How did your paper play the David Beckham signing

What I want to know is where does Becks rank among international sports figures? Behind Tiger Woods, Yao Ming, Ichiro, Michael Schumacher and Michelle Wie in my books. I don't know if he even cracks the top 10. Still pretty good from an international perspective, but he's hardly an American phenomenon.

 

I wrote a 25-inch Beckham story that ran on 1-A, with a bio box inside. We also had video link on the website, etc..And I wrote another column that will run Sunday. Our soccer audience is huge. Here in Miami, the TV ratings for World Cup blow away NBA Finals and World Series.
Happy New Year everyone..perhaps we'll cross paths at the Super Bowl.
Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald

 

Michelle Wie? Are you smoking crack? It's pobably Schumacher than him in terms of international sports figures.

 

I am talking popularity contest here. Every time she ENTERS a men's tournament, ESPN can't get enough of her. Not that ESPN is the measure of international appeal, but she does seem to attract a lot of attention for not being very good at golf, especially when she plays against men.

 

OK. What about behind Maria Sharapova and Lance Armstrong?

 

Behind both of them too. Becks is beyond a sports figure overseas. That this discussion is even taking place is futher proof of how ignorant most Americans are of what things are like elsewhere.

 

I'd love to know if Scott French wrote a story on this. Huge soccer honk in LA.

 

Agreed.
From a non-American perspective, I would say in order: 1) Tiger Woods 2) Michael Schumacher 3) David Beckham (although it pains me to say it). Roger Federer should be there as he is the most dominant sportsman on the planet right now, and he is huge nearly everywhere. But I am not sure what his profile is like in the US though. Maria Sharapova is well on the way as well.

Michelle Wie? Come on! Going into men's tournaments and not making the cut is hardly setting the world on fire. But yes, I am aware of her popularity and profile in the States.

The Beckham story is huge, as this will make him the second paid highest sports star in the world behind Tiger. Beckham is one of the most high profile stars on the planet, even though he doesn't deserve to be and is a very overrrated player.

But the story in itself is big, especially considering he is leaving one of the biggest clubs in the world to join the American league. We all know the real reason he is going is just so his tarty wife can launch her acting career in Hollywood.

 

It was page one left side above the fold in the NY Times. It was cover of both NY tabloids, and the first non-Iraq story on all three network news shows the night before. It was a front pager in the Wall Street Journal!
Anything less, and it got plenty less in both Boston papers, is a civic cry "look at our hick town!."
It's a wide world. Papers are supposed to help people take a gander at it, not validate their provincial ignorances.

 

It ran inside at our shop, but that is because we had so many local stories out front.

 

But don't you thinkwith the push for heavy local news now and the Internet and ESPN have a lot to do with this. How many papers would give the Gretzky trade this kind of consideration nowadays, since ESPN and the Web would have had the story out way before the newspaper went to press.

 

We had the story on page 9 of our tab ... but he was the cover subject.