[Archived] Beckham In Town

[RoversFanUSA]

Well as you all know David Beckham has been planning on making a move here to the states from Real Madrid for the last 6 months or so. His first true MLS game has been anouced that it will be vs Toronto FC and there will be a exabition match coming up on July 21st vs. Chelsea of all clubs that he may be cleared to play in.

Now i know there was a topic about him going back 3-4 months ago but seeing as he was just anounced to to the press this friday Im wondering what you all think of him playing here and do you think it'll hurt or progress football as a whole?

I ask because if players start coming here to the states just for a pay day and not because, as i over heard some stupid soccer mom say "the US has the best players and leauge in the world", so what do you think the state of football will become and do you think there will be a back lash if Becks doesnt perform up to "par" as some might put it?

Last of all im takin online bets to who will win the Chelsea game vs the Galaxy ( who if im correct last i seen were second from last in there group) (EDIT: just checked and there are second to last in there group).

Im going home town and give it to the Galaxy 2-1. Wishful thinking but im hoping that jet lag will be on our side !

[brfc fan]

Of course you had to start this topic, didn't you.

[RoversFanUSA]

Wellll duuuuuuhhhhhh

[USABlue]

Football as a whole? it won't have any impact at all. Football in America, there will be a flurry of activity and then all will return to normal, quickly if I know the attention span of most Americans. I think Becks will actually be good for the game here. Anything that increases the quality and illuminates the spotlight on the game can only be good. Will it fix the MLS no, it's problems run way deeper.

[Bing]

I can see a time when America has 20 or so TOP players playing in the European leagues and have a very strong national team. There just doesn't seem the interest or support though to ever sustain a successful domestic league.

Beckham has made a big mistake going to America at this time. There's no doubt it was influenced heavily by his wife. AC Milan were known to be interested in him and no player in his right mind would turn down the chance to go there for 2 or 3 years and potentially win a Serie A and a Champions League. AC are reknowned for their fitness and conditioning work with older players and he could realistically be playing there until he was 34 and then made this move to America.

[brfc fan]

I just hope we can keep Brad Friedels coming out of the US but I don't think we can because I believe Brad is the best player to come out of the States.

[Drakefyre]

Not enough interest to sustain a successful domestic league? There already is a successful domestic league. The quality of players in the league is increasing every year, as teams are bringing in more and more players with international experience and premiership experience - the NY Red Bulls brought in Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna, among others. The league will continue to get stronger until it peaks somewhere around the level of a second-tier European league like Portugal, Denmark, or Scotland.

[American]

Football as a whole? it won't have any impact at all. Football in America, there will be a flurry of activity and then all will return to normal, quickly if I know the attention span of most Americans. I think Becks will actually be good for the game here. Anything that increases the quality and illuminates the spotlight on the game can only be good. Will it fix the MLS no, it's problems run way deeper.

Just what are its (after all your loose ramblings, by the way, I have to call you out on its versus it's!!) problems? The league is doing well, more than half the clubs have soccer specific stadiums now, with more being built. Young American players getting good coaching and experience. A good combination of young talent and experienced veterans.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...mls&cc=5901 - a good article about the league and Beckham's possible impact.

[USABlue]

Just what are its (after all your loose ramblings, by the way, I have to call you out on its versus it's!!) problems? The league is doing well, more than half the clubs have soccer specific stadiums now, with more being built. Young American players getting good coaching and experience. A good combination of young talent and experienced veterans.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...mls&cc=5901 - a good article about the league and Beckham's possible impact.

The problems, I refer to are it's overall quality, I don't think it's just my perception either. Dress it up how you want I can hardly stand to watch. Did not mean to be offensive and get your defensive back up. If the MLS wants to improve and become a league with true World class quality such as most other footballing countries have they will have to tweak things at the grass roots. The timing of the season is a bit bunk too, still there are the other three main sports (which for each America has a World Champion) to compete with. Dump the draft and start developing and coaching talent from an early age. (perhaps Adu would have been better for it had he had an academy and not been sucked up as a marketing ploy) Those problems. It's moving in the right direction somewhat for sure but I feel it needs some lower level attention. That's all. Oh the commentators could use a lot of work too. They really do make the game seem slow, slower than perhaps it is.

Are you a sargeant in the pedantic police? Or a grammar general? Please feel free to mark my, oops sorry, grade my last loose ramblings. Yes I have a habit of just rattling off, so sue me, it's a message board I generally type it as I'm feeling it and seldom re-read.

Also American, having read the article in the link I think a clear indicator of the leagues status is right there, having to employ Beckham to give the league credibility. What's that all about.

