MAKE BEN FAIR

Big day for American soccer Beckham takes the field for his first match. I have mixed emotions about this entire deal. On one hand, he is bringing so much attention to soccer in the states and that is a good thing. The thing that i hate is how this is becoming news on E television. I hate with a passion celebrity crap. I don't care who Paris Hilton is dating, what Britney is smoking and how Lindsay is doing in rehab. That is rubbish. I do enjoy a great soccer match and if soccer in America turns into E tv, then i am going to have a problem.

Everyone keeps talking about how soccer isn't a big deal in America and that Beckham is going to change that, and he will as far as helping the MLS become a more popular league. But soccer is huge in America. More kids play soccer in the us than any other sport and more kids play soccer in the us than in any other country in the world. When the US hosted the world cup, it was the best attended World Cup in the history of the World Cup to date. More people watched the world cup finals than any of the games of the last world series. America is becoming a more diverse country with our friends from the south continuing to move up to the USA to get better jobs and so their love for the game will only strengthen soccer's popularity in America. Disney has just signed a major 4 yr. deal with Chelsea FC to become the official pro soccer club of Disney's Wide World of Sports complex and presenting sponsor of the Disney Soccer Showcase Series. Liverpool FC was recently purchased by the owner of the Texas Rangers. So English Premier league soccer is going to continue to grow in popularity in America.

Soccer is huge in America, it just seems that ESPN and the other networks are the last to stand up and take notice. Now with Beckham coming over, they will have a reason to give it some long overdue media attention. This is where the irony sets in, if Beckham continues to only bring hollywood attention, in the long run the game will suffer. Well lets be honest, it will actually make it so big that the only way to watch baseball will be pay per view (praise GOD!) but the game will suffer for those millions of people who already love soccer, watch soccer, follow soccer. Because it will go from being the underdog that still has a shred of pure sport left in it to becoming another watered down corporate commercial.