Beckham joins MLS
 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

Holy sweet Jesus. He's making A-Rod look like a chump (not that A-Rod doesn't suck or anything), but is something this expensive really going to revive MLS? No.

Beckham joins MLS
 

Made possible by the MLS' newest rule which allows teams to sign a player to any contract without it counting against the salary cap (aptly called the "Beckham rule"), David Beckham will be showing off his bendy curls (and I'm not talking about his hair) for the Los Angeles Galaxy. The move for Beckham is obviously an effort of his to

1. run away from the English media to a country where he won't be bothered as much
2. hide from the English and Spanish fans who (correctly) think his abilities have dissipated and he should stick with modeling, thus
3. go to a league that needs his name and still-remaining abilities to give it a popularity boost

MLS is doing OK but wants to take itself to the next level and try and pull some of that old "Pele to the New York soccer team back in the 70s" magic. I don't know if I'll watch MLS any more now than I did before (MLS games watched this decade: 0; international league and national games watched this decade: probably more than 20) but more power to them for trying.

(Maybe if he was signed by the New England Revolution...)

Either way it's a clever move for the league. The thing is that even if attracting the attention of Americans doesn't work as far as they hope it will, it will still probably have a pretty decent effect, and the whole commercial endorsements thing goes both ways - sadly, having a big-name sports celebrity speak for your toothpaste does wonders for sales. Though it's dumb, most of the time these people know how to work the money. We'll just see if it pans out for as much profit as they hope it will.

Right, that's the point. I know it will help, but will it help net enough profits for all teams (especially Los Angeles) to grow?

Also, sorry Dopefish for beating you to it! :p Does this also mean that he'll play for us in the World Cup next time around? :p (I don't follow it enough to know)

Not unless he changes his nationality =p

No. If that were true, all the Brasilian players in Europe would play for Portugal. He'll play for England because he's English, he's just playing in America.

Also, Dope missed the major reason Beckham signed here. The only place on earth his brand isn't selling hugely is North America. The reason he signed on is because a) his level of skill has declined, but he'll still be the top player in MLS. b) it will let him raise his brand in a market he hasn't been able to touch. Everyone who actually watches footie has known this was coming for over a year, and the exact reasons why. Fucking yanks and your skewed sports perspectives.

Hehe, Victoria Beckham will be like "omg more mcdonalds"

Like money was never the main reason anyone signed any contract in sports, ever.

Everyone, ever, plays for the love of the game. Stop lying.

Also, in this case, the 250 million isn't unheard of in football. He probably could have made that somewhere else, but he can make way more money by building the Beckham brand over here.

His skills have declined massively over the past few years, and it doesn't look like he's going to be playing for the national team any time soon. He moved because Real Madrid didn't want to keep him anymore.(they only seem to interested in South Americans) No-one in England wanted him because of the circus that he brings with him.
He should do okay in America, probably only got a few years left in him, besides he has that training academy somewhere over in America. I guess once he retires, he will spend time there training up young North American players, so it's not all bad news.

I think alot of people are quick to forget just what a player Beckham truly was, the service that he gave to Sir Alex and Manchester United (as well as England) was truly admirable. Hardly any of the footballers playing today can boast a career like his, he was an integeral part of Fergie's Fledgeling's who have won everything. And I believe he was totally wasted going to a team like Real Madrid, you can plainly see when he left Man Utd he really lost that fire he once had, it was devistating for him. He really didn't want to go, if Fergie was to ring him up today and ask him to play for free he'd choose Utd over that contract anyday thats how loyal he his, even though the realtionship is frosty at best.


Yet I have to agree with a lot of you the skills which he once possesed are eluding him as time goes by. I can't fault the guy for effort he will run up and down the pitch for you all day but he no longer has the legs and I think Sir Alex made the right decision in selling him and buying Christiano Ronaldo.

