The Beckham Experiment

"I think David Beckham is a fascinating guy and Grant Wahl nails the whole phenomenon superbly. Beckham is unique. He is metrosexual in a homophobic sport. He is a wonderful player, although was never close to being the game’s best. And then he comes to the United States and professes to be a pioneer for the sport – and succeeds at it almost despite himself. Beckham’s trials and tribulations in America parallel – and presage – in some way the game’s as well. There is one bit in the book that I really love, when Beckham invited the team out for dinner in Washington DC and the waiter – as a matter of course – asks all the players for their identifications prior to serving them alcohol. Apparently, Beckham had no identification on him that night – or possibly ever – never imagining that there exists any living being on this earth who would not know who he was. But sure enough, this particular waiter did not know him and made quite a fuss about not serving Beckham were he not to produce some sort of ID. Things were resolved in the end, but the story says so much as to where on the American sports firmament association football continues to reside, especially in comparison to the powerhouse big four. Nothing of the sort is even vaguely imaginable for a Kobe Bryant [basketball] or a Tom Brady [American football] or an Alex Rodriguez [baseball] or a Sidney Crosby [ice hockey]. Wahl shows Beckham’s rough reception in the United States, how things were anything but a cakewalk for him on so many different levels. The book also demonstrates how to Beckham – like to any first-rate athlete – it really matters among whom he performs and plies his trade. Excellent players want to play with players of equal abilities. And thus, Beckham’s escapades to depart temporarily from the Los Angeles Galaxy to play for AC Milan were in good part driven by his wish to play the game at a level that was higher than still remains the case in Major League Soccer. This is not to say that the league has not come a long way from its inception in 1996 and is not getting better by every season – visible improvements to which players like David Beckham have certainly contributed. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter Wahl captures well Beckham’s contributions to the complex world of ‘American soccer’. Not only has the Los Angeles Galaxy shirt with his name sold more than any comparable football shirt, but the very fact that his name has become associated with MLS, has given this young league a boost that nothing else could have – including victories by its teams on the playing field. No player in the world – not Lionel Messi, nor Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom are arguably better players than Beckham – could have given soccer such a boost (albeit sometimes rocky and temporary) than did this English-speaking crossover superstar with his Posh wife. Yes, the entire package was necessary to create this buzz. And yes, it was easy for many European football experts and Beckham detractors to ridicule this whole endeavour as nothing more than Beckham’s succumbing to Hollywood glitz, glamour and money. But as Wahl demonstrates so well, there is a lot more to the story than that. The Beckham experiment’s real results will not become visible until ten to 15 years from now when, quite possibly, a brilliant young American footballer will dazzle the world and make it clear to everybody that he chose this sport over the big four North American sports because he was fascinated by the Beckham phenomenon in all its complexities and contradictions. Were I allowed a two sentence addition to these five books, I would like to add a sixth, or a kind of 5A, which would be Murray Greenberg’s Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football . Rarely have I read such a brilliantly comprehensive biography of any individual — let alone a sports figure — that presents topics as complex as anti-Semitism, discrimination, competition, transformation of society, culture and identity throughout 20th century America as this book does. This interview was updated July 20, 2017."