How did I miss this?

BECKHAM IS COMING TO AMERICA!!!!!!

More when I get home....

OK. Anyway, more important than his skills (which some say are waning), more important than gutting the budget of the MLS is the sponsorships. Yeah, he's getting paid oodles of money, but not just from the team, also from the likes of Pepsi, Gilette, blah blah blah. This is important because if the major corporations are willing to invest so much into SOCCER, then no doubt will it become more profitable and thus more popular. Those sort of heavyweights can buy time onto major airwaves, build real stadiums and set up high-profile tournaments.

Also, I think that even if no one in America had ever heard of David Beckham, he'd still be one of the most famous people in the world. Little kids in Afghanistan know who he is. (Seriously, we'd bring soccer balls into a village and the kids would cheer and yell, "oo! football! beckham!") Soccer is just one more aspect of America that is out of touch with the rest of the world. We look upon soccer with disdain. We see it as boring, meant for skinny kids who weren't athletic enough to play football or baseball or basketball or any other "real" sport. We are totally oblivious to the fanaticism the sport generates around the world. There's a fancy term for this... "American Exceptionalism" I think is what I'm looking for. It'd be nice - since we can't seem to do it politically - if America was in step with the world in at least one aspect.

On a more selfish note, in the past Portland has been host to a few high level tournaments. Even though our stadium is small and the pitch treacherous, big names come here to play because we're known for our enthusiastic fan base ("Soccer City, USA" and all). So maybe, just maybe, I'll get the chance to see the man himself play. So what if he's old; he can still kick a ball like no one's business.