I do like the tourney with the American teams and the Mexican teams what's that? Gold cup is it? Your playoff structure, though improved, still makes for a ho hum season, bit like Basketball. It's not interesting till the playoffs. The games seem, to me granted, meaningless. Still that is the American format in everything isn't it so that's the way it is, I can accept that. Don't like it but can accept it.

BTW, were you offended by the attention span bit, if so I apologize for being so general but the yanks are not exactly world renowed for the attention spans. Two months tops and the Beckham thing will be all but forgotten by mainstream America.

[RoversFanUSA]

Well over all i think EVERYONE can agree that americas ¨grass roots¨program is little to nill. I have to agree that we need to get a better grasss roots program and the timing of the season could be a little better. Ill be going the the Chelsea Galaxy game to watch him play. Ill try and take pics and ill try and post them on the board.

[Shevchenko]

What are the odds of him getting fed up after six months and coming back to Europe, ending up in West Ham or some such...?

[1864roverite]

All the beckham pullava is just the typical American reaction

OVERHYPE ABOUT NOTHING

What a joke, I mean really, is football such a big attraction in The USA ? Despite the overkill media hype it still ranks a poor fourth to basketball and baseball and that other non attractive Amercian horsepoo game American football.

They treated him like God, 5000 fans turning up just to boo the bloody mayor. I have never laughed so much since bumley nearly went out of the league , yes for pure entertainment, watch the media USA style.

The whole thing is just a circus, with his wife taking up the secondary role of a coco the clown character. beckham is just the performing monkey or donkey, whichever way you look at it.

Fair play to the lad for taking the 125m, the big house and the movie star lifestyle. Its on offer and its the easiest money he will ever make. LA GAlaxy will never be more than a second rate team in a 5th rate footballing country. I hope he succeeds but for me, the ost important point was the beckham is not there as a player he is simply a marketing ploy. it said it all with the advertisements issued by Lalas as the press conference was in full swing.

That said it all

[RoversFanUSA]

What are the odds of him getting fed up after six months and coming back to Europe, ending up in West Ham or some such...?

As much as id like to think that he will get fed up soon i think that LA can still offer more money as a whole then WestSpam can offer him. As for Roverrite saying that the USA is a 5th rate football country i take offence to it seeing as we do have a good team. True we are not up to par with the likes of Brazil France and even England but we are not 5th rate. I hope he brings the level of play up in the US, i really do.

Then last but not least to say the american football is "non-attrtacitve" and "horsepoo" is to say your ingnorante Roverrite. Now true im not a fan AT ALL of basketball and baseball so i dont have much to say about them as a sport. But i do have to say that by you bad mouthing american football is like me saying cricket sucks or rugby is trash or that queen vic has a silly hairdo. Now just cuz its not main strem and everyday here doesnt mean that it doenst mean some thing to some one else. Quoteing the advise i got from many of board members here on this very BRFCS.com before my trip to England "remember that your not at home so things people may do may seem weird to you but are every day to them and not to ask dumb questions like why do you drive on the wrong side of the road". Well seeing that driving has nothing to do with this topic ill leave it just because you dont like it or find it " attractive doesnt mean you have to trash talk it!

[American]

The problems, I refer to are it's overall quality, I don't think it's just my perception either. Dress it up how you want I can hardly stand to watch. Did not mean to be offensive and get your defensive back up. If the MLS wants to improve and become a league with true World class quality such as most other footballing countries have they will have to tweak things at the grass roots. The timing of the season is a bit bunk too, still there are the other three main sports (which for each America has a World Champion) to compete with. Dump the draft and start developing and coaching talent from an early age. (perhaps Adu would have been better for it had he had an academy and not been sucked up as a marketing ploy) Those problems. It's moving in the right direction somewhat for sure but I feel it needs some lower level attention. That's all. Oh the commentators could use a lot of work too. They really do make the game seem slow, slower than perhaps it is.

Are you a sargeant in the pedantic police? Or a grammar general? Please feel free to mark my, oops sorry, grade my last loose ramblings. Yes I have a habit of just rattling off, so sue me, it's a message board I generally type it as I'm feeling it and seldom re-read.

Also American, having read the article in the link I think a clear indicator of the leagues status is right there, having to employ Beckham to give the league credibility. What's that all about.

I do like the tourney with the American teams and the Mexican teams what's that? Gold cup is it? Your playoff structure, though improved, still makes for a ho hum season, bit like Basketball. It's not interesting till the playoffs. The games seem, to me granted, meaningless. Still that is the American format in everything isn't it so that's the way it is, I can accept that. Don't like it but can accept it.

