David Beckham

[bucksfan2]

Go to youtube and type in Ronaldo or Zidane and witness some of the playes these guys have made. You get a better appreciaton for the actul skill involved in the game. One of the biggest problems with soccer is that the scores are in the very low range. Not many goals are scored and there isn't much physical contact like hockey. I think the MLS may have as good of a chance to succeed right now than it ever has in the past because the NHL isn't on a mainstream tv network and the NBA is going through a horriable scandal that will rock that league. The problem is that you only have one star and that is Beckham, and he is past his prime. I am not saying there aren't other good players but no one else brings the mainstream star appeal to the league. IMO if the MLS could have landed Beckham, Ronaldo, and maybe one other star this offseason they would have had one heck of an appeal in the US.

[WMR]

I'd beg to differ in regards to the lack of physicality in soccer.

[WMR]

Blanco is a big draw for the Chicago Fire and Mexicans/Mexican-Americans.

He's still doing his thing--and doing it quite well--for Mexico.

[NJReds]

Hmm. This is good for the MLS. Not so good for the US national team. I'd like to see Eddie take the plunge and play in the EPL.

MLS scoring leader nixes Derby County deal
Wed Jul 25, 9:11 AM ET

Eddie Johnson, the 23-year-old American striker who leads Major League Soccer in goals, has reportedly rejected a trade deal with Derby County of England's Premiership.

Johnson, who has scored 12 goals in 11 games for the Kansas City Wizards, told the Kansas City Star Tuesday that the deal was nearly in place, saying, "It was close, man - 95 percent of the way there."

Johnson's back-to-back hat tricks early this season were an MLS first. He also scored twice for the US side in the Gold Cup. Staying on home soil where he has found success was a major reason why Johnson nixed an England transfer.

"I did what my heart felt," Johnson said. "The money wasn't a problem. The money was great. But I'm a big believer that when my confidence is high and I'm confident in what I'm doing. Good things are yet to happen for me.

"I know if I keep doing what I'm doing, there are going to be other opportunities for me, and some are going to come up that I can't pass up."

In his seventh MLS season, Johnson has 38 goals and 10 assists in 114 MLS games, 83 of them starts, and nine goals in 22 caps for the US squad.

"I have goals I still want to accomplish and achieve, like winning an MLS Cup," Johnson said.

Johnson trained before the current MLS season with England's Reading squad.

[improbus]

I'd beg to differ in regards to the lack of physicality in soccer.

I agree, we should find some tape of Roy Keane, Jaap Stam, Claude Makelele, Robbie Savage, Alan Shearer, Michael Essien, etc...

But, start with these:
1) tough tackles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhM74C_qSc

2) open hostilities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nkR1...elated&search=

[Yachtzee]

I agree, we should find some tape of Roy Keane, Jaap Stam, Claude Makelele, Robbie Savage, Alan Shearer, Michael Essien, etc...

But, start with these:
1) tough tackles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjhM74C_qSc

2) open hostilities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nkR1...elated&search=

Those don't seem like hard tackles so much as cheap shots, especially by Materazzi. I was at my cousin's house a while back talking to him and his friends and they all had a lot of respect for Zidane after the headbutt incident. Maybe it's US culture, but headbutts are considered fair fighting. A knee to the mommy-daddy bits is not. When I played soccer in high school, if we wanted to get rough with the other team, we did so with our upper body. Use the feet on the ball, not the other players.

[improbus]

I was watching a Roy Keane video on youtube and found a clip where Beckham broke up a potential fight between Keane and Alan Shearer. He's not just a pretty boy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tf6mrA0-tA

[RawOwl UK]

mmmm Keane & Shearer

Keane's leg breaking attempt on Alfie Inge Haaland a few years ago in the Manchester derby was just horrific.

I'll try and find it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaP99...elated&search=

Role model for the kids ?

[NJReds]

I was at my cousin's house a while back talking to him and his friends and they all had a lot of respect for Zidane after the headbutt incident.

Let's not make a hero out of Zidane for that bush league move. I don't care what Materazzi said.

What ZZ did was equivalent to Jeter getting tossed from game 7 of the World Series in a tie game or Jordan getting a second technical in the 4th quarter of game 7 of the NBA finals.

Why. Because someone called you a name or grabbed your shirt. Please. Then to lie about what the guy actually said.

Materazzi is a troublemaker. That's true. But Zidane put himself on the top of the list of all time stupid moves in sports history with that red card.

[improbus]

Role model for the kids ?

Role model for guys spending a decade in Attica more like it....

BTW, how many MLS games does everyone watch a year, compared to Premiership matches, Serie A, etc...?

I'd say I watch 1-2 MLS games a week, but maybe 2-3 Premiership matches whenever possible. I need to watch more MLS.

