The latest issue of Vanity Fair sports the ultra-buff soccer superstar David Beckham on its cover. Why? Nobody in the United States gives a damn about soccer (what the hell is the Euro Cup?) or who David Beckham is, except for the fact he is married to a former member of the pop group The Spice Girls-- and honestly, nobody gives two shits about that either.
Beckham also released his 400-page autobiography (honestly, his life can be summed on the back of a matchbook) in the United States, which promptly disappeared from bookshelves, not because they were bought by his countless fans (all eight of them), because his publisher realized they were idiots to think a book about an unknown sport star would sell. Off to the bargain bins it goes (most likely the trash bin).
And why would Beckham want America when America doesn't want him? It's simple: ego. Beckham is beloved the world over except the United States. He's on a mission to change that. I say good luck
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - in10sity
Hmmmm. That name sounds familiar. Does he have a brother? I think I've heard of him. Benditlike Beckham?
I played little league soccer from the age of 5 - 12 and I still have no interest whatsoever in watching, reading, or even thinking about the... hmmm, what is it even called? The PSL? PSA? MLS? NSL?
2 - Douglas Mays
Narij, what a shallow, self absorbed article. Statements like "nobody gives a damn about soccer" sure needs you getting a finger on the pulse of the public.
OK, my story. In 1965 my family moved from Illinois to Seattle when I was 7 years old. I get out here and find out all the kids played soccer. I didn't even know what the game was. We played everyday at recess. I join a team, the Newport Huskies. We ended up being good, winning continuos state championships year after year. By the time I was out of 6th grade I had over 1000 hours of playing experience. By the time I was 14 I discovered I could smoke any USA college player in the land (so could most any of the thousands who played around here). I played my way through college and have had a few professional tryouts in the USA.
In the 70s there was a pro-league in the USA (NASL) that brought many overseas players to the US, including Pele. He is the Michael Jordan of soccer. Now, you might have heard that name, like people in other countries have heard of MJ. When Pele first came to town he commented "these people really know their soccer." Here in Seattle the local pro team (Seattle Sounders of the NASL) averaged 25,000 per game attendance in the late 70s. Nobody you say?
Last summer Manchester United, the worlds richest sports franchise (bigger than the NY Yankees) toured the USA with exhibition matches. Here in Seattle it sold out well in advance. Nearly 70,000 people attended with tickets going for up to $125. Revenue.
David Beckham is currently the darling of sports marketing. Can you dig it now? Soccer (International Futbol) is my #1 sport. American Football is #2. All other sports fall behind that. I keep up with the Sonics, Mariners, Storm (WNBA). Hey, curling is cool. I occasionally watch that. But soccer, I watch it all the time on one of my many cable TV channels. I understand it deeply.
The USA is finally catching on a bit. The current pro league (MLS) kinda sux but is improving. Should be able to hang in there on a world level in a few years.
So Niraj, get a clue. I could ramble on forever about styles of play between various countries, classic matches, etc.. It is the worlds #1 sport for good reason. It is a game I will play till I die. In the meantime it keeps me in pretty good shape. It is finally breaking ground in the USA, a country with so many sports that it is having a hard time keeping up.
Anyway,
peaceloveguidance
3 - Douglas Mays
Oh, did you know that soccer is the world's most physically demanding sport? Motocross is #2. a typical player runs 7-9 miles a game, at an extreme pace!!! At about the 70th minute of a match they say that it feels like the 20th mile of running a marathon.
Oh, it is also the international language (like music or something). I have been able to pull out a soccer ball around people who can't even speak English and wah-lah! We are kicking around like we have been hanging out for years.
Anyway,
peaceloveguidance
4 - Phillip Winn
Douglas -- who decides, exactly, what is the world's most physically demanding sport, and using what criteria?
5 - Joe
Actually, ESPN did an analysis that had soccer at tenth for overall degree of difficulty.
6 - Douglas Mays
PW, good question. This is one of those statistics that came out of the 70's when athletic medicine and sports psychology were on the upswing.
For instance, American football is pure physical demand, especially if you are a running back, puking blood after practice, getting hit all the time. Or how about a tri-athalon?
