Doing The Hometown Proud

Most people know I am not the biggest soccer fan in the world, especially women's soccer. But when someone from my hometown is playing for a national team it is a big deal. Stephanie Lopez (#14 in above picture) is competing in the Women's World Cup in China and starting to boot. I have come across 2 articles on Lopez in the last few days. Here's one from The Oregonian and one from The Washington Post. (Thanks to this Portland Pilots blog for the link to the Post article.) In addition to being from my hometown I can honestly say I know her. Whether she remembers me could be an entirely different story. I knew her brother fairly well, her parents were leaders in my church youth group and I think my sister was friends with her. (I never did a good job of keeping track of who my sister's friends were so can't say for sure.) There, I stated 3 connections to her so I obviously know her very well. When I left for college she was finishing her freshman year of high school so I obviously was not able to appreciate the fact that my alma mater's girl's soccer team had a world class player. Lopez will finish a distinguished career at the University of Portland following the World Cup, has a bright future with the U.S. team and, according to the article, getting married soon. Seems like things are going well for her and that is good to see.

(Photo from U.S. Soccer.)

Beckham Plays, What Next?

David Beckham played yesterday and apparently people are excited. I wouldn't know I was camping. As far as I can tell I missed next to nothing and the ankle injury had nothing to do with it (I will explain later). I know it's impossible for him to be Michael Jordan in a sport where offense is not celebrated. At least not the point-scoring offense Americans prefer and rightfully expect. Ticket prices seem rather high so we need something to put us in the seats. Now the soccer elitists are going to counter that the game is beautiful and the reason for Beckham's arrival is not to score tons of goals. They are right I suppose. It instead is to put fannies in seats (Americans like goals) and raise the profile of soccer (Americans like offense). I counter that the most important reason for Beckham's presence in the U.S. is so some people make tons of money, (see Beckham, David). People need to be honest with themselves and realize money is the true reason for him coming here. It's primarily money for him but there are some other folks out there that will benefit.

As for the injury, I know that Beckham is nursing an injured ankle. The only thing that affected was his playing time. Whether he is 40%, 80% or 100% he is still a midfielder and still plays soccer. Goals are minimal and after a while Americans will hate that the soccer play that makes Beckham most famous, direct kicks, are a result of cowardly flops and terrible acting. Now that I've disputed the injury argument from our soccer friends I will return to the reasons for Beckham's arrival, and why the first game is a sign that he will be glad he came over but American soccer will not.

Of course I knew Beckham was here and going to play in an exhibition game against an English club, Chelsea FC. With the constant promos on ESPN and reality television shows (I heard the Victoria Beckham show was entertaining by the way) I was under the impression this was a major event. Imagine my surprise when I read a sellout crowd of 27,000 people were in attendance. I wasn't surprised it was a sellout, I was shocked that the capacity was 27,000 people. The MLS brings one of the world's most famous people to play soccer and all they can find is a 27,000-seat stadium? I don't care if this is an ordinary stadium for the MLS, this was not an ordinary game. Beckham debuted and Chelsea FC was the opponent. Put the game in a bigger stadium so Beckham can at least feel like he earned some of his money. If the kid that plays Harry Potter was going to play for the Galaxy against a 40-and-over rec league team from Pierre, SD more than 27,000 people would show up. I understand not playing in an enormous stadium but there might be more than 27,000 people at the first day of Alabama football practice in a couple of weeks. That is American football for anyone thinking Beckham really has altered the sports landscape.

As far as catapulting soccer in America, I'm not sure if that is going to happen. When news of Beckham's signing with the MLS first broke I thought that might happen. Now that it he is actually here, I'd bet against it. You're to tell me Americans are finally going to start liking soccer because a good-looking man is playing in the midfield and kicking penalty kicks? I am not an expert on male hotness but I am confident hot men can be seen doing a lot more exciting things in the United States. Whether that is playing a ball sport that requires the use of hands or acting in movies, I can't say. A more expert opinion is needed to figure that out for sure.

The novelty of an international celebrity playing soccer in the United States is going to fade before too long. I would hope for the sake of the hype machine that sold-out crowds will see the Galaxy play as long as Beckham is playing. However, the diminutive size of the stadiums need to be considered when contemplating the presence of a soccer revolution. I applaud the MLS for trying something new and creating excitement but I doubt it will have the long-term effects hoped for. One thing the MLS does have going for them is that the WNBA still exists. It is a miracle of Biblical proportions that the WNBA exists. I knew a lot of Americans were stupid but I guess I underestimate just how stupid. Would someone explain to me why it is so difficult to find a couple million dollars funding for a legitimately good business idea when at the same time the WNBA exists?

