David Beckham To La Galaxy

[untouchable]

my standard of living is higher than yours without a doubt

I dont consider elephant drivebys a higher standard of living.

 

[Krypton X]

Saudi/Qatar eat your heart out!! I don't know how much Figo is getting paid but I can bet it's not even a tenth of what should be going into Beckham's pockets soon.

So how can the galaxy afford all this, I know the sponsors are covering the bigger share, but I thought MLS teams were struggling to make ends meet. All the clubs in Australia pooling their resources together won't be able to emulate the galaxy even for a single year.

I don't disagree that this is going to be a big boost for the game over in the states, but is it worth the massively inflated price tag? I just can't see LA Galaxy getting a good return on their investment when beck's gets to keep most of the profits from the sale of his gear & merchandise. You'll have tons of people streaming into the stadiums for the 1st season or two but will they maintain anywhere near the same level of enthusiasm five years from now or after he calls it quits. Other superstars like Pele, Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore also managed to spark people's interest in the sport, but much of that dissipated after they left. I think you need to throw just as much money into developing the local game to make sure all those youngsters converted to football stick with it for good and make the most of it in the long run.
As for the image of the game overall, I don't think someone like Beckham will change the perception many Americans currently have about soccer being a girl's sport.

 

[SouthAfrica fan]

honestly what do you guys think its like to live in south africa

 

[Krypton X]

I know it's nice in some of the 'white suburbs' in places like Jo'berg and the cape, but as for most other areas I think some people here will say it's like living in harlem but with more AIDS.

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Let's Face It: Soccer Sucks
Most Americans View Soccer as Just a Big Game of Keep Away

By Mark Krug

June 22, 2006

There is a reason why soccer is not called ‘football’ in America…soccer sucks. American football is far better and far superior than the world’s so-called most popular sport, which for some reason is also called ‘football.’ If this is confusing don’t worry about, Americans already have it figured out.

American sports fans decided to call this ridiculous sport ‘soccer’ a long time ago, and gave the term 'football' to a far better, more appealing sport.

I am not writing this to offend anyone, or to attract more readers. The fact is that soccer is boring and it simply makes no sense. The goal is bigger than a two-car garage, but yet nothing happens for 86 minutes! Guys are running (and walking) all over this massive field, yet nothing ever happens.

Most Americans view soccer as just a big game of keep away. Why the rest of the world continues to play this sport is beyond comprehension. I will always fail to understand what makes soccer so great and so fun to watch. Soccer fans shout at me ‘you just don’t understand.’ I agree.

*I don’t understand how a sport can have an ‘offsides’ penalty when that is the only way a teams can have an offensive advantage.

*I don’t understand why professional athletes can’t put a round ball in a goal the size of Rhode Island.

*I don’t understand how anyone can get excited about one goal being scored during 86 minutes of play.

*I don’t understand why soccer players are so fragile. One minute they are being hauled off on a stretcher and ten minutes later the same guy is scoring a break-away goal!

*I don’t understand how 100,000 fans can start a fire and riot after a 1-0 contest. Maybe they looked elsewhere to cure their boredom.

*I don’t understand why David Beckham has to look like a girl.

*I don’t understand how European soccer fans in the year 2006 can yell racial slurs to black athletes. It is also horrible to see FIFA not do a damn thing about it.

Ask me why I love American football, baseball, basketball or even hockey and I could go on and on about how each position in each sport requires a combination of athleticism, violence, speed and skill and each has the ability change the momentum of the contest or determine the outcome of the game.

Also, professional sports in America are paced well and have a nice flow with breaks in the action that allow the game to be analyzed by fans and broadcasters.

Soccer has none of this.

Die-hard soccer fans argue that soccer is the ‘world’s greatest game’ or that in every other country but America it is the most popular sport. Just because everyone else is doing something, don’t make it right. Heck, the Chinese are still using chop-sticks!

Other countries don’t have any other choice. Other than rugby and cricket, what else is there for professional sports outside the United States?

Badminton? Handball? Curling?

America pretty much leads the world in entertainment and when America says something is boring then we are probably on to something. Baywatch reruns can be found in almost every household around the world. We know how to entertain and we know sports.

If you’re into soccer, kick yourself silly. Just don’t expect us to join you kicking and screaming with joy.

Sorry soccer fans, your ‘football’ sucks.

 

[SouthAfrica fan]

those areas are so cramped up and small but it isnt as bad as everybody thinks, AIDS is a problem but we arent the only ones in fact if other countries had test their people for the virus they'd probably find that they are worse off than we are, south africa is only seen as the worst country with aids because we have admitted we have a problem and released statistics on it but if other african countries had to release their statistics they would probably be a lot worse

 

[ShearerM4]

It's funny how he spend most of the article explaining how he doesnt understand certain things... how very appropriate.

 

[jimorrizon]

he'll score a couple of free kicks but not much will happen with him or galaxy, imho....

 

[JuventusForever]

He's not even a player imo, who cares.. he can go play in space as far as i'm concerned. He used to have character, but over the years it vanished aswell.

 

[d3adly]

pfff. what would Mark Krug know.

