Submitted by Peter Poole, Jul 12, 2007 02:19

I agree with the premise of Beckham's "Long Swim Upstream", but it misses a whole area of difficulty MLS and US soccer face, and that, ironically, might be Beckham's biggest charm. Much worse than the soccer is the woeful soccer coverage by US sports media., not just the amount, but the lack of quality. English language TV play by play and commentary are mostly below standard for the profession - lacking insight, with lots of dead time, and incredibly boring. Most news publications rely on the bare bones AP reports, adding no analysis, insight, or personal touch. The most revealing is sports talk TV and radio, which actually give soccer some time - to bash it, thereby revealing the limitation of US sports journalism to native sports, and the actual fear of the world's most popular game which they know they don't get. Most sports journalists and commentators are at more of a loss when it comes to soccer than are sports fans.

Beckham will draw attention from a wider array of media without the particular limitations of our sports media. That may include writers on the social scene, entertainment, fashion, business, etc. I'd expect that to be more attractive to the soccer moms, kids, and families, and the general Latino population than the sports pages and ESPN. It won't be a miracle, but it just might help.

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