[Caveat Emperor]

The problem has largely been that the media has been slow on the uptake. A lot of that is generational. The editors at most newspapers and magazines and the sports anchors at your local television station are Baby Boomers. They never played soccer, they never watched it. It's totally alien to them. Yet once you get into Gen X and younger, you've got a whole pile of folks familiar with the sport. People who've played the sport, and there's tens of millions who have, don't have as much trouble with low scoring contests as the sports insiders who constantly gripe about such things. We know how hard it is to score a goal. We get it.

The other uphill battle soccer faced for years in America was the format of the game, which was a very poor fit with the way sports are televised in this country.

Football and Baseball are sports perfectly made for commercial television -- the sports have frequent breaks where networks can shove commercials and sponser bumps. Soccer, with no regular stoppage in play that last more than a minute or so (and at irregular interverals), was always a tough sell on American TV because it was tough to get advertisers to buy in. Advertisers want your undivided attention for :30 and if they could buy that somewhere, they'd buy that instead of what soccer was offering.

Technology has allowed for more creative ways to introduce advertising to the sport -- better "bugs" (small, on-screen advertisements in the corners of the picture) are now available that are more eye-catching (read: obtrusive), the ability to project images directly onto the field as overlays, etc. There are more options to sponser soccer now than there were just 10 years ago, which has helped greatly.

Still, the advertising barrier has been a tough climb for soccer -- its better, but the numbers watching will have to tick up even more before sponsers realize they simply cannot stay away from soccer, even if it means having a presence in a format they aren't used to.

[Yachtzee]

Let's not make a hero out of Zidane for that bush league move. I don't care what Materazzi said.

What ZZ did was equivalent to Jeter getting tossed from game 7 of the World Series in a tie game or Jordan getting a second technical in the 4th quarter of game 7 of the NBA finals.

Why. Because someone called you a name or grabbed your shirt. Please. Then to lie about what the guy actually said.

Materazzi is a troublemaker. That's true. But Zidane put himself on the top of the list of all time stupid moves in sports history with that red card.

I'm not saying what Zidane did was right. I would have much rather seen him burying a penalty kick in the goal to beat Italy. I'm just saying that his headbutt struck a chord with teenage American soccer viewers, whereas Materazzi uses tactics that generally aren't tolerated in this country.

[NJReds]

I'm just saying that his headbutt struck a chord with teenage American soccer viewers, whereas Materazzi uses tactics that generally aren't tolerated in this country.

That doesn't say much for American teenagers. But they like Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew, so...

Materazzi is the type of guy that winning teams have that everyone else hates. He's an annoying instigator and sometimes dirty player that won't ever win "sportsman of the year." Bruce Bowen, Dennis Rodman, Anthony Mason, Bill Laimbeer come to mind in the NBA as that type of player. I can't think of any in the NFL now, although Conrad Dobler and Greg Lloyd stick out as guys from the past who fit the mold. Hockey's got a ton of guys like that.

[improbus]

That doesn't say much for American teenagers. But they like Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew, so...

Materazzi is the type of guy that winning teams have that everyone else hates. He's an annoying instigator and sometimes dirty player that won't ever win "sportsman of the year." Bruce Bowen, Dennis Rodman, Anthony Mason, Bill Laimbeer come to mind in the NBA as that type of player. I can't think of any in the NFL now, although Conrad Dobler and Greg Lloyd stick out as guys from the past who fit the mold. Hockey's got a ton of guys like that.

Anyone remember Dino Ciccarelli? Bill Romanowski?

[Yachtzee]

That doesn't say much for American teenagers. But they like Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew, so...

Materazzi is the type of guy that winning teams have that everyone else hates. He's an annoying instigator and sometimes dirty player that won't ever win "sportsman of the year." Bruce Bowen, Dennis Rodman, Anthony Mason, Bill Laimbeer come to mind in the NBA as that type of player. I can't think of any in the NFL now, although Conrad Dobler and Greg Lloyd stick out as guys from the past who fit the mold. Hockey's got a ton of guys like that.

Yeah, but we're a nation that respects fighting with your hands and abhors hitting below the belt. Unless you're Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee and can roundhouse kick someone upside the head, using the feet is considered "weak." If Materazzi was throwing elbows or covertly punching someone in the ribs to get them off the ball, I think Americans would probably respect that more. But taking a guy's legs out with your feet or kicking him in the naughty bits is for "wussies."

If you want an example for another sport, look to the NFL. Nobody bats an eye if an Offensive Lineman sneaks in a punch to the solar plexus in dealing with an oncoming rusher. But everyone outside of Denver abhors the Broncos' penchant for "cut blocking," which involves diving at a guys legs while he's moving away from the lineman. Even if it's not against the rules, it's still considered an "unfair" tactic.