Bye-bye Beckham?

Anyone here surprised that after a a season and a half in the U.S. (and a full season near the bottom of Major League Soccer), Mr. Beckham is preparing to head back across the pond, albeit temporarily?

Yeah, me neither.

Whether this is a prelude to his permanent departure still isn't clear. MLS officials swear Becks will be back in the Galaxy lineup when the 2009 regular season kicks off, and we have no reason to doubt them, do we?

I mean, there's absolutely no possible chance that he could, say, pick up an injury over the winter that might delay his return to MLS in the spring... right? Nothing like that has ever happened to Beckham, has it?

Exactly.

So MLS is in the clear, and comfortable knowing their most valuable asset is 100% safe playing in Serie A.

But what about the rest of us? Are we any closer to knowing where this loan deal came from and where it's headed?

Not yet.

Both the league and the team issued resounding "no comments" when asked about the prospective Beckham loan.

Still, a closer look at what's already been published should give you a few clues about who didn't cook up this deal.

Here's the story published Wednesday on Major League Soccer's website.

Note that while the headline claims the Galaxy is negotiating with AC Milan over Beckham's services, the story contains no quotes from Galaxy officials.

Which makes sense when you consider that a few hours before the official MLS story hit the Internet, Galaxy head coach and GM Bruce Arena -- the guy who, presumably, would be deeply involved in any transaction involving one of his players -- didn't know a thing about the proposed loan until earlier that day.

If you didn't click on the link, here's the money quote:

"The first I heard about it was today . . . but I would think [given] the position the Galaxy is in and [the fact that] we're rebuilding our team and trying to have a successful year, it would seem very odd to me if we were loaning out our top players at the start of the season. It would seem pretty odd to me to operate that way."

So clearly this move didn't come from the Galaxy.

Interesting that the story's author, L.A. Times soccer writer Grahame Jones, thinks it's time the Galaxy jettisoned Beckham.

I'm not sure I'd go that far yet, but I don't think I'm off base in saying that Arena echoes what a lot of people thought when they first heard about the deal.

The loan's benefits to Beckham are pretty clear:

A paycheque to carry him though the lean off-season months.

A chance to train daily with some of the world's top players.

An inside track on a spot on England's national team.

But what will MLS get out of this loan besides a setback in their efforts to become a true major league and a winter filled with worry that their moneymaker might get hurt?

Oh, right.

They get to keep their highest-paid player happy by giving him exactly what he wants.

And right now he wants to spend the winter playing in Europe.

If you were running Major League Soccer, would you be the one to tell Beckham no?

-- Morgan Campbell

 

New motivation ... and a Ruud awakening

New Motivation

Four days before their final home game of the season, TFC split their squad for Tuesday's practice.

While reserve team players like Gabe Gala and part-time senior teamers like Abdus Ibrahim hit the field for a full-fledged practice, other members of the main roster worked indoors with strength coach Paul Winsper.

Tuesday practices haven't always been this way, but TFC hasn't lost since they switched to this routine two weeks ago, so head coach John Carver is reluctant to change back.

"We're trying to follow the pattern that's gotten us four points out of six," Carver said as the reserves ran through drills under a grey skies Tuesday morning. "It should be six points out of six, if I'm being honest."

The last half of that quote, of course, refers to the two points TFC squandered when a Julius James' foul led to Kenny Cooper's injury time penalty kick, which he knocked past Greg Sutton to tie Saturday night's game in Dallas.

No penalty and TFC has 34 points, tying them with DC United.

Instead they're stuck at 32, the same total as the almighty L.A. Galaxy, though TFC outranks Beckham's boys in the overall standings thanks to a pair of springtime victories over L.A.

Still, with two ties bracketing their win in New York, TFC has now earned points in three straight games. It's their most successful stretch since their six-game unbeaten streak last spring, and cause for celebration when contrasted with the mediocrity that defined their summer.

TFC's recent success, modest as  it is, prompts one obvious question:

Where have these performances been all year?

Carver attributes the team's improved play to a few factors, like Danny Dichio's health and Chad Barrett's growing familiarity with his new teammates.

He also says the approaching off-season gives players a little more incentive to perform. With Seattle set to enter the league next season, MLS teams can only protect 11 players from the expansion draft, while making the rest of their squad available. Beyond that, Carver has spoken openly for months about upgrading at several positions before next season starts, and thinks the looming reality of job insecurity makes the team's incumbent players hustle a little harder.

"I've been delighted (with the team's recent play)," he said. "They're playing for their contracts and they know that."

A Ruud Awakening

Former L.A. Galaxy manager Ruud Gullit visited Los Angeles over the weekend. While there he conducted an interview with Reuters in which he accused the more established American sports of conspiring to limit soccer's popularity in the U.S. He thinks this conspiracy is powerful enough to nullify any boost in popularity David Beckham might bring to stateside soccer.

Here's the money quote.

"David is more than just a football player and I think he does extremely well to give football here a lift," Gullit told Reuters. "I think [American soccer organizers] are afraid of football because it's so popular everywhere around the world. I think they will just control it so it doesn't become more popular than their American sports.

"I have my doubts if they really want to make [soccer] popular. Some sports already have had a bit of a dive so they don't want American football to become less popular, or basketball or baseball."

