This book is notable because it is not only an excellent read but it is also the first book I have ever read on my Kindle. Before I launch into my response to the book, let me first respond to the Kindle.
It is totally friggin sweet.
There are only two things I don't like about it. First, if you are reading it on a plane (and the Kindle is PERFECT for planes because it's so small), you will have to turn it off during take-offs and landings. It's annoying, but maybe those 15 - 2 hour moments on the plane where we must be without technology will start to become the moments where we begin to reconnect with each other. Second, though my Kindle is equipped with a web browser, it is a web browser that sucks. It's too clunky (and too small) to actually navigate a web page. But what's cool about it is you can look up words in stored dictionaries and hop on Wikipedia if you want a more detailed (and possibly dubious) explanation of something.
And yes, the Kindle has no color, but the battery power is amazing. It's a trade off I am more than happy to make.
So, on to the book (or is it e-book? Fuck it. It's a book). In the book, Grant Wahl (a writer over at SI) follows David Beckham's first two seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy. It is an incredibly well written book, and I absolutely loved it.
You get to drive with David to his first practices with the Galaxy in a tricked out Escalade. You read about the chip that develops on America's soccer wunderkind Landon Donovan. You get to rub elbows with LA Galaxy business manager Alexi Lalas and all of David Beckham's handlers. You even learn that the Beckham's are really good friends with Tom Cruise and his family (which isn't really that surprising).
But for me the most interesting thing about this book was learning about the MLS. I'll be honest, I don't really watch MLS games (I think I watched one championship game a couple years ago...), and I barely keep tabs on it. The center of my soccer universe is in Europe, where the competition is more fierce and the players are more technically gifted.
As I read this book, I was astounded to learn that when Beckham joined the team in 2007, about half of the Galaxy players (professional athletes all) were making less money then I was. The reason is that the team is subject to a 2.1 million dollar salary cap (with one player excepted for each team -- for the Galaxy that was David Beckham). This is necessary for the cash strapped league, and it makes for more parity between teams. But it was very interesting to read how David Beckham interacted with teammates making only $30,000 per year (spoiler: not very well).
I also learned that the MLS, like any other American Sport, is subject to a dizzying array of regulations and rules that just don't exist in the world of European Soccer, which ironically enough are extremely laizzez-faire. If Arsene Venger decides Arsenal needs a new goal keeper, well, he goes and looks for one in the summer transfer market. If he is willing to part with enough money, he can usually acquire one. Or, if he is lucky, he has a good prospect coming through a vast pool of reserves. Not so in the MLS. You have to squeeze him in under