The Beckham zoo - Part II

I must admit that I watched more MLS coverage this weekend than in the previous 10 years...why? Part of it was curiosity around the freak show that is following Beckham and the other is that with out Copa America or any of the European domestic league football I had to get my fix somewhere....plus watching one more Manchester United v Arsenal from the 1960s had little appeal to me.

So what have we learned after Beckham's first MLS action?

• First the circus has come to town...and it will only get worse before regular service returns. ESPN literally had a Beckham camera zeroed in on him taking on his boots, taking them off, rubbing his ankle, and pretending to care about a friendly. They showed what it was like on the Galaxy side line just prior to kick off with what appeared to be more cameras than even a drunken Lindsey Lohan would usually expect...all taking worthless shots of Becks sitting at the end of the bench. Through out the match they kept showing Becks on split screen with the on field action. Ridiculous.
• Second, get ready for equal camera work on Beckham's better half, his talented wife Victoria. We had to be entertained to numerous shots of her sipping champagne and carrying on conversation (about what is beyond me) while apparently completely oblivious to the action on the field.
• Third, our friend Alexi Lalas will be even more in your face than usual. Although I think he has somewhat learned his lesson to temper his irrational exuberance when it comes to his star player and what he can do for the league and more importantly his poor performing LA Galaxy.
• Finally, a warning for the casual fan as well as the fan that consumed too much Lalas cool aid and thinks that Beckham is the next coming of Zidane-Mueller-Pele-Maradona-Puskas rolled into one...Beckham remains a solid player, but is a far cry from his world class days of the late 90s early 2000 with Man U. I found it incredibly amusing to hear the excitement when he pick up the ball in his defensive third of the field...did fans think he would dribble the opposing team and score a Maradona/Messi type goal? I do think he could have done that when he was 23 let alone now. And before the fans get ahead of themselves the thumping long balls he will serve will not find Van Nistelrooy or Owen at the end of them....

So we will all need to prepare ourselves for the constant Beckham circus, his first official game, his first free kick, first goal, first red card......it will be interesting to watch, but once the real action starts again in Europe I doubt I will have much desire to turn on the Galaxy - DC United game when I can watch West Ham play Newcastle instead.