I recently attended a Red Bull New York vs LA Galaxy game at the Red Bull's home at Giant's Stadium. It was the second NY vs LA game I have been to and it is quickly becoming a pretty good rivalry. Last year's game that I attended was Beckham's first game in NY and it was awesome. The final score was NY 5, LA 4. Beckham scored a beautiful free kick and set up 2 of the other 3 goals. My favorite former Red Bull player, Jozy Altidore, also scored 2 goals that game and the enitre atmosphere was just incredible. This year;s game was no less exciting. The final score was 2-2 and it could have been another 9 goal game easily, but both goalkepeer's played a hell of a game. But that's not my point.
During the game there was A LOT of anti-Beckham chants. Understandable; he is the best player on the opposite team and the fans were trying to psych him out. He still played a great game becasue he has been in much more hostile environments, I promise you that. But its when I hear people saying that David Beckham suck or is washed up and things that really irritates me. I'm not a Manchester United, Real Madrid, or England fan so I'm not here to promote my favorite player or anything. But the guy is good! He led Manchester to a never-been-done-before and since-then-ever-done Treble, which is winning your domestic league, domestic cup, and European cup. That year United won the Preimer League, the FA Cup, and the Champions League. That is absurd for one team to win all of those competitions in one year! You could argue that that was in his prime, but the year before he came to the LA Galaxy he played an entire half a season with an ankle injury and helped Real Madrid make a comeback and win the La Liga title. That was only 2 years ago.
Now he plays his soccer for the LA Galaxy. Oh and dont forget he still plays for the England National team. That's no easy feat. Players his age are usally retired from international play because they cant keep up with the younger, hungrier guys. Well Beckham is still doing it and is still showing his quality. He is still one of the most dangerous people on direct free kicks and can pick out a player 50 yards away with a perfect cross. No, not everytime he touches the ball, but no player does.
I think people expected him to come here and dominate and score goals every game, but thats not his position on the field nor is that how soccer works. There is 11 people on each side and they all have to be working together. This isnt basketball, where LeBron James can play on a horrible team and just get the ball everytime and take his team to the playoffs. (no disrespect to LeBron, he is amazing at basketball). But soccer take all players working together to win. Beckham doesnt exactly have the same quality around him that he had at Man U or Madrid so its hard to expect him to play at that level. He still shows us how good he is when the team does work together but it takes more than just him.
Countdown
15 years ago
13 comments:
A better comparison to Beckham, in terms of basketball players, is Steve Nash. Beckham, despite his offensive glory, is a gel man, always been. He's worked with so many great players (York, Scholes, Roy Keane, Wayne Ronney, Ronaldo (albeit the fat Ronaldo)) and he's been able to work with them cohesively. Being that I've always idolized the point guards and quarterbacks, I can respect a player like Beckham. CAN, but DON'T.
A lot of people, myself included, don't like him because he's pretty much the iconic image of a guy going where the money is. ALWAYS. First Real Madrid, then LA Galaxy. This is what sports are turning into, it's killed soccer (decreasing it's fan basis to like, what, only two hundred billion?), it's looming over baseball, and now it's actually driving basketball players to Europe (there's a lot of talk about Lebron going to Rome, where they can offer Lebron about 40 million more a year). There's a term for it now too, I've heard ESPN refer to it as "pulling a Beckham."
Therefore, if I was at a Red Bull game, I'd probably be screaming the same damn thing.
You know, if I ever cared about going to a soccer game.
Holy crap! an insightful post by Noah! Im just playin buddy. I wasnt comparing Beckham to LeBron, I meant that in the case of the Cavaliers, they have one amazing player and a bunch of mediocre players, and that can still carry them to the playoff (and NBA Finals). That never happens in soccer, you just need your teamates to gel so much more, due to the nature of the game.
I see where you are coming from about Beckham coming here for the money. He didnt leave Man U for money, he left casue he could not get along with his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. (Ferguson once threw a cleat at Beckham in the locker room and told him to get the hell out of Manchester. So he did). But he came to the Galaxy because 1) His contract at Madrid was up the end of the year and they considered him surplus, and 2) they offered him a crap load of money, yeah. But his one contract stipulation was that the Galaxy release him for all international matches he was called up for. Think about that. He would have forgone all the millions of dollars if they wouldnt let him play soccer for his country. He still loves the game and still plays it with passion. You cant fault being able to make $250 million while doing something he absolutely has his heart in.
I definitely agree that offering players huge amounts of money to leave their current team is killing sports. And you are right, soccer is the biggest culprit of this. And the more teams do it, the more it escalates and some of the transfer fees you see being paid to teams are just astronomical. Then everyone begins to think they deserve it.
I heard that story about LeBron too. I think he should stay in the States first and try to win and NBA title, then go win in other parts of the world. Show people you can win at the absolute highest level, then take on new challenges.
Well I didn't know that stuff about Real Madrid, most people just claim he left for the money. And maybe that's all it is: the IMPRESSION is of him being this player that just goes where the money is. That's one of the reasons why he's not liked. Also, he's knocking Posh Spice.
And on a side note that combines our love for our two respective sports, did you hear about the charity soccer game that Nash threw in NYC? It had Nash, Thierry Henry, Baron Davis, Claudio Reyna, Jason Kidd, Leandro Barbosa, Salomon Kalou and Jozy Altidore. Apparently it was over the summer and it was free and we are both fucking stupid for missing it.
As for the Lebron stuff, Lebron probably will make more money on advertisements in the states. Kobe, on the other hand, already has three rings, an MVP, and an attempted rape charge. A tax free 40 mil would be a reeaaaal sweet way to end his basketball career.
Yeah, I heard about that thing Nash put on, that was awesome! I was talking to Rob about it and said the same thing, why didnt I go and watch!
holy wall of text, batman! hit the return key once in a while =P
On Davide Beckham:
http://www.geocities.com/thssidetracks/david-beckham-armani.jpg
;-)
Thanks for adding to the conversation, Cindy...
Going where the money is nothing new in sports. Players have been doing this for a long time.
While I don't think it is ruining the game, I do feel it is taking something away. It will be very rare for a Derrick Jeter to come up and play for a single team his whole career.
I can not think of a soccer player who has done this. It gives each player a "hired Gun" feel, and it becomes harder to be emotionally attached to a player. However if some fan does fall in love with a Beckham, or Ronaldo he will most likely follow him and watch games that he plays. I feel like that is good for sports.
Sauceking: The captain of AC Milan, Paolo Maldini has played only for AC Milan since 1984. He has played there longer than we have been alive heh heh. But yes, that is incredibly rare these days.
It's becoming all too normal to just change teams whenever a player wants, or a team needs to make some money and sells great players.
lol cindy i think a more appropriate title for your comment would be "whats not on david beckham". and the answer is clothes heh heh.
Sauceking: it's been around, but not really like this. The Yankees and Red Sox have never bought talent around the league like this before, there have never been rich oil barons throwing hundreds of millions at soccer and basketball players to form some ultimate team of their dreams. Before the millenium, sports was a business, and if you weren't making money from that business, it wasn't worth it. Nowadays, it's like a hobby. Do you really believe some of these soccer teams make money? Not a chance. But their owners don't care, they're gazillionaires. They just want to make a dream team... and it's getting a bit nuts.
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