 

[$teauA]

I got tired of idiots in here making all these "it's not called soccer" bullcrap so I looked up the origins of the word soccer.

Here you go:

it comes from "Association Football" so there, it is derrived from a football term, so please shut the hell up.

 

[Help?]

I don't disagree that this is going to be a big boost for the game over in the states, but is it worth the massively inflated price tag? I just can't see LA Galaxy getting a good return on their investment when beck's gets to keep most of the profits from the sale of his gear & merchandise. You'll have tons of people streaming into the stadiums for the 1st season or two but will they maintain anywhere near the same level of enthusiasm five years from now or after he calls it quits. Other superstars like Pele, Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore also managed to spark people's interest in the sport, but much of that dissipated after they left. I think you need to throw just as much money into developing the local game to make sure all those youngsters converted to football stick with it for good and make the most of it in the long run.
As for the image of the game overall, I don't think someone like Beckham will change the perception many Americans currently have about soccer being a girl's sport.

Here is an annual breakdown:
Beckham gets 5 million pounds a year in wages (400,000 from MLS and the rest split between LA Galaxy and some Entertianment group)
Then he gets around 20 million pounds a year in sponsorship and endorsements like addidas etc.
Hope that helps a bit to understand where the money is actually coming from.






And who the **** is Mark Krug anyways? He is just one of those people that think US of A is the greatest country on earth and **** everybody else. And like ShearerM4 said, its pretty nice how he writes an article about how much he doesn't know or understand. Anyways, with Beckham coming over, media people like him will start feeling the pressure even more and eventually bugger off.

The fact is a fact, soccer has been steadily and rapidly growing in North America over the last 10 years, while baseball has been on a steady decline. There is a saying "a languagge dies when it is not used on the playgrounds anymore", well its the same for sports and if the genius Mark hasn't noticed, more and more baseball diamonds are being taken down or not getting used at all. Baseball in canadian high schools is almost unheard of and Cross Country is starting to make more noise in Canadian universities than baseball. I'm not talking about basketball, football or hockey because these sports are still being played by kids majorly. However, Mr. Krug should know that most immigrants in the world come to his glorious country and most of them like soccer, hell at this rate i see cricket replacing baseball in america soon, all we gotta do is kick Bush out and he will screw off with all his rednecks.



$teaua: People that complain about football being called soccer in america are being VERY hypocritical. THE original football is a thing called Rugby in today's world and football emerged from Rugby, but in the end kept the name in most parts of the world. That's recent history though, you could of coarse go as far as Mayan times when the losers could have been sacrificed to the gods.

 

[vitu]

That guy Mark needs to quit breathing I would be ashamed of myself if I wrote about something I didnt have a clue about. That's plain stupid.

 

[ZZbatam]

honestly what do you guys think its like to live in south africa

I think there is a lot of Dutch and English imigrants who are living in shiny houses and exploits black race, while they are forced to live in ruins and have no opportunities to get autta here. I can bet you are white too. Why I think so? Because you are using internet.

P.S. What's wrong with you people, you all are ready to kiss asses for good reputation.

 

[Bonzi]

Here is an annual breakdown:
Beckham gets 5 million pounds a year in wages (400,000 from MLS and the rest split between LA Galaxy and some Entertianment group)

I've just heard at Euronews his salary's gonna be 1 million dollars per week.

 

[Help?]

I've just heard at Euronews his salary's gonna be 1 million dollars per week.

1 million dollars per week = 250 million dollars over 5 years = 128 million pounds over 5 years = 25.6 million pounds annually = 20 million sponsorship + 5 million wages and we are back to the break down the i posted

 

[SouthAfrica fan]

250 million just for playing over 5 years, what the hell does he do with his money anyway

 

[pede54]

He's mentioning the fact that the LA Galaxy have a large gay fanbase. Just mentioning. He didnt show any prejudice towards them in his post.

here we are talking about Beckham going to the U.S. and then outa the blue this "guy" feels the need to mention homosexuality. There is no reason why this subject needs to be mentioned at all, unless you have issues with homosexuality. I would imagine that every football club on the planet has homosexual fans and supporters so why does this jerk need to emphasise such a matter? I'll tell you why. Because he is Homophobic and immature thats why.

And if Galaxy have indeed a "large" homosexual fanbase, why the fu<k do we need to know about that and what relevance does it have to the subject in hand?....Unless of course that a certain person is so eaten up with envy over what Beckham has that he sees nothing wrong in associating Beckham with homosexuality. That is narrow minded and pathetic.

 

[Lean]

I dont think there was any ill intentions in his posts but anyway...

 

[ShearerM4]

Real coach calls time on Beckham
Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello has revealed that David Beckham will not play for the club again after agreeing to sign for Los Angeles Galaxy.

Capello said: "Beckham will train with the team but he won't play."

He added: "He has always been a great professional, but a player who has such an important contract with another club, we cannot count on him."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6259063.stm

ouch.

 

[Lean]

I'm not sure if he's doing this because of the petty human being he is, or just to not risk an injury for Beckham. I hope it's the second.