So, yeah, that Beckham fellow is back in the U.S. Let's be honest, in this already busy summer of soccer in the U.S., it's not exactly on the top of my radar. It does bear mentioning, if you're fan of soccer in America, Grant Wahl's book on Beckham in America is a must-read, if only for the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on in MLS.
Maybe the biggest impact the book will actually have is when the MLS Players Union works on a new collective bargaining agreement. All the union reps really need to do is open up any chapter of the book the details the rinky-dink travel and accommodations the league uses and the owners don't stand much of a chance, at least in the court of public opinion. Eventually, too, MLS might get past the mindset that charter flights and or different hotels aren't competitive advantages.
Then again, the league's Trotsky-esque socialist platform has kept it afloat all these years. Still, there's no excuse that players -- professional athletes -- aren't paid a living wage.
Eventually, with all the new expansion teams and owners Don Garber & Co. are going to be forced to loosen up the reigns (or purse strings) and let each club have its own autonomy. Is that day a year away or five or ten? For MLS to ever break a lot of the stigmas attached to it, this needs to happen at some point.
Changing gears, one thing about Beckham's return got me to thinking. Certain sectors of MLS have these pie-in-the-sky dreams that international stars like Beckham or even a Pavel Nedved (the latest in the over-30 Euro rumor brigade) will make the league more relevant. (Hate to pimp stuff, but my live blog of the 2007 Galaxy/Chelsea game still holds up, at least as a solid way to waste five minutes.)
What this line of thinking ignores and to some degree disrespects is the players actually in the league. There is a difference between a star player and a world class player. Look at it this way, Luciano Emilio was a star player in Honduras when D.C. United brought him into the fold in 2007, but at the same time he wasn't close to sniffing a call-up to the Brazil national team.
In every league around the globe at every level, there are standout, star players. Granted a star in the Uzbek Premier League isn't exactly on par with a star in the English Premier League, but you get my point. These guys stand out. They get people talking or excited or pissed off when they roll into town.
Need a better example? Any country with its own television station has its own sets of stars, personalities ... and some extremely bizarre programming. Are these assortments of kooks and cranks on par with our beloved Hollywood icon? Obviously not, but in their respective fish bowls they are are a big deal.
MLS has tried to promote players -- Taylor Twellman leaps to mind -- but it doesn't seem to do a good enough job across the board.
Maybe it's not possible, with the restrictions of a $2.1 million salary cap. Maybe it's too much like 'Brazil' (the movie, not the national team) where everyone is supposed to stand in line and be counted anonymously. Yet why isn't a rising player in the mold of Stuart Holden pumped up a little bit? Is it a fear of him swimming away to greener shores across the Atlantic?
It's not to say the league needs a bad boy player, a guy that pulls down his pants or flips off the crowd to draw some heat. This isn't MMA or pro wrestling.
That said, a little injection of personality and flair wouldn't exactly kill the league. And it would better position itself when Beckham inevitably rides off into the sunset after the season.
Unfortunately, it would seem MLS is caught in the crunch of so many other external factors -- namely unlike just about every other U.S. pro circuit, it's not the elite league worldwide. Are they afraid the American public won't buy a "star player" who will never be mistaken for a Lionel Messi?
Still, there is a phrase that's been coined -- Big in Japan. Why not amend that to -- Big in MLS?
If it's good enough for David St. Hubbins, it's good enough for me.
Maybe the biggest impact the book will actually have is when the MLS Players Union works on a new collective bargaining agreement. All the union reps really need to do is open up any chapter of the book the details the rinky-dink travel and accommodations the league uses and the owners don't stand much of a chance, at least in the court of public opinion. Eventually, too, MLS might get past the mindset that charter flights and or different hotels aren't competitive advantages.
Then again, the league's Trotsky-esque socialist platform has kept it afloat all these years. Still, there's no excuse that players -- professional athletes -- aren't paid a living wage.
Eventually, with all the new expansion teams and owners Don Garber & Co. are going to be forced to loosen up the reigns (or purse strings) and let each club have its own autonomy. Is that day a year away or five or ten? For MLS to ever break a lot of the stigmas attached to it, this needs to happen at some point.