Anyway, I have always wondered also when I first heard that stat from many sports medicine sources. I think it has something to do with expended energy or something. Soccer, think of it as doing 9 miles of 100 yard dashes. Motocross, you are using your whole body to control a 200 lb. lots of h.p. machine over rough terrain.
Anyway, I have always wondered about that exacting detail also. All I can say is having played many organized sports I would have to agree, soccer is a hell of a workout.
Thanx man,
peaceloveguidance
7 - Mark Saleski
Narij, what a shallow, self absorbed article. Statements like "nobody gives a damn about soccer" sure needs you getting a finger on the pulse of the public.
this is something that soccer purists have been saying for years....but i see no evidence that it'll ever be a major sport here.
8 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Wow, can i just say, as a citizen of the United UK or whatever, it is unbearably delightful to see an article titled "Who Is David Beckham?"
I never thought i'd see such a sight.
It is quite odd, i must admit. I mean, where are the vanity fair articles for Paul Scholes or whoever else plays the football kicking?
9 - Mac Diva
I happen to live in a soccer crazy part of the U.S., so I must disagree with one of the legs of Niraj's argument.
I also believe Niraj is underestimating the pull of celebrity. If you talk to the kind of people who actually buy the tabloids at the supermarket (instead of just peeking at them) there is a kind of obsession for them. They do not care what the celebrity does, if the person has landed in the spotlight of fame, they're on him or her. (How else to explain Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie?) And, if the vapidity of the target matches theirs, it is a marriage made in heaven. Beckham is probably important to millions of people who just know he is a celebrity.
10 - Douglas Mays
Joe, good find. The main question here is the criteria. the ESPN list is based mainly on the 'getting the shit beat out of you' factor. The physical demand we are looking at is on the actual energy expended. Calories, electrolytes, etc. ESPN based their list on the manly extreme killing each other idea. If this were the old west, gun fighting would win. Or midevil times, jousting. Suprised to see rodeo so low on the ESPN list. I mean, those guys have to have their retinas reattached in their eyes!
For example, freestyle wrestling. Ever do that one? Sometimes that can be a hell of a workout. You just have to last a few 3 minute rounds though. Football? There is a good reason there are only 16 games a season. It is humanly impossible to do much more. Oh god, the pain the next day after a game. But you get to stop and walk every 10 seconds after a play.
That is the deal I think. Soccer, 90 minutes, no time outs, clock continues to run throughout the match. Player contact is low. The better you get, the less you hit each other. As kids, you bruise the hell out of each other. But that factor has nothing to do with the physical demand evaluation. The goalkeeper doesn't run much but has to be mentally aware and get clobbered every so often. Midfielders have to run their asses off till they puke and keep their senses together the whole time.
Anyway, the criterea is the crucial factor in this question.
Thanx man,
peaceloveguidance
11 - Douglas Mays
Aaron! Right on! Yah, I pretty much play British style soccer. Create space, use the real estate, push the ball around. Draw the other team to one side of the field then lay a cross on them, etc...
You know who I liked during the mid 90s was Stan Collimore (sp?) when he played for Liverpool. I love taking shots from the perimeter 15-30 yards out from the goal. Didn't Stan loose his mind for a while?
What about Micheal Owen, Alan Sherrer(sp?) etc. Aaahhh, Beckham has the looks and rock star status. Oh, he can play quite well also. He is a master setting up the play (see above style of play). It sure sucked in the World Cup in France when he was carded and sent off. A harsh decision, referee!!!! England was gaining momentum and could have won to advance to the next series. I can't remember who they were playing.
Anyway, blah blah blah,
peaceloveguidance
12 - Douglas Mays
Oh, Mark, to answer your statement "I see no evidence that it will ever be a major sport here".
OK, to put it all in perspective, we have the question of what qualifies as major? In the USA football stadiums draw 60,000 people to a match. Here in Seattle the Mariners (baseball) right now are drawing 35,000 people a game. Soccer, worldwide doesn't draw that much. Only on specific matches do the huge crowds come out (World Cup, FA Final, etc.). In general, maybe 15,000 to 30,000 is the average attendance to a league match most anywhere. Manchester has a higher attendance, etc. Lower division teams may draw 5000-10,000 a match.
