESPN. Other than the World Cup, ESPN does nothing to put soccer out there for the public. As human beings, we begin to acclimate ourselves and interest ourselves with things that we see the most; things we see the most often. ESPN shows tennis, we begin to learn the rules of tennis. ESPN shows golf; we begin to learn the rules and the players in golf. ESPN shows bowling; okay well not so much bowling, but you see where I’m going with this. They have this thing called “ESPN Deportes” which airs for like, 7.9 seconds before they cutback to more “relevant” sports news. It honestly feels like a commercial that you don’t pay attention to when that segment comes on. I am not lying; I think I pay more attention to the McDonalds commercials than I do to the ESPN Deportes joke. When that segment comes on, I usually hit the “guide” button on my remote to see what else is going to be on later that evening. I’m sure many other Americans do the exact same thing. A ten second blip is not enough to make anyone notice soccer. Yes, I know the U.S. sucks at it but we also aren’t the great at men’s tennis either. Andy Roddick has been hailed as the next big thing for what, seven years now? But yet we see his scruffy, unusual face getting his butt tossed out of another tournament in which he’s the favorite EVERY single week. So now, we know who he is, we know what he’s about, and that’s because ESPN tells us. So my point is this, the sports networks in this country have dropped the ball on soccer big time. The attitude seems to be “Eh, we’re no good at it anyway so who cares, lets show something else.” That’s garbage.

The second gripe I have is with the general sports public. We ourselves should go out of our way to learn about the sport. We need to read up on it, refresh our memories with the rules, learn who some of the players are, and when it’s on T.V., be a man and watch a game of soccer instead of a rerun of Friends or Grey’s Anatomy. You know who you are. I’m not saying go all out and paint your face on a Wednesday afternoon, smash beer cans on your head and watch the Chicago Fire take on the New York Red Bulls (but if you want to do that, by all means go for it. More power to you.) What I am saying is that just because our country as a whole isn’t in the elite at something, doesn’t give us an excuse as sports fans to ignore it. We can’t complain about how damn terrible the MLS is and how ridiculous their salary cap rules are, unless we first educate ourselves about the game and about its players across the world. Once we have a base foundation of what this great game is all about, we can start putting public pressure on the leagues within the U.S. to get their asses in shape so we’re not seen as a joke across the world.

The only time we pay attention to soccer is during the World Cup. Everyone watches it because their friends are watching and their friends are watching and so fourth. It’s a domino effect. I remember the last world cup, I was watching it with college friends and it was the thing to do that week all across campus; watch the World Cup. I remember the game against Italy, a friend of mine basically was taught the entire game of soccer by another throughout the match. He had no previous interest in soccer until he sat down and watched it and was taught the rules and what each card means etc. Since then, he’s learned more and more and now he’s a real soccer fan who sometimes goes to D.C. United games. Who’s to say that effect can’t happen to thousands and thousands of others in this country?

The rest of the world has caught up to us in every sport except American Football. Why are we so arrogant and lazy to catch up in soccer? Look at the MLB and all the different countries represented. Ichiro, Pujols, Arod, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz. The top players aren’t even American anymore! Look at the NBA. Ginnobili, Yao, Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitski and many others. All from foreign countries where basketball was taught in recent decades. Don’t be surprised if the NFL sees new foreign talent as well. We have to catch up with the rest of the world in soccer and as fans, we have to hype the sport up, get people excited about it again.

Look, I’m not saying go knocking door to door and trying to preach soccer to people. All I’m saying is that soccer is a great sport, and we have a lot of resources in this country to be a competitor in this field. But like any other sport, it starts with the fans. Do your part not as a soccer fan, but as a Sports fan, to learn the game and teach it to others. Generate interest in the sport so that eventually, we can stand up to the Brazils, the Italys, the Argentinas, instead of looking like some chumps who don’t belong.

(Make this scene happen again people)