Thursday, July 12, 2007

Bored by Beckham

If Los Angeles' newest sports star makes an impact beyond reality television shows and surreal gossip columns, I will stop using lame movie metaphors to describe him, OK?

But, for now, nothing else comes to mind. David Beckham shows up to join the Galaxy soccer team and meet the Los Angeles media tomorrow, and I have but one thought. Becks, baby, where have you been? Your final game for your Real Madrid team was nearly a month ago. Since then, the Galaxy has played four games, and won one. It will play another game before you actually take the field next weekend. Becks, for $32.5 million, couldn't you have caught an earlier flight?

Baffled by Beckham.

One of the most publicised sports stars in the world shows up tomorrow more than six months after he agreed to the contract, and excuse me if I can't find the chills. He is clearly showing up not as an athlete, but a celebrity.

Beckham is past his best years, and has the sort of subtle skills that rarely fuel revivals, particularly on lousy teams. The Galaxy has won three of 12 games; I predict he won't take them anywhere but to the bank. Did you know that LA's newest sports star has a cologne, called "Instinct?" Right now, my instinct is that it smells like a yawn.

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Total sham!

LA are in for a shock.

12:15 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whether or not he performs is irrelevant. It's all about the atmosphere he generates on the pitch.

12:16 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sure, he has been compared to Wayne Gretzky, yet Gretzky played here during the last great years of his career, and was good enough to lead the Kings to the Stanley Cup finals.

12:16 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL :-)

12:20 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bye Becks enjoy life on anotehr galaxy. It's where you belong am afraid.

12:21 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Get out of Blighty Beckhams.

Your time is up!

3:18 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

He is one of the players in the last 10 years who has most promoted himself and the football.Since he left England for Real Madrid, it's always like this. His wife is an entertainer, she was a singer. This made Beckham now become a showman.

3:26 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whatever. Cut to the chase. What about Joanie?

9:55 pm  
Blogger Gareth said...

I really hope we can persuade George W to enact a law which stops them ever returning to the UK.

4:58 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You ask why Beckham hasn't been playing for LA Galaxy when his final game for Real was over a month ago. He's just finished his season and the US season works on a completely different schedule to La Liga. If he was still playing for Real he wouldn't be playing for another month at least, so he's hardly skiving – it's a bit much to expect him to go straight into a new season without a break. Certainly if you want to get the most out of him throughout the coming season.

Also, it's unfair to accuse him of being past it. Yes he's not at the peak of his career, but you may have noticed he was a key contributor to Real's first title in several years. Given that he's playing with and against some of the best players in the world, he's hardly out to seed which is what you imply.

Finally, people have accused Beckham of being a show pony for years and years. People thought he was just chasing the money when he went to Madrid, but he won over the fans with his work rate, something several of the other galacticos (for instance Ronaldo) failed to do. He raised his standing even further by fighting for his place when Fabio Capello dropped him and questioned his professionalism. It would have been far easier for him to leave the club then if all he was after was money. As it was, he risked the humiliation of very publicly not winning his place back. So the hunger to play would appear to be there.

Maybe your prediction will turn out to be true, but people have been wheeling out similar predictions since 1998 and he's proved them all wrong.

I don't care much for his celebrity endorsements myself, but the criticisms of him as a player, particularly from the poster who called him a 'sham' are demonstrably inaccurate.

JD

7:12 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home