The point being is that no, soccer will not be major in the American sense of things. It doesn't need to be to survive and be successful and develope world-class players etc. We are the nation of many nations, so the USA better get on the ball. That is the problem with the MLS, it is overhyping itself and needs to of the American public. Attendance-wise, all it needs to do is draw that basketball-baseball level of people and things will be alright.
OK, I love the game and I could yak for hours about many aspects of it. But I'll shut up now unless there is a good point to respond to.
Thanx people,
peaceloveguidance
13 - Joe
Do you think the emergence of Freddy Adu will have an impact? If he lives up to expectations, he could be the first American soccer superstar.
14 - Douglas Mays
Joe, good question about Freddy Adu. hhhmmm...I say the kid is good, but could fall victim to the American overkill machine. Hopefully he will just keep his eye on the game and will improve to be a true superstar as he grows up. Say when he is 23 years old, his body is developed and his skills are extreme, yeah, the guy can be a superstar. Although, there is a kid here in Washington State, just east of the mountains (Seattle is west of the Cascade range) that is claimed to be at least as good as Adu. Freddy should adopt a one name thing, like Pele, Renoldo, etc. ADU!!!
Soccer is a sport that taps onto the youth. Look at Michael Owen in England. He was quite young when he got picked up professionally.
Oh, regarding overhype. The USA has to look out for that one. The NASL of the 70's and early 80's basically bought itself out of existance. But man, they had some great players.
Oh man, look at how long my comments are. You can tell I'm a soccer junkie. It pisses off the wife sometimes. "Change the channel!" she says.
Thanx man,
peaceloveguidance
15 - Phillip Winn
Douglas (#12): Good point. Hockey is hardly seen as a "major" sport here in the US on a good day, and the Dallas Stars sell out 18,000 tickets 41 times (home games) a year, with another 41 road games that probably do nearly as well. That's 738,000 tickets just here in Dallas, before the playoffs start! The Dallas Cowboys, meanwhile, play only eight home games each year, and while I'm not sure *exactly* how many seats are in Texas Stadium, it would take 92,250 of them *each game* to match the number of tickets sold each year for the Stars.
So if the football and hockey teams sell roughly the same number of tickets each year (both of them far outstripping either indoor or outdoor soccer, of course), why is football a "major" sport and hockey a "minor" sport?
Television.
Compare the ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with the Superbowl or the World Series, and there is your answer. Hockey (or soccer) will be considered a major sport when people watch it on television, and that simply isn't going to happen. It's not the sort of sport most people watch on television.
16 - Douglas Mays
Phil, very true about the television aspect of things. And the problem with soccer is that it is very difficult to broadcast because of advertising. The game runs continuous with no time-outs or stoppage of the clock, even when a player is mutilated on the field and has to have his carcass dragged away. The clock keeps running. The referee just adds on time at the end of regulation time to make up for such lost time during the match. Anyway, no time to cut away for an advertisement. If that was done during playing time there is a good chance that a crucial part of the match would be missed.
I'm with you on that one.
peaceloveguidance
17 - Mark Saleski
yea guys, i think that's really what i was getting at with the 'major' aspect of the sport. it's lack of tv-appeal.
though all of this is kinda weird, because i can watch baseball and golf for hours...and both sport have tons of 'dead air' time, so to speak.
18 - Douglas Mays
Mark, you got it on that one. One name, Pete Rosell, that ol' NFL executive that really got sports television to the level it is today.
In baseball TV gets to cut to commercials every half an inning. Golf can cut anytime thanks to editing, etc. Soccer, I know that when I'm watching on FOX World Sports (channel 401 out here) I will change the channel for a minute and miss a goal or something crucial. It always happens. The nature of the game. Conversely, if I don't change the channel, nothing happens.
Anyway,
peaceloveguidance
19 - jo
David Beckham is one of the most respected athletes in the world, author your opinion is shyte!
20 - Douglas Mays
jo, good job. It actually does put things in perspective. It is a world game. The world is much bigger than just the USA.
For instance, during their day, who was better known on a world level, Pele or Micheal Jordan? Of course, the answer is Pele, hands down by a major amount.
Manchester United is the worlds biggest sporting franchise. Way more money than the NY Yankees.
Some Americans have got to get out of their 'arrogance capsule". Anyway, you get the picture....
peaceloveguidance
21 - Sandra Smallson
Soccer is the most popular sport all over the world. My favourite sport is tennis. Still, I am aware that soccer is the most popular all over the world.It is not popular in America because Americans are not good at it. That's the bottom line.
