29 April 2007

When Your Eyes Are Bigger Than Your Stomach

Over at the Pop Punk Mesage Bored, Ms. Megan Pants (no relation to our earlier discussion) of Razorcake zine remarks that LA Galaxy season tickets have sold out because of David Beckham's impending arrival. This is ridiculous, she opines, because after all, "it's still the Galaxy."

I know almost nothing about American Major League Soccer, but I have seen Beckham play quite a few times, and last night I happened to catch about half of a Galaxy match on TV. My verdict: I'm not sure what exact fault Ms. Pants is finding with them. My own beloved Fulham could certainly use some of the Galaxy's panache, particularly their ability to pass the ball around with almost European élan. In fact, if sane management principles were applied, I think Beckham would be hard pressed to win a regular place on the team I saw last night.

He will, of course; having mortgaged themselves nearly into eternity to pay the English show pony's transfer fee, and having sold tens of thousands of tickets to people expecting to see him, LA will have to put Beckham on the field for nearly every game even if he only succeeds in dragging the whole side down the way he did for England in last year's World Cup. Ironically, adding the world's most famous footballer to its roster could serve as more of a death knell for the Galaxy's ambitions.

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