Bothered by Beckham

A number of the press at last night's game had come specifically to cover Beckham's return to the squad and were not happy that he wasn't made available to the media at all. After Beckham's first matches with the squad, he would do post-game interviews. Locker room interviews with Beckham have always been denied.

Beckham hasn't done post-training interviews, either. So basically, the story many reporters had come to get was completely shut down.

It's not the first time an MLS player has avoided media. I'm not based in New York, but I hear that Amado Guevara, while he played there, boycotted interviews with English media for about a year because he was unhappy with an article written by one reporter.

When Landon Donovan first returned from Germany to play in MLS in 2005, the media attention on him was pretty intense. The Galaxy instituted a rule for a while that Landon wouldn't do any interviews on Fridays.

This was really a pain for me, because at the time, Fridays were the only days I could come to trainings to conduct interviews.

At various points, players have shaken their heads "no" when I've asked for interviews, or just given that quick smile and ignored the pleas to answer questions. Giovanni Dos Santos, at the Mexico Guatemala friendly, tortured the press by smiling and chatting with some cousins of his right in front of the barrier holding back at least fifty reporters begging him to say a few words to them. He ignored them all.

With regards to Beckham, however, here's someone who was supposed to be an ambassador for the sport in the U.S., and now he's been coy and hard to get for days, even though he's back playing. I don't know if he's making a concerted effort to avoid being a distraction to the team while they push for the playoffs, but it's leaving a lot of disgruntled reporters grousing in the press box. It's tough when you promise an editor a Beckham story and can't get a single word from the man.