I'm quite confident in saying he is the best free kick taker/corner taker/crosser football has ever seen. His technique is so graceful in that it is so unorthadox how his trailing leg and foot bend. Sorry to drudge up an old phrase but nobody can bend it like Beckham. I would rather take Beckham in his prime over Ronaldinho thats how good he was.

The truth is Beckham would/will never play in the English Premier league again. He has been quoted on several occasions saying that Man Utd was his life and he could never play against them again. As for the move, he may may as well milk the remainder of the abilities and pitch camera time he has left for these 3 years. People like Linekar have done it in the past with his move to Japan.

If he puts a few of these in while in America he's sorted.

http://hoder.info/nxp/r27179264.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image..._defeat298.jpg

I'm sorry, I guess I can't hear his accolades over the sound of an entire country weeping.

Baggio who?


Except Maniche, Ronaldinho and a few others, sure. Maniche's bend at Euro was as good as anything Beckham has ever curled. And I also think Ronaldo and Zidane give him a run for best free-kick takers, though Becks might edge them both out by just a bit.

See alot of people will remember him for the last 3.5 years of football and England's poor performances namely Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 and thats totally wrong. When he left Manchester United we never saw the same Beckham again.


I'm sorry not even Zidane nor Ronaldinho come anywhere close to being as good as Beckham was in dead ball situations, the guy was a true 'specialist'.

I have to disagree about Maniche who scores once in a blue moon I've seen about 10 Beckham free kicks better than that not too mention his half way shiner against Wimbledon. Beckham in his career at United scored jaw dropping free kicks week in and week out and was easily why United were almost unbeatable in the 90's, played a blinder in our treble year.

Indeed. If they aren't Spanish, then they're more than likely from Brazil. They have a good portion of Brazil's national team actually...


Anyways, this'll be interesting. LA Galaxy finished next to last in their conference, but I guess the importance of his moving to the US is the endorsements and not the actual soccer.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/453...1163000nm9.jpg

500K A WEEK!!!
a little short of $1,000,000 a week

How on earth are LA Galaxy going to be able to pay him this sort of money? Even Chelsea (stupidly rich) would have difficulty paying out this much for a player. I don't think that they will make enough in endorsements to cover his wages, unless they have some rich owner that has more money than sense that is willing to pay this crazy amount of money to him.

(Note to Beckham: work on your dribbling. And tackling. And opening your mouth when you speak (anyone noticed that?))

:tpg:

Crazy as it might sound, this could actually do him some good for the national squad. A confidence boost, maybe. Or it could all backfire and he'll get panned until he drops into obscurity...

Becks was truly one of the best free kick takers back then, but I think there was a guy who was scoring free kicks with greater precision - Sinisa Mihajlovic. Ian Harte (in his best shape from Leeds) and Mehmet Scholl (great palyer destroyed by a plague of injuries) were also pretty close. But today we have new Beckham - Juninho from Lyon.

Becks was always pretty slow, he couldn't dribble well but his crosses, when the ball landed just on your boot or chest. I still remember that goal scored from the half of the pitch. Everything disappeared after that flying boot affair and a move to Madrid.

I don't think his skill has declined as much as people are saying. His recent free kick goal in his first game in a while for Real Madrid is proof. Although, most of the people watching MLS will expect him to score everytime he takes one, so his inability to live up to impossible expectations may diminish the effect of his move on the league.

Even if it's a short boost, it works. Take MLBs Home Run chase with McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds. MLB is flourishing since about that time and even if it's just a season or two of energy, it does a ton for the sport.

He's a breath of fresh air for the sport. ? No, but perhaps for the culture of the sport. His arrival, if anything, will make soccer less than a sport and more like the nba where its no longer about the game, but about the style and the bling bling. Fuck that. Fuck Beckham and his slutty wife who looks like a cartoon. In fact, I will go so far as to say, I would just fuck his slutty cartoon wife and be done with it.

It has not as a matter of fact, but his endurance has...