Friday, July 13, 2007

Truth and consequences

Certain things keep popping up in news stories that make it clear how little a lot of media know about Major League Soccer in general and the Galaxy in particular.

So, in the interest of well, informing them, here goes.

1) Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was booed at Beckham's presentation primarily because he is considered a Chivas USA fan, and they are one of the Galaxy's biggest rivals. Villaraigosa welcomed their premier signings, Francisco Palencia and Juan Pablo Garcia, to the league in a big LA Coliseum presentation and was photographed wearing a Chivas USA jersey and claiming to be a fan. Galaxy fans will not forgive this. They booed him back in 2005, when he showed up at the Galaxy's trophy presentation for winning the MLS Cup. The fact that the mayor is divorcing his wife and dating a reporter who once covered him just added fuel to their fire of mocking him anyway.

2) Yes, the Galaxy have won only three of twelve games this season. They've also tied four games, which means they've not lost more games than they've lost. In soccer, there are points given for ties, which are called draws. To be specific, a draw gets a team one point. Wins are three points.

3) Incidentally, the Galaxy's best player (pre-Beckham), Landon Donovan, has missed about half the games the team has played. Their arguably second-best player, Chris Albright, injured himself early this season. Think how many championships the Lakers would have won if this happened to Kobe and Shaq back in their heyday. I'm not making excuses for the Galaxy, but this detail is hardly ever mentioned.

4) The biggest cheers at Galaxy games (pre-Beckham) are for LA icon Cobi Jones. Yes, he's still playing, and still effective, considering he's scored four goals this season, including two in his last league game.

5) That semi-pro team the Galaxy lost to recently? That wasn't a league game, but the unfortunately marginalized Open Cup competition. MLS teams, including the league champions, the Houston Dynamo, and the club with the most league titles, DC United, bowed out in the same round of competition to lower-league squads partly because MLS squads typically field a number of their bench players in the games.

6) Yes, some MLS players earn woeful salaries, though they are earning more than ever now. They also don't work (play league games) for about four months of the year, can often charge high fees working with youth soccer camps, earn extra money for public appearances, and are fully covered by health insurance.

7) A team changing colors and logos is fairly common in American sports. Another MLS team, the Colorado Rapids, did it earlier this year as part of the festivities to christen their new stadium. The Houston Dynamo changed their original name, 1836, to avoid offending people.

8) While Beckham will no doubt draw new fans to watch Galaxy games, the LA squad has led the league in attendance every year MLS has existed.

9) LA Galaxy fans cheered Victoria Beckham because, well, she's cute.

10) Alexi Lalas is a great quote and can write half of your article before he stops to take a breath.

**** And most importantly - the Galaxy are NOT paying Beckham 250 million. He earns a little over 5 million a year in salary. Sponsorship deals and a percentage of jersey sales could add up to potentially as much as the 250 million. It's sponsorship money and royalty fees, though, not salary money from the Galaxy owners or the league.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad you pointed that out - you should be that last one in bold and in caps...I'm so tired of reading that.