   I didn't witness the interview but I assume Gullit said all that with a straight face.

The idea that American football outlets would need to engage in a conspiracy to contain soccer's popularity is laughable.

This summer CBS agreed to pay the Southeastern conference $55 million annually for the broadcast rights to SEC football and basketball games, then in August ESPN offered a further $150 million a year to show SEC games on cable.

If you live in the U.S. Midwest you can watch all the SEC action you can stomach, plus College Sports TV on digital cable and the Big Ten Network on basic cable.

Add it all up and I can only conclude that sports like football and college basketball are as popular as they've ever been in the U.S. and aren't exactly worried about Major League Soccer siphoning away fans.

The NHL, maybe, but football's doing just fine. Maybe Gullit would understand that if he had coached into autumn.

Before I continue, I'll acknowledge that Gullit is not the only guy who suspects there's a conspiracy to keep soccer out of the (North) American sports mainstream. Some Star readers have accused me of being part of that conspiracy myself, so to a certain extent I understand where Gullit's coming from.

But as a guy who has interviewed Ruud, I can't reconcile his words with his refusal to discuss Beckham when I visited an L.A. Galaxy practice in mid-April. I was there working on a story about The Beckham Effect, but Gullit deflected every question I asked about his star player, electing instead to talk about the team.

From a coaching standpoint I understand his reluctance to single out individuals. I would also understand if he felt that a true soccer fan -- and anyone trying to become one -- pays attention to the entire game, and not just one player.  But from a marketing standpoint everyone associated with the Galaxy understands by now that Beckham pays the bills, and when reporters arrive from out of town, it's usually because they want to talk about him.

Gullit knew the drill in April but he refused to do the dance, but now in October he's suddenly concerned about Beckham's ability to "give football here a lift."

Strange.

-- Morgan Campbell

Another chapter in coaches' rants

1.  Rants

As we've discussed on the blog before, Toronto FC head coach John Carver blows up at reporters from time to time.

STAR PHOTO

Excited Carver.

I didn't think it was that bad, even when Carver directed his frustration at me.

And Friday we received another reminder that the relationship between coaches and the media can become much more tense than it will ever be on the TFC beat.

This latest manager-media meltdown comes from Carver's old club, Newcastle United, where new manager Joe Kinnear engaged in a lively, profane sparring session with local reporters, who he suspects are already trying to get him fired.

Before I post the link, understand that it includes a slew of swear words. They're all bleeped out, but I figured our more squeamish readers would appreciate the warning.

Anyway, here it is, via this reporter's favourite sports blog, The Big Lead.

On my all time list of anti-media rants it ranks way above the jabs Carver threw at local reporters this summer, one because nobody (including Carver) took that rant personally, while listening to Kinnear you get the sense that he's half a second away from doing something he'll regret.

And second, Kinnear's rant includes both f-bombs and threats of a lawsuit.

Make that three lawsuits.

That's not just a coach blowing off steam. The man has a grudge and he intends to see it through.

Still, it rises no higher than third on my all-time list of coach-versus-reporter tirades.

Silver medal goes to former Kansas City Royals manager Hal McRae, who tosses f-bombs and telephones with equal ease in this tantrum, touched off when a reporter had the nerve to ask if he had considered using George Brett as a pinch-hitter.

And gold goes to Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy's post-game lambasting of a local columnist last autumn.

Not only does Gundy utter one of they year's most quotable one-liners -- "I'm a man! I'm 40!" -- but he points out (correctly) that editors are as responsible as reporters are for what hits the paper. Now, I've never read the column in question, so I'm not sure if Gundy has a legitimate beef about bad journalism or if he simply doesn't like the story. But I give him credit for knowing at least a little about how newspapers work. Kinnear, in contrast, rips a reporter over an offensive headline.

*Note to readers: reporters don't write headlines. Copy editors do.

More than anything, though, Gundy outpaces McRae and Kinnear because he delivers a three-minute tirade without swearing once.

That, folks, takes skill.

2. Back to MLS

Earlier this season we discussed the MLS salary cap, and how teams like Toronto FC could win more games for less money if they emulated teams like New England and got some production out of the guys at the bottom of the pay scale.

This week SI.com's Greg Lalas offers his take on Major League Soccer's salary structure.

His argument?

That expanding the salary cap raises the league's level of play, not by allowing them to sign more superstars, but by enabling them to sign high-quality mid-level (American) players who normally bypass MLS for other leagues.

3. This Just In

Just about to spell check and post this entry when an email arrives from the Canadian Soccer Association, detailing its roster for the next two World Cup Qualifiers (Oct. 11 in Honduras and Oct. 15 against Mexico in Edmonton).

If you clicked the link you picked it up, but if you didn't I'll inform you that John Carver will have a little less to complain about this time around, because neither Jim Brennan nor Greg Sutton was named to the national team roster.

The national team is not completely TFC-free, with midfielder Kevin Harmse getting the call, but I'm sure Carver would rather lose one backup than two starters.

With Pat Onstad also left off the roster and Adrian Serioux and Dwayne De Rosario sidelined because of yellow cards, Harmse is the only MLS player with a chance to play for Canada next week.

-- Morgan Campbell