Soccer Buzz

I was going to write this post about how David Beckham opened his Galaxy account with a trademark free kick goal in the 27th minute against DC United in the Superliga semi-final. I intended to note how the crowd at the Home Depot Center was buzzing with anticipation the moment DC was whistled for a handball in the spot, and Beckham delivered even though he hasn’t taken a free kick in eight weeks. I also was going to mention how DC goalkeeper Troy Perkins has obviously never come up against a free kick like that as Perkins looked totally lost. Finally, I wanted to note how the Galaxy seem to play better as a team with Beckham on the field.

Then I made the mistake of watching national news outlets “cover” the game. I’m normally not one to complain about soccer coverage in the United States, and for the most part, I’m pleased with what we have. However, I have to comment on the coverage of this game. The pattern of nearly every sports highlight show was as follows: show the goal, marvel at the feat, note how “only” 17,000 were at the game, claim that Beckham was over-hyped and that the buzz has worn off, and finally say that Beckham can’t “save” soccer (and possibly bring up the NASL to make it look like you know what you are talking about). Finally, I even heard a Sportscenter anchor suggest that Beckham missed so many games because he was saving himself to play for England.

Okay, let’s rant:

• Spectacular goal, no question about it.

• How is 17,000 in attendance a major disappointment? This game was not included in the season ticket package, ticket prices were nearly double the cost of a league match, and the game wasn’t even on any schedule until a few weeks ago. Then there is always the midweek curse. And even if 17,000 is truly just a disastrous number, isn’t it a specious argument to make such a massive conclusion based on one game?

• I’ll admit that the Galaxy and the league hyped Beckham, but at no point did they claim he was the savior of soccer in this country. In fact, Don Garber explicitly stated that this league doesn’t need saving on several occasions.

• Sports journalists love to claim that Pele couldn’t make soccer huge in America. It makes them sound intelligent, but they are actually dead wrong. America was a soccer wasteland in the 1970s. Pele changed that forever. Millions of people who didn’t know the difference between a corner kick and an offside trap (let alone even know about those terms) suddenly paid attention to soccer because of Pele. And it isn’t as if attendances and interest in NASL plummeted the moment Pele retired; the league’s highest average attendances occurred after Pele retired. The reason NASL collapsed is because they had no idea how to capitalize on this surge in popularity, and they didn’t have a deep and talented pool of American players to turn to once they realized that they can’t just keep spending big money on aging foreign stars. Pele was a smashing success; it’s just a shame that the NASL was a house of cards.

• Okay, there is only one word to describe the theory that Beckham sat out matches because it would help him play for England: “idiocy”. Regardless of the problems with the England squad, Steve McClaren is not going to fly Beckham halfway around the world and back if Beckham hasn’t played a competitive match in two months.

• These media types complain about the Beckham hype, but they don’t seem to understand that in order to create hype, journalists must be complicit. And the most ironic thing of all is that by complaining about the hype, they actually create more hype.

• So why does coverage of soccer usually devolve into this sort of conversation? It’s simple; these people have next to zero knowledge about the game so in order to cover the event, they have to revert to thinly-veiled soccer bashing. Perhaps the ferocity of the hatred is toned-down, and some of the points have become more nuanced. Still, it is the same old, same old from some of these people.

I don’t mean to be one of the typical whiny babies when it comes to soccer coverage. I actually was a soccer fan in this country when fans of the game were begging for any kind of scraps, but today, there is absolutely no shortage of soccer coverage.

I know I’m asking for a lot, but I pray for the day that soccer coverage only covers the action on the field.