BTW, were you offended by the attention span bit, if so I apologize for being so general but the yanks are not exactly world renowed for the attention spans. Two months tops and the Beckham thing will be all but forgotten by mainstream America.

You're always the first one to complain when people use loose for lose (I'm the second), so it's interesting that you get so defensive when someone complains about your grammar...

Anyhow, MLS is not trying to compete with the European soccer leagues, or even the other US sports leagues, it's trying to find its niche, make money (which some clubs are already doing) and develop grass roots football. Say all you want about Adu, but he is one of the top players at the U-20 World Cup right now, and is getting more experience than he would playing at an academy against others his age. If you want to talk about young talent not developing, we can discuss the Rovers Academy. If you look at how the US has done in the FIFA youth tournaments the last 5-10 years, it is better than England.

If you don't like the quality of play, I guess you won't like watching Rovers if we ever go down a division or 2, because that is the level it is at right now. I like to think that MLS will become like the top Brazilian league, developing local talent and holding onto those who are good, but not good enough for Europe. At this point, I prefer watching MLS, as they don't dive as much.

[USABlue]

You're always the first one to complain when people use loose for lose (I'm the second), so it's interesting that you get so defensive when someone complains about your grammar...

Anyhow, MLS is not trying to compete with the European soccer leagues, or even the other US sports leagues, it's trying to find its niche, make money (which some clubs are already doing) and develop grass roots football. Say all you want about Adu, but he is one of the top players at the U-20 World Cup right now, and is getting more experience than he would playing at an academy against others his age. If you want to talk about young talent not developing, we can discuss the Rovers Academy. If you look at how the US has done in the FIFA youth tournaments the last 5-10 years, it is better than England.

If you don't like the quality of play, I guess you won't like watching Rovers if we ever go down a division or 2, because that is the level it is at right now. I like to think that MLS will become like the top Brazilian league, developing local talent and holding onto those who are good, but not good enough for Europe. At this point, I prefer watching MLS, as they don't dive as much.

Your points are somewhat valid about the academy, though one can only guess how our players that have made good careers at lower levels would fair here. Your point about the US vs England is also valid, in those contexts. There are some mitigating factors also, citing Bentley's calling in is an example of one.

I will watch Rovers what ever level they go down to, I grew up watching them bouncing between 2nd and 3rd divisions. I don't watch MLS. Well hardly ever. It's the product I just don't like it. The US mens teamI will go out of my way to watch, been a staunch supporter against severe crticism right here too. There is a lot of talent in the MLS, lot of good American talent too. I'll stick to my guns and say that to go to the next level it will take more than importing showboats such as Beckham. Enjoy your games.

Oh and I'm not always the first to complain, just got sick of it. Jim MK2 I think was the first.

Oh and another one more thing, perhaps it would help if Arizona actually had an MLS team, I'm sure I would find a way to get more interested then. American do you actually get to attend the games?

[USABlue]

a 5th rate footballing country.

See, it's statements like that I take exception to.

[RoversFanUSA]

Hear hear USABlue. I am also a staunch suporter of the US mens team. Also was thinking when it comes to football in the US as a whole, the womens team have won more world cup trophys then i belive any ohter team in the world. So again 5th rate.. I think not.

[seahawkdad]

Hear hear USABlue. I am also a staunch suporter of the US mens team. Also was thinking when it comes to football in the US as a whole, the womens team have won more world cup trophys then i belive any ohter team in the world. So again 5th rate.. I think not.

I don't think you're going to convince anyone on the basis of our women's team, since most the rest of the world doesn't give a damn about women playing the game.

I'm a bit disappointed at our U20s loss to Austria today. So we're not good enough at that level to make it past the quarter finals.

But, really, I don't care how the rest of the world sees US football. In fact, I think it creates silly arguments that can't be be resolved.

So as long as I have my local team to support, and as long as I can join with over 20,000 of my fellow fans (as was the case tonight), and as long as I can stand with La Barra Brava and chant and sing and cheer for the full 90 (and suffer the results of smoke bombs now and then), then I'm having fun and really don't care what the hell anyone else thinks.

And the great thing is that I, also caring about and following Blackburn, have footy all the months of the year. My season never ends.

By the way, in case anyone cares, the Galaxy (Beckham) v DC United match on August 9th has already sold 40,000 tickets, with only 5000 left. Fortunately my wife and I will miss the madness, being somewhere between Manchester and Nottingham at the time. The last time that stadium sold out for a DC United match was the 1997 MLS Cup, which, of course, DC United won.

Should anyone want a funny, well written blog by a Washington Post reporter of Beck's 'introduction', just click away on this.

For instance:

I should note that I stopped into the team store to look around, and suddenly the place was locked down and Posh Spice was standing a few feet away from me, snapping up Beckham merchandise. Soccer balls, warm-ups, jerseys. The final tally came to $583 and change. She saw me writing down her purchases.

"We've got to look good for the first game, right?" she told me. "We've got three boys, myself, my sister, my sister's children, my brother, my dad, David's family." I asked how many t-shirts she was buying.

"A lot," she said. "We've got a lot of family."

One last thought for those who have fun denigrating the US's attempts at growing the sport, consider the quote in the blog of Becks' arrival by a Brit who works for CNN:

I have my fingers crossed. I've prayed for the past 20 years that this sport we love will become something Americans embrace, and maybe Beckham's the man to do it.

I hope you realize is that we Yanks who post on these boards are constantly fighting to have the sport that you were born into be accepted and loved by a country that sees it, generally, as strange and uninteresting...other than one to be played. So sometimes, it doesn't fit too well to have to fight against not only our own countrymen but also against those who should be natural allies. At that point, 5th rate comments tend to get responses.

[philipl]

Didn't find the Alan Nixon latest on the Sunday People but I did find this. I suppose in the spirit of Donald Rumsfeld, we should call them "Old America".

[Ozz]

The 1986 Olympic Association Football final, in Los Angeles sold out a year in advance, over 103,000 people attending.

Not keen on the word Soccer, and saying football may confuse some people!

[philipl]

Didn't find the Alan Nixon latest on the Sunday People but I did find this. I suppose in the spirit of Donald Rumsfeld, we should call them "Old America".

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The media charade and the hype that follows him is sickening..not to mention that pouting bag of bones on his shoulder!

[USABlue]

So as long as I have my local team to support, and as long as I can join with over 20,000 of my fellow fans (as was the case tonight), and as long as I can stand with La Barra Brava and chant and sing and cheer for the full 90 (and suffer the results of smoke bombs now and then), then I'm having fun and really don't care what the hell anyone else thinks

I hope you realize is that we Yanks who post on these boards are constantly fighting to have the sport that you were born into be accepted and loved by a country that sees it, generally, as strange and uninteresting...other than one to be played. So sometimes, it doesn't fit too well to have to fight against not only our own countrymen but also against those who should be natural allies. At that point, 5th rate comments tend to get responses.

The first part of the quote my friend, is really what it is all about, totally, 100% No one could ever tell me what a 3rd rate team Rovers used to be, clearly we were but I would not hear it, we were always just one season away from glory, you summed it up well.

You have quite a fight on your hands, and I actually am on your side. Football is a tough sell to those new to the game. Unlike most American sports the thrill is not just in the scoring, it's excitement comes mainly from the anticipation something the average Joe here has a hard time getting their head around.

[American]

Your points are somewhat valid about the academy, though one can only guess how our players that have made good careers at lower levels would fair here. Your point about the US vs England is also valid, in those contexts. There are some mitigating factors also, citing Bentley's calling in is an example of one.

I will watch Rovers what ever level they go down to, I grew up watching them bouncing between 2nd and 3rd divisions. I don't watch MLS. Well hardly ever. It's the product I just don't like it. The US mens teamI will go out of my way to watch, been a staunch supporter against severe crticism right here too. There is a lot of talent in the MLS, lot of good American talent too. I'll stick to my guns and say that to go to the next level it will take more than importing showboats such as Beckham. Enjoy your games.

Oh and I'm not always the first to complain, just got sick of it. Jim MK2 I think was the first.

Oh and another one more thing, perhaps it would help if Arizona actually had an MLS team, I'm sure I would find a way to get more interested then. American do you actually get to attend the games?

I think the last point is the most important as to why you don't watch it, and why other areas people don't. It is about having a local team to support (and I used to have season tickets, but living in the city and not owning a car makes it difficult now to get to games that are in the 'burbs).

My main point is that I don't think we'll ever try or succeed in making MLS one of the top leagues in the World. We tried that with the Cosmos and it failed miserably. One of the things I like best about MLS is the goals are not too lofty - they are more about surviving and thriving within their means. I think Beckham's arrival is less important for the status it brings, and more important to the fact his teammates will get to train with a top professional on a day to day basis and hopefully pick up some of his good habits.

[1864roverite]

See, it's statements like that I take exception to.

What I meant by that is in comparison with the English Premier League, The Eridivisie,la Ligue,Italian and Scottish PL.

In fact the more I think about it, NLS falls behind the likes of The Irish Distillery League, The League of Wales, and the other minor European Nations.

So, just to comprehend what I meant USA Blue there it is. There is NOTHING attractive or competative about MLS outside of the USA.