Comments on: David Beckham vs Landon Donovan: Celebrity vs Football Professional

By: Ted Westervelt

Ted Westervelt — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:05:41 +0000

Beckham bashing is getting out of control – and has a weird corporate tinge to it. Company men like Lalas call the MLS a “feeder league” in their sleep – yet Becks really believed that this league was going to deliver on it’s promise of first class soccer in the USA through a closed franchise model that has consistently failed the sport here in the USA. That was his mistake.

Donovan a “football professional” as opposed to Beckham? Gimme a break… this knee jerk defense of the exhibition league MLS is absurd. Beckham is caught in the Hotel California – he can check out any time he likes, but he can never leave. It was a horrible career move.

By: Jimmister

Jimmister — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:43:53 +0000

I love the title. What I love even more is how superior of a footballer Beckham is to Donovan. Footballing professional…. surely you don’t mean Donovan, an arrogant piece of garbage who disgraces anyone around him. The same “pro” who can only be called that because he gets paid to play, not that he actually plays against pro-level competition. He is a brutal player who will never succeed at the top level, and it isn’t like he hasn’t had his chances, he is just too poor quality to take them. How can you even compare Beckham, a Champions League winner who was at one time the most deadly passer and free-kick artist in the game, to Donovan, a guy who had unsuccessful loan spells in Germany, more famous for his enlarged forehead and embarrassing arrogance tan his ability. Donovan has all of the worst attributes of C Ronaldo’s attitude, but without the incredible skill to justify it. There is simply no basis for this article, I’m sure if Bayern wanted to keep Donovan he would stay in Germany like Beckham stayed in Italy

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:47:56 +0000

Haha the US league is shocking. The USA should just stick to playing Baseball, Basketball and American football because they simply cant play Football/Soccer?

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:19:11 +0000

Let me get this straight. An experience with people unsure of your accent means that all Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world. That’s sound logic.

And you know what? Who cares? At least we’re not quick to demonize and heap scorn; if anything, Americans are respected and often derided for wanting to connect, to make friends.

Call it bumpkin innocence but at least it’s well-intended.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:22:57 +0000

Haha @ spurs support!
Not exactly hard to beat Tottenham these days, is it? Thats why you’re fighting relegation.
My little cousins powerleague team could probably beat Tottenham right now!

By: James

James — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:10:13 +0000

Your ignorance of beckham supposdly ‘running away’, ‘hiding’, and ‘not playing in games, sulking, bad attitude and disruptive/lackadaisical play’

You clearly no nothing about the man if you think this is true..that man comes back time and time again when hes written off..the reason he wants to leave your joke of a league is for the love of his country and then chance to represent it again in a world cup on the highest stage..

Kartik Krishnaiyer.. resentments which masks envy?? mate, the whole world resents america..are you really ignorant enough to think the whole world envys you?? also what a laod of tosh you speak about our league..’so much is because the game which is more latinized and indigenous to our climate/geography looks nothing like the game in the rainy, maritime, short distance to travel British Isles’.. why do all the top players int he world want to play in it if its like you say then??

By: Beckhim

Beckhim — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:32:16 +0000

If Beckham is such a superstar why is he running away from his duties ? He failed to bring world cup to England and he is failing to make MLS the 5th major league in the US. USA has lot of money and he should have been the driving force in attracting world talent to USA instead of the other way around.

By: Kartik Krishnaiyer

Kartik Krishnaiyer — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:10:34 +0000

Boy assutt7 you haven’t been to the UK, where I just was where there is so much resentment towards Yanks its amazing. A lot of it is resentment which masks envy.

You are right about the accents though. Aussie accents are 180 degrees from English ones. Actually an English accent from Newcastle sounds NOTHING like a Londoner. Americans separated by the seas are sometimes very ignorant, because of the uniformity of American life. Accents are not very different from one part of the nation to the other outside the deep south (even the border states of the south now have accents that have been corrupted by the number of yankees that have moved in) and most Americans insult the beautiful game by calling it “soccer” a term that has no place in football.

That having been said, we don’t look to England for our inspiration. Prior to the invasion of foreign players starting with the likes of Eric Cantona, English league football was garbage compared to the continent and today the English game continues to be almost incompatible with the geography and climate of the US. We look south to Latin America for our tactics and inspiration and to southern europe as well.

One of the reasons the English trash MLS and US Soccer so much is because the game which is more latinized and indigenous to our climate/geography looks nothing like the game in the rainy, maritime, short distance to travel British Isles. The other reason is that the Brits are afflicted with Yank hate that masks the Yank envy many have (and euro hate which is Euro envy…………don’t think the anti EU politics of the Tories is simply based on “protecting British interests” ) and thus they must trash everything American that they can (and European also).

By: asutt7

asutt7 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:35:54 +0000

Soccer Guru: I’m just going on from what games i have been 2…I’m talking from my experiences with the MLS not yours or from the history archives..

Jezza: I’m with you buddy, the commentators don’t know what they are even watching and makes it so hard to watch a full 45mins not even to think about watching the whole game….

Also the funny thing about Americans is that they are so clueless and ignorant to the rest of the world, that when I was over the in November they all kept asking me if I was from England…HA they can’t even tell the difference between and Australian accent to a English accent…. There is soooo my jealousy towards the UK over in the US…I got stuck on the plane with a US lady, she was a nice enough woman but she just bagged the Poms for almost 9 hours its was hilarious…and she was just rambling shit that didnt even make sense…

By: bing

bing — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:06:49 +0000

I agree with the article. Beckham should at least show some respect to his MLS club. Afterall it was his decision, nobody forced him, to join the MLS. Beckham is a famous football player (not really the most famous in the world as some claim) not because he is a great player but because of his looks. He is a creation of the English media because in the last decades England/Britain, has not anymore produced a world class talent. So the English media overhyped and over promoted him to represent English football.

I like to watch Donovan play. He is talented but he needs some self confidence. But if he stays with Bayern Munich, he will develop into a great player. For those who commented that they do not know him, please do not exaggerate and please do not be arrogant. If you are a true football fan, for sure you have heard or you have seen him play with the US national team or with Bayern Munich.