(Photo from Getty Images.)

While I Was Gone

I did not get much sports news while I was away so I spent a fair amount of time today catching up on things. Work is a bit slow at the moment so I was able to get away with it. There were a few things that happened that caught my eye.

1. Home Run Derby - Vlad won the Derby, which made me very happy. It appears there weren't very many home runs hit. In particular, no one had a fair ball land in McCovey Cove. For whatever reason this gave people reason to marvel at the greatness of Barry Bonds. Personally, I saw it more as a reason to marvel at the greatness of BALCO.

2. All-Star Game - How in the hell does Albert Pujols have as many ABs at this year's All-Star Game as (insert name of your favorite 6-year old cousin)? If Tony LaRussa thinks managing to lose the game is going to keep the Dodgers from winning the World Series he is gravely mistaken.

3. Greg Oden - Check out this YouTube clip and explain to me why the NBA is using 8 ft. hoops for summer league. Everyone wants to look at the fact that Oden had 19 fouls in 2 games and say he was terrible. I contend that number is more of an indictment on the high school refs they had at the games. Oden will dominate. The Blazers will win championships.

4. Tour de France - This thing started and nobody cares. I remember a few years ago it was a big deal for me to wake up at 6:00 am to catch the end of each stage to see where Lance was. Now that he has retired and everyone else has been busted for drugs people are more excited about eating contests and I wake up later. Only the NHL has any idea what the Tour is feeling these days.

5. David Beckham - The Beckhams arrived in LA and it was a big deal. I'll give the guy credit and admit he probably is good-looking but I'm not sure that is going to make Americans watch football. My unhealthy sports addiction is well-documented but I am certainly not going to watch MLS games because he is playing. I vow to only care about the World Cup and no male model is going to change that.

6. Yankees Still Suck - It is mid-July and people still haven't figured this out. The Yankees play some horrendous teams with one-fourth their payroll and folks think they are new and improved. That simply is not the case. They still have the most overrated player at nearly every position, embarrassingly poor pitching and a racist manager (so says Gary Sheffield and Kenny Lofton). That trifecta tells me they may finish above .500 but miles away from a playoff berth.

(Photo from Kimberly White/Reuters.)

America Is Good at Soccer?

I realize talking about soccer may be a mistake. The small number of people that read this blog may become even smaller. Someone has overvalued American soccer and I don't appreciate it. If you were asked which league is better, the English Premier League or Major League Soccer, what would you say? According to Alexi Lalas it's a tie, the MLS is just as good as the English Premier League. For folks that know who Lalas is it is only because he had long, flaming red hair when he played. I am not a soccer aficionado but I do know that if you are any good at soccer you do not play professionally in the U.S. With that, how could anyone say the MLS is equal to the Premier League? There is no reason to use the 'age of the leagues is so different' argument. That fact clearly had nothing to do with Lalas' assertion.

Again, I'm not a big soccer guy but it seems to me this would be the same thing as saying the Little League World Champions are equal to the MLB World Series Champions. It makes absolutely no sense. I recall catching a piece of a soccer game last year or so on TV with a European pro team involved. I'm pretty sure it was a Premier League team. Anyhow, the MLS all-stars played this team. What's more is that the Premier League team did not have its best players because this was their pre-season and they were doing more important things. If I recall correctly, the MLS team ended up winning but nothing would have suggested to the viewers that a team of MLS all-stars could compete in the Premier League, let alone a regular MLS club.

The Premier League seems to have some of the most rabid fans in all of sports. Stadiums are packed and cities live or die with where their teams are in the standings. On the other hand, an average sports fan in America has no chance of naming more than 3 MLS teams. There is absolutely no interest in the league as games are played in tiny stadiums with second-rate players. I define them as second-rate because they get paid next to nothing when compared with the big boys in Europe. It is essentially the same as the Arena Football League and the NFL. Until I see someone leave the NFL in his prime to play for Jon Bon Jovi I am not going to listen to Lalas. I leave Lalas with one question. If the two leagues are so similar why are Premier League teams being sold for hundreds of millions of dollars and MLS teams being sold in packages for a few million dollars?

(Photo of Cristiano Ronaldo from the Premier League website.)