People forget that the best soccer players could play as late as 39-40 years old! Beckham is only 31.
Posted on 01/12/2007 5:22:22 AM PST by Boulton Defiant
Why are we writing him off? By Iain Macintosh 02 December 2006
THE English are a strange nation for celebrity culture.
We're morbidly obsessed with anyone who appears on television for more than 20 minutes.
We relentlessly gorge ourselves on trash media, inciting them to repeatedly hunt down their bronzed quarry - and all so that we may judge them on anything from hip size to complexion.
Inevitably, footballers were dragged into this voyeuristic melting pot and none more so than England's iconic former captain, David Beckham.
Now, let's not beat around the bush here; Becks is a phenomenally good looking chap and would always have attracted a bit of media attention.
We know about his wedding, his houses, his cars, his kids.
But, now, in the autumn of his career, what do we know about him as a player? Nothing, apparently.
I watched an England game a couple of years ago and I heard someone say, 'Oh - there's David Beckham. Isn't it weird to see him playing football?'
In among the trappings of fame, the pop star wife and the exotically-named offspring, people seem to forget that he's actually a professional footballer.
It wouldn't be so disturbing were it not for this syndrome spreading to the gentlemen of the press.
Despite the protestations of his manager Fabio Capello, the word is that Becks will be on the move in the January transfer window.
Where will he hang his Kangol hat? Will he ping fabulous 50-metre passes across the Emirates Stadium?
Will he swing crosses in across the San Siro?
No, say the press. He'll go to America to play with his soccer schools. Why has everyone written him off so early?
Beckham is 31. Last season, he created more goals in La Liga than any other player.
No one can say that his legs have gone, because he never had that much pace in the first place.
CLASS ACT
He may not be part of Europe's elite any more, but he's still a class act.
It's not even just a case of the press reporting on leaks from the Brand Beckham camp; it's the willing acquiescence that his career is over that concerns me.
Is it just easier for us to imagine him basking in the Florida sunshine with a pair of painfully fashionable sunglasses perched on his head?
Or guiding a phalanx of chubby American kids through the basics of the offside trap while Romeo, Philadelphia and Branston, or whatever they call themselves, watch proudly from the sidelines?
The fact is that Beckham can still pass a ball better than most of Europe's top players.
There are few men on earth more lethal with a set-piece, and no one has demonstrated more dignity in the face of perpetual media attack.
He should, by rights, have at least two more seasons at the top before he even begins to consider the semi-retirement of MLS football.
America is for 35-year-olds with wobbly knee-caps.
If Tugay can still run the show for Blackburn at 36, then why do we find it so easy to believe that Beckham is washed up?
Capello told the press that Beckham is still trying to cope with being axed from the England side.
I'm not surprised. I'm still trying to cope with Jermaine Jenas constantly being selected ahead of him.
England had a miserable World Cup, but to lay the blame solely at Beckham's feet was ridiculous.
His set-pieces were practically the only outlet for English attacks in the summer and his sweetly-hit free-kick saved us from an embarrassing failure against Ecuador.
Many of the English fans who howled at the moon for him to be dropped in July were the first to hammer Steve McClaren for not picking him against Croatia in October.
But then, they were the same morons to plead for him to be knighted in 2001, three years after hanging effigies of him over lamp-posts.
As I've said, we're a strange nation.
WHIRLWIND
The PR whirlwind that Brand Beckham has created shouldn't mean that we judge him more harshly than anyone else. He is still just a footballer.
If he does take himself and his family away to the relative calm of the MLS, I wouldn't begrudge him the peace and quiet.
No one wants to spend their golden years being critiqued by idiots.
English football will have missed out on a player who could have, once again, lit up the Premiership.
But will the fans care? They'll be well on their way to doing exactly the same to Wayne Rooney.
It's a bit of a rant, but this guy seems to still rate Beckham
Well, your loss is our gain. ;) I'm looking forward to seeing him play in the MLS - he can do a lot of good for the sport here, and perhaps broaden its appeal beyond the current Latin American immigrant fan base.
The 10 Americans who follow soccer will be thrilled about this "news."
There were a few more than that in Germany this summer!
You shouldn't do yourselves down, you've got a very good national side! There's some cracking US players in England like Tim Howard and Brian McBride.
That guys enough to make me want to watch soccer.
It is really interesting to see if Beckham will have any influence. This is not the first time that prominent imports (who were, ahem, past their prime) have tried to popularize soccer in the US. Previous stars who played here include George Best, Pele, and Klinsmann, among others.
There are millions in the US and Canada who follow football(soccer).
You may not like it,but millions in your country do.
To suggest it has no fans is silly.
Do you have any facts to support your contention that "millions" like it?
And, I wasn't talking about Canada.
I heard this morn that Simon Cowell wants Victoria on American Idol.
It was a little before my time, but I'm told that there were no restrictions on big-name players then? Apparently The Cosmos and The Aztecs just bought everyone and every other team suffered.
This new 'one big player' rule should stop that hopefully.
I've heard good things about the MLS. I don't think Iain Macintosh has been particularly fair in referring to it as a place for, "35 year olds with wobbly knees".
I for one am very happy that he chose to come here and not to Celtic (if that was anything more than a rumor). I will definitely be buying some tickets for when DC United play LA.
Is Tim Howard still playing at Man U? When I was living over that side of the pond he was starting for awhile. But I seem to recall he struggled and was benched.
That is so true.
Howard's on loan at Everton (8th) right now and playing very well. He was ever so slightly out of his depth at Man Utd, but he's still a very solid top level goalkeeper.
He's well known over here for being a sufferer of Tourette's Syndrome, so everybody expects him to launch into a swearing fit at any moment.
How anyone would differentiate a Tourette's sufferer from an average football fan however is beyond me.
Hmmm, wonder what spot she would take on the show.....
Perhaps, but the vast majority in the U.S. don't "follow" it by paying to see it, hence its status here.
"The 10 Americans who follow soccer will be thrilled about this "news".
I think it's up to 15 now. See, interest in soccer is 'exploding' in America, up 50%.
People forget that the best soccer players could play as late as 39-40 years old! Beckham is only 31.
Celtic get Beckham?.
They couldnt even afford Roy Keane's full £90k a week wages(the chairman Desmond Diamond paid half himself out of his own pocket).
The Celtic-Beckham rumour was just a silly one started by an idiot in Glasgow.
Frankly,only Rangers out of the two Glasgow giants could even come near affording such wages.
I agree. He still has a lot of good soccer in him.
I also think he will also do a lot for the sport in the US. As much as we make fun of soccer I heard that it is the most popular sport for American kids until they reach their early teens and start branching out into the other popular sports where they see their heroes making the big bucks. His popularity might keep more of the talent in soccer and elevate the sport here. That said, I think MLS needs to keep the "injury overacting" out of the US game. I think that is one of the biggest obstacles soccer faces with American mass acceptance.
I'm not so sure. The Houston Dynamo apparently won the championship for MLS, and yet no one here even mentions it. It will take more than 1 aging international superstar to pique interest in soccer here.
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