Beckham in America...Does Anyone Care?
The man who has been asked to make soccer mainstream in the United States has finally come to town. Beckham arrived in the U.S. this week with his former-Spice-Girl wife Victoria, and is scheduled to play his first game this Saturday night against Scottish Champion Celtic. And while an ankle injury (50/50 change of playing) may keep him out of the game, nothing can keep him from being the talk of the town. 
Beckham is a worldwide celebrity. His picture is plastered throughout magazines as if he were a Hollywood big shot. From sports to modeling, this guy just seems to dabble in everything. You can find his picture in all of the magazines because he makes them sell. His picture sells, his words sell, and his name sells. But for a soccer star to come to America to attract the less-than-pseudo fans (ignorant fans if you ask me, but then again I love the sport already) of America, now that takes real selling power.
If Beckham is able to sell soccer to the sports fan of the United States, that would certainly be something special. This is a country of high scoring sports. Basketball teams score between 90 and 100 points per game; football teams put up points in large numbers too, although maybe if soccer gave out 7 points each time a goal was scored and 3 points for every possession that couldn't score then people would like it better.
Baseball teams are building new stadiums that are more like little league fields to enable their teams to hit more homeruns, and therefore score more. All the steroids the players take certainly puts up numbers too. The NHL took scoring to a whole new level. They actually changed the rules of the sport to increase the scoring in games in an attempt to draw fans to the arenas (personally, I liked the game better before the rules changed).
Soccer is a great sport, played by more people worldwide than any other. It combines speed, skill, toughness, and overall talent more than any other sport. A soccer player may not be as strong as an NFL lineman, but every soccer player has to have a combination of all of these abilities to play…not just excel in one area. But the people of this country don’t seem to care. Their attitude is of a hungry baby. I want what I want, and I want it now! They want the power (homeruns), the speed (wide receivers), and the talent (see the buzz over Kevin Durant)…so one would think they would appreciate a sport where the players have all of those qualities instead of just one.
David Beckham is here to change those attitudes, but will anyone notice?
Beckham is a worldwide celebrity. His picture is plastered throughout magazines as if he were a Hollywood big shot. From sports to modeling, this guy just seems to dabble in everything. You can find his picture in all of the magazines because he makes them sell. His picture sells, his words sell, and his name sells. But for a soccer star to come to America to attract the less-than-pseudo fans (ignorant fans if you ask me, but then again I love the sport already) of America, now that takes real selling power.
If Beckham is able to sell soccer to the sports fan of the United States, that would certainly be something special. This is a country of high scoring sports. Basketball teams score between 90 and 100 points per game; football teams put up points in large numbers too, although maybe if soccer gave out 7 points each time a goal was scored and 3 points for every possession that couldn't score then people would like it better.
Baseball teams are building new stadiums that are more like little league fields to enable their teams to hit more homeruns, and therefore score more. All the steroids the players take certainly puts up numbers too. The NHL took scoring to a whole new level. They actually changed the rules of the sport to increase the scoring in games in an attempt to draw fans to the arenas (personally, I liked the game better before the rules changed).
Soccer is a great sport, played by more people worldwide than any other. It combines speed, skill, toughness, and overall talent more than any other sport. A soccer player may not be as strong as an NFL lineman, but every soccer player has to have a combination of all of these abilities to play…not just excel in one area. But the people of this country don’t seem to care. Their attitude is of a hungry baby. I want what I want, and I want it now! They want the power (homeruns), the speed (wide receivers), and the talent (see the buzz over Kevin Durant)…so one would think they would appreciate a sport where the players have all of those qualities instead of just one.
David Beckham is here to change those attitudes, but will anyone notice?
1 comment:
It'll be a tough hill for him to climb. He's also off of his game. Selfishly, I'd love for soccer to finally find an audience in the US, which is pretty much the only western nation that doesn't worship it. And here's another take (very funny one, at that) on the Beckhams and why America doesn't care about them, desptie their "in your face" publicity onslaught: http://www.unboundedition.com/content/view/1515/50/
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