DownSwinging.com

Last night in Los Angeles, the L.A. Galaxy played a match with a squad that included David Beckham for the first time in 5 months. To make it extra interesting, they were playing A.C. Milan, the team that Beckham has been playing with, and the team that he would like to continue his career with. Beckham has made his desire to join San Siro no secret, causing some uproar amongst Galaxy fans.

Needless to say, Beckham was greeted with a mixed reaction to say the least, with several anti-Beckham signs in the stands and certainly a good amount of booing. Just before half-time Beckham went over to the stands where some particularly raucous fans were shouting at him, allegedly to shake their hands, and things turned a bit ugly. Before I get into anything else, this was inordinately stupid of Beckham. Why would you ever try and interact with the fans that are hating on you? That can only go poorly, and sure enough it did. Becks has never exactly been Albert Einstein, and he sure demonstrated that yesterday. Just a poor, poor decision from the England international.

But what I really want to talk about here is why the fans are justified in giving Beckham the treatment he got last night. In some ways, this is partially caused by some culture differences, at least at the sporting level. European soccer players tend to be a bit more vocal regarding their own opinions of whatever situation they may be in. They seek new teams, criticize those around them and ask for increased salaries at a far more public level than athletes do in the United States. Sure, on occassion we do hear of players requesting a trade, but by and large players are signed by an organization, paid money, and they go out and play for them until they are told otherwise. So the fact that Beckham became disillusioned with life Hollywood and decided to seek out an actual football club was rather surprising to fans, or surprising that it would have happened already. See, another key difference between Europe and the U.S. is the importance placed on contracts. Apparently, European contracts mean next to nothing, while in the United States they are everything. Therefore most Americans see the whole process of being ended by the fact that Beckham’s contract isn’t finished, therefore, he must stay. Unfortunately, the MLS is in a place where it must adopt to European ways and mannerisms, and not the other way around.

But do not let Beckham off the hook for this reason. Despite the custom, the fact is that Beckham signed a contract making almost twice as much money as Alex Rodriguez each season, and has barely played for the team in the grand scheme of things. He was supposed to be the savior, the one to legitimize the MLS, and he has decided that responsibility was not something he wanted anymore. While Steve asserts this issue is mostly due to personnel decisions with the Galaxy, I fault Beckham. His ambassadorship of European football to the MLS has been a complete waste of time and money. It’s unfortunate that a man of his wealth and calibre took advantage of such a feeble league for his own selfish reasons. No one forced him to make the move to the U.S., but once he did, he was committed.

So if I was a Galaxy fan, or a fan of the MLS in general, I would feel betrayed by the English star. And I would be mad. Expect more of the same Beckham, you’re not making anyone happier.