Heaven forbid that something they are not very good at is the major sport the world over. Don't give me that crap about your womens team either. More people watch cricket than watch women's soccer.
It doesn't matter if soccer doesn't make it big in America because it doesn't have to. The World Cup has more viewers all over the world than any other sporting event, including your superbowl and what have you.
More people play soccer all over the world than baseball, hockey and "American football" combined. I put American football in inverted commas because it is actually called football in the rest of the world but America and one or two others.
For the person who had no clue what the leagues are called..let me expand your sporting knowledge even though you don't give a toss..Premier league(England) La Liga(Spain) Serie A (Italy) Bundesliga(Germany) Scottish Premier League(Scotland) J League(Japan) and so on and so forth.
I don't think Americans should be force fed football either. You have enough going on that you clearly find more interesting. Why ACMilan, Juventus and all the big European clubs bother to travel your way and play matches escapes me, but I guess if there are companies willing to pay them to come over, they could not care less if it's only 10,000 watching. They are not paid by the gate fee.
They take the cash and run. Come over to the rest of the world where the big boys play and use that cash to buy players, improve their grounds or whatever else. If you guys catch on, thats great, if you don't, that's great too. American lack of interest in soccer/football is no loss to the game.
As for Beckham, he just wants to be famous. I used to love him but recent reports of reckless philandering has taken the shine off him for me and right now I could not care less about his actions on or off the field.
22 - Douglas Mays
Sandra, you ROCK! Uh, well, almost. Let me put some detail in perspective. International Futbol on a world level actually would benefit from the USA being involved. It is showing as more and more Americans are making an impact in Europe. Casey Keller to start.
As far as European teams coming to America. It is about money. When Manchester United played here in Seattle vs. Celtic, 70,000 seats sold at $125 a ticket. Gate fee is part of the picture. Making sense? You mention piddly crowds of 10,000. That is actually more like the world average attendence. The rub is that the USA expects more, like 50,000 a game to keep itself happy. That is the American problem, soccer doesn't need to be that big to get over.
Here in Seattle, Manchester United just opened the first youth training facility for the USA. I guess a few more are planned in the USA. Why Seattle? It has been organized on a high level out here for a long time. I have 40 years of hardcore playing experience. Kids out here now have grandparents that know the game well. We do have that 'in the blod' factor going this way. I know I could kick the ball around with Beckham and not be laughed out of the picture. I can bend the ball as good as anyone, Beckham included. Professional opportunities were not available in my time. I have a wicked shot on goal that rates with the best.
I wish I had 10million dollars to invest in an MLS franchise. Being an American who has played tens of thousands of hours of soccer against quality enuf competition, I do have something figured out that could put the USA on the world front as far as playing very attractive soccer. Something that would give the USA a known style. Right now there is no recognizable style in USA play.
Anyway Sandra, all I can say is "look out", the USA is going to be a tough competitor in the sport on a world level. In the USA, we want alot, not just more. Get it? Just some tweeking of details to do.
peaceloveguidance
23 - MFB
Comment#21
It takes the whole fucking world to watch a goddamn soccer game to pass the superbowl. If we're lucky maybe a few of those arena's will collapse with a bunch of those smelly assed euopean drunk fuckers in them.
How many $60 milion contracts in soccer? 0! Probably not even a $2million. David Beckham my white ass. Damn spice-girl loving fag!
24 - MFB
Oh and where I'm from there is no less than 104,000 people on college football weekends and 75,000 for NFL.
Oh and I think even 10,000 is a big stretch for an average game.
25 - Douglas Mays
#24. Ok, here is the deal. Major teams, say Manchester, Liverpool, etc. do the 35,000-55,000 per match. In the USA 5-6 matches are played at home. Soccer (a game that it is humanly possible to play more than 10-20 games a season). Soccer plays many more matches a season. Say Division 3 teams
will draw 10,000. They are from smaller towns. Anyway, the money thing.
What is everyone so fucking hyped about? "my football is better than your football, nnnnnaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!
Oh yes, there are many BIG paychecks in professional soccer. I don't know who has the top contract. $100,000,000 shows up every once in a while...
peaceloveguidance