Changing gears, one thing about Beckham's return got me to thinking. Certain sectors of MLS have these pie-in-the-sky dreams that international stars like Beckham or even a Pavel Nedved (the latest in the over-30 Euro rumor brigade) will make the league more relevant. (Hate to pimp stuff, but my live blog of the 2007 Galaxy/Chelsea game still holds up, at least as a solid way to waste five minutes.)
What this line of thinking ignores and to some degree disrespects is the players actually in the league. There is a difference between a star player and a world class player. Look at it this way, Luciano Emilio was a star player in Honduras when D.C. United brought him into the fold in 2007, but at the same time he wasn't close to sniffing a call-up to the Brazil national team.
In every league around the globe at every level, there are standout, star players. Granted a star in the Uzbek Premier League isn't exactly on par with a star in the English Premier League, but you get my point. These guys stand out. They get people talking or excited or pissed off when they roll into town.
Need a better example? Any country with its own television station has its own sets of stars, personalities ... and some extremely bizarre programming. Are these assortments of kooks and cranks on par with our beloved Hollywood icon? Obviously not, but in their respective fish bowls they are are a big deal.
MLS has tried to promote players -- Taylor Twellman leaps to mind -- but it doesn't seem to do a good enough job across the board.
Maybe it's not possible, with the restrictions of a $2.1 million salary cap. Maybe it's too much like 'Brazil' (the movie, not the national team) where everyone is supposed to stand in line and be counted anonymously. Yet why isn't a rising player in the mold of Stuart Holden pumped up a little bit? Is it a fear of him swimming away to greener shores across the Atlantic?
It's not to say the league needs a bad boy player, a guy that pulls down his pants or flips off the crowd to draw some heat. This isn't MMA or pro wrestling.
That said, a little injection of personality and flair wouldn't exactly kill the league. And it would better position itself when Beckham inevitably rides off into the sunset after the season.
Unfortunately, it would seem MLS is caught in the crunch of so many other external factors -- namely unlike just about every other U.S. pro circuit, it's not the elite league worldwide. Are they afraid the American public won't buy a "star player" who will never be mistaken for a Lionel Messi?
Still, there is a phrase that's been coined -- Big in Japan. Why not amend that to -- Big in MLS?
If it's good enough for David St. Hubbins, it's good enough for me.
Labels: David Beckham, MLS, Soccer
I agree with your assessment that the MLS doesn't necessarily need world stars to have star power in their league. In fact, the urge to get faded world stars to come to MLS is likely to be expensive (Beckham) or even simply over the head of many Americans (Abel Xavier).
Michael Owen, as evidenced by the recent pants-peeing in the UK, is very much a local star. Teams in Spain or Italy were not salivating over the Brochurian Candidate (TM) coming to their teams - but in England he is a star, no matter how many games he plays or goals he scores in 09/10. In Manchester, reporters will be trying to read Owen and see if he is ready to complain that SAF isn't playing him enough, or if Owen has anything mean to say about C-Ron. Owen would not be a star anywhere else, except maybe at that Turkish team that partied in the streets when Darius Vassell arrived, but in the Premiership, Owen is one more intriguing story for the new season.
Could Twellman or Holden be those kind of stars? Absolutely. But you also hit on the other point - the bland-ness that MLS seems so eager to project. For fear of alienating the delicate sensibilities of the imaginary 'soccer mom' the league keeps everything scrubbed and drama free - even as their fans absorb UFC and the drama of 'Real Housewives of Foreclosure-Town.' Where is the drama and the 'bite' in MLS?
That is where stars come from. Confilct. Agression. Disagreements. Not from smiley, happy press conferences where the players spout every 'back against the wall' and 'give it a hundred and seventy kajillion percent' quotes out of the Bull Durham playbook. The MLS is often boring because the games aren't great AND because everyone is so freaking nice. Methodist picnic levels of nice - and that puts me (and newspaper editors and columnists) to sleep.
Lando (no more 'Cakes from me) calling out Bulgeham is GREAT for MLS. Fan-farking-tastic.
How come the league hasn't been able to make Blanco a great 'villain' in Chicago? Blanco is the perfect 'love to hate him when he is on the other team' kind of guy. Every Aztec Warrior goal celebration on the road should elicit a chorus of boos for Cuhatemec - but that is not part of the MLS plan.
Great Lalas interview on the AOL side, BTW.
Interesting, we both seem to have reached the same conclusion from Wahl's book. It's not so much about Beckham or even the Galaxy but about MLS and how (despite all the league talk about "infrastructure) it remains very much bush league in many respects. The salary cap and "single entity business structure" have clearly outlived their usefulness. How much so is made clear in the book. Either settle on semi-pro status forever and make no pretense at names like Beckham (and Blanco, etc.) or give the teams some autonomy--and longer pursestrings.
Great way to wake up this morning to catch Cardillo and the 30f rejoinder.
As I read this post, I tried to remember how I got into soccer. It was actually through playing Championship Manager back in '99 -- I picked the EPL to play in just because that I knew the most teams in that league (at that time, the big 4). Soon after playing, I think my fox sports cable affiliate was showing the EPL highlights package, and then eventually I would catch games.
Now I watch EPL mainly out of habit, but I don't think its necessarily the "prettiest football" out there. However, they do a terrific job of packaging the league (the telecast, the commentators, the graphics, the weekly recaps) -- that's all top notch. To 30f's point, those weekly recaps did a great job of putting those "conflicts/feuds/storylines" together, and kept me involved. Agreed that the league has to improve its product on the pitch, but I'd love to see a weekly recaps show a la EPL review on ESPN2, or even FSC.
On a somewhat related note of media/packaging: Whats up with the US-Mexico game in Azteca? 3pm start? and it's only going to be on mun2 (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2009/07/telemundos_for_usa-mexico.html#more) Does the early start time give Mexico an advantage (heat/weather?), or /putting tinfoil hat on is this the Mexico Federation's way of downplaying this game anticipating a possible US victory? /takes tinfoil hat off
Continuing the 'MLS star search' theme. After RBNY looked so weak last night, I saw this on Twitter 'JozyAltidore17 - Finally back in florida about to home and sleep...what's wrong with my red bulls??? Thanks for the love and support people! Night'
Hmm. What could be wrong with the Red Bulls???? Wait! I know! Their best player is in Florida and about to go home and sleep. Obviously not the whole problem with RBNY, but at least part of the issue.
@mac31 -
I recall watching FA Cup games (?!?) on my local PBS affiliate in the early 80s. That was an odd combo.
The highlights packages you describe are a key element - but they need to have flavor/attitude/point-of-view in order to connect with modern sports fans. I think those EPL packages largely do (at least now) and if they don't - there are other outlets (like here) where people can see/hear a non-Boy Scout approach.
A coach with a team on a losing streak - is he 'working hard to get his team back on he winning track' or is the coach 'facing mutinies in the locker room and on the verge of being fired'? Same situation - but a different take. Real soccer leagues are full of that kind of intrigue. The NFL and NBA are covered in a way that plays up those story lines - attracting fans because they seem like the f*^%ing truth.
Only MLS, and the single-entity system (though maybe the WNBA is similar, and that can't be good) ensure their league is presented in the softest, no-bad-feelings kind of way. What is this, 1954 and us fans can't know that Mantle is drunk? MLS, don't spare our feelings - give us the truth, or someone's opinion. Give me someone to disagree with. Someone to boo.
That was one of the reasons I was always down on Lando in the past. He (possibly through little effort of his own) was projected as the poster boy for that cuddly, AYSO approach to the game. Donovan was voted 'player of the year' a couple times when it seemed like there were better options (Deuce, Friedel, Howard) - in part because Lando and his family friendly image was 'on message' with what MLS wanted to sell us. That strategy was/is all wrong in my opinion - and this recent uproar over Wahl's book and Lando's response has been a breath of fresh air. Team mates are always gonna disagree at times, and the criticism of the Golden One made me both more interested in these games AND respect America's best player even more.
Sorry for that tangent. The US is currently getting MUCH improved coverage/access to soccer - here and in UK, Italy, Spain, Germany. Now the coverage we get just needs more depth and texture - which is slowly coming. I feel so grown up.