I joke around because I think the stories are funny. And when
it comes to ironic funny, nothing may be better than David Beckham.
Supposedly
famous for playing soccer, it seems to me that Beckham is never
mentioned in the news for actually playing. I find it amusing
to keep mentioning that.
It
was of little surprise to me that, when making his celebrated
arrival to join the Los Angeles Galaxy, his appearance on the
field was threatened by a possible delay. Sure… it was due to
injury. Didn’t matter to me. Beckham long ago crossed over… at
least in my mind… to the side of the story where the reasons don’t
matter, the reality does. For whatever the reason, David Beckham
makes headlines for not playing.
Every
so often you get a person that no longer deserves the benefit
of the doubt. Or perhaps a better way of phrasing it would be
that they are an obvious “I told you so” waiting to happen. The
situation may not be exactly what you envisioned, but the results
absolutely are. I don’t necessarily mean that as an accusation
or some sort of personality judgment. I don’t mean it as a bad
thing. Instead, the simple fact is that you need to accept that
this person is involved in a situation where specific things will
happen when they are involved. Kind of a walking and quacking
like a duck concept.
Since
we’re talking about athletics… how about J.D. Drew? The Red Sox
invested millions in this guy and the immediate reaction was that
he wouldn’t produce. That was the summation by plenty of people.
Now… the fact is that most, like myself, thought that it would
be because of injuries. He has been relatively healthy this season.
A few bumps in the road, but nothing lasting for weeks. And yet,
on Friday, August 24th, the Red Sox sent Bobby Kielty up to pinch
hit for Drew in the eighth inning of a game. It was an important
at bat. Guys on base and the score still relatively close. Kielty
is hitting barely over .200 for the season. I’m going to go out
on a limb and say that while it may not be the injury we expected…
Kielty pinch hitting for Drew in the eighth inning of a 5-3 game…
well, that’s a significant piece of evidence in proving that $15
million per season was poorly invested. And so… when Drew doesn’t
perform, people are saying “I told you so” as it happens.
What
about David Beckham?
Beckham
is not an athlete. Not any more at least. For several years now,
he’s been a celebrity… and that’s all.
Now
stop me when I’m wrong.
Does
anyone else recall the hoopla about Beckham… some $250 million…
and the concepts of saving or establishing or in some manner creating
a soccer phenomenon in the United States?
Funny
thing… I thought the idea was that Beckham was going to do that
by… well… you know… playing soccer.
Nope.
Apparently
they intend to do it by having him the news every day. Soccer
part doesn’t matter. And this article is proof.
He
plays in a “friendly” (isn’t that funny talk for an exhibition?)
in England. You know… a game that evidently had no true significance.
Wasn’t even a national team game counting as a qualifier for World
Cup play or anything else. Just a friendly.
He
then flies to Los Angeles to play in a game against Chivas USA.
(Yes… Chivas is a league team.)
Thanks
to the travel though… he’s pretty tired folks… he won’t play against
Colorado. (That’s another league game.)
(I
had linked to a Sports Illustrated story from 2007, but
the link is no longer active… “David is coming here to
be a soccer player. His first priority is going to be trying to
make the Galaxy a better team.” I love that one. Give me a second…
we’ll get to why that cracks me up.)
David
Beckham was going through this much publicized arrival in the
United States. Big day was supposed to be Saturday, July 21, 2007.
He played in that game as a substitute. He was injured… but basically,
given all the publicity, he sort of had to appear. The Galaxy
are 3-7 from that game until the current day. I swear I have been
trying to find out the specifics of games started and minutes
played and other things for Beckham, but even the Galaxy’s web
site is wildly inaccurate, having not been updated on players’
pages for some time. (It lists Beckham with no goals… that’s on
Saturday morning, August 25th… he only scored his first goal more
than a week ago on the 15th.) So evidently this soccer stuff isn’t
even important to the teams involved.
Anyway…
he’s going to miss at least one game for the team that pays him
so he could fly to England and play in a meaningless contest.
David Beckham is not a soccer player. He’s a celebrity. He’s not
important to the Galaxy as a player. If he was, he never would
have been in England this week. He would have been preparing with
his team for their next games. He’s important for selling shirts
and getting games in the news.
Beckham
is not going to raise the popularity of soccer in the United States.
If Pele couldn’t do it… Beckham won’t. It will be interesting
for a while, because he is going to get his name placed on the
home page of the big name sports web sites. Some folks will give
him attention. But eventually, the losing record and the not playing
and all of the other stuff will catch up with him. And he’ll fade
into the background and drift off into retirement.
From
my point of view, I’d rather not mention Beckham on these pages
again at all, but it’s time for someone to point out that the
emperor has no clothes.
It’s
too bad that Beckham doesn’t take the game seriously though. Because
I’d like to see if he could actually help the Galaxy win. If he
was committed to the sport and his team… instead of to the spotlight,
saying the right thing and his checking account… he might have
actually made a bit of a difference.
~ ~
~ ~ ~
Fortunately
the reunion tour of the Spice Girls begins after the regular season
is over for the Galaxy. That will prevent Beckham from having
to explain how he traveled with the band while missing games for
the team.
What
am I talking about?
Well…
history again.
The
wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. (If you want to, use
a search engine for the story… where you’ll find out how
Beckham, while injured, tried to leave his team at that time to
attend Cruise’s wedding. It also covers more details about the
move to Los Angeles. Beckham was ordered back from Italy before
the ceremony. In fairness, the team had granted permission to
the injured player to travel to Italy to visit with the couple
before their wedding. I still find it interesting.)