Saturday, January 13, 2007

Beckham, Davids, Ronaldo, oh my!

Even people in BFE North Korea have heard by now the David Beckham is joining the LA Galaxy for the 2007 campaign. Originally he wasn't going to suit up until August, but who knows about that now.

And then we have Dutch international Edgar Davids going to FC Dallas? Is he? Is he not?

And of course there's the constant speculation over Ronaldo making the move and Claudio Reyna coming home.

Who knew the DP slots would come into play so quickly? Obviously the Beckham deal was the worst kept secret and RBNY trying to bring in some studs was well known, but FCD trying to hop this crazy train is a bit of a surprise.

I like the Beckham deal more and more I think about it and the more one understands the financials a little better.

Most sane people appreciate that while he's not the best player, he's a damn good one who just happened to be able to capitalize on other assets than strictly talent.

He's the Brian McBride that made it big, i.e. he's probably the best craftsman of the game as compared to the artists like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, et al. He's not going to pull off incredible displays of dribbling and vision but when you ask him to take a free kick or hit a streaking forward pin point from 40 yards away he's going to do it better than anyone else.

It's just funny that a craftsman also became the most popular, world-wide, soccer player. Do hate on him for that. His wide-spread popularity never affected his on-field performance. He may not play the best every single game but he plays 100% every single game.

You also never have to worry about him embarrassing the club or the shirt. He doesn't do off-field antics that distract from his playing. The consummate professional.

The more money LA, other teams in the league, and MLS make the more they can put back into their clubs and upgrade the talent and quality over all. And if a bunch of hunk-happy girls who don't know anything about soccer want to help finance that, then that's fine with me.

And people seem to be talking about the attendance bump of people just wanting to come out and see Beckham as a bad thing. No matter what sport your in this happens. The home games against LA and Kobe, the Cavs and LeBron, Allen Iverson, et al. all have bumps in game attendance because people want to see them. It happened with Jordan. And that's the great thing about pro sports. A lot of the fun is seeing your team play but also see great players from other teams in person.

I hope people will calm down about all of this soon. This is the same hoopla that went on when Chivas USA was coming into the league at that situation resolved itself just fine, turning into an asset for the league.

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