Wynalda tell hime Rome to suck his ****!

Ok, so in five years David Beckham is going to be one of the most marketable athletes in America. It doesn't mean soccer will be a huge sport in five years. It means David Beckham will be able to sell a lot of things to America.

Someone may be marketable. It doesn't automatically mean someone's going to tune in for a Bulls-Magic game on Friday night in the middle of the season.

And to retort to the most recent post, I think the point he's making is that there are way more MLB caps sold in the U.S. than NBA caps.

 

Yeah, but you have to admit that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are way[i/] more popular than Beckam here in the US.
Secondly, yeah, that dosn't mean they'll tune into a Bulls-Magic game, but you could say the same for baseball because they're both long seasons.
Lastly, you can't compare MLB hats to NBA hats. MLB hats are much more popular. People have been wearing MLB hats since forever.

 

How do you know those jerseys weren't solely fashion items? Perhaps those were French gang-bangers you saw and were rocking the jerseys to show which gang they belonged to. Maybe he saw it as a second-hand shop and liked the colors. Unless you stopped each Frenchman wearing an NBA jersey and quizzed him, you can't say he bought it because he liked that player.

Nobody is denying the NBA is growing in popularity overseas. We are saying it's silly to say that it'll surpass soccer, rugby, Aussie Rules, cricket or whatever else are the big entrenched sports in particular areas.

 

What I'm saying is that it'll be up there with those sports. In time, it'll be part of the culture.

 

If you could spell Beckham's last name right, he's appreciate it. And he could clean up over here. He has the wife, the looks and the game to win over a lot of America.

If they're both long seasons, then shouldn't ratings improve when the playoffs come around. MLB still draws more for its postseason than the NBA. And for the sake of the argument, lets not bring the rest of the world into this. We are talking about ratings within the U.S., which is what the league should be concerned about. The NBA is losing its domestic audience.

 

Yet you don't think soccer can do the same here?

 

I hope soccer can do the same here. But I think they need to get the MLS up there with La Liga and UEFA.

 

The point is they're trying to do that. They're just doing it gradually, as it needs to be done so they don't implode the whole thing. This MLS season will be better than the one before it, and it will continue to get better because better players are coming through and wanting to play here.

It's not going to be La Liga or the Premier League soon, but it's still a good league, and the macho posturing about soccer never taking hold is simply ignoring the footholds the sport is making in the climate:

A spotlight show on ESPN2 every Thursday, with live games on FSC and Telefutura every week. The league and sport are gaining legitimacy, and it's time people took their heads out of the sand and noticed.

 

GB, that's where I'm going to disagree. Beckham is on the down side of his career, which means the first impression a lot of the public are going to have of him isn't his best. Don't believe that Beckham is going to have a dramatic effect on soccer's popularity in the U.S.

 

Shotty, Beckham is 31 and is hardly on the downside. Before he got hurt a few weeks ago, he had been recalled to the Real Madrid team, and was proving a catalyst for them going forward. He's ready to go, and ready to prove he hasn't lost his edge.

He still wants to play for his country, something that was being discussed before he got injured. You don't beat out Gerrard, Lampard et al. for midfield places when you're on the downside of your career.

 

Beckham still has the skill and ability to play in the EPL and make some real good money doing so. It is correct that he isn't in his prime, but he still has enough skill and flash to be a difference maker.

He will bring fans out to watch due to the curiosity factor. It is hope from MLS that he will keep the eyeballs afterward.

 

Well, that's about the only point where I disagree with you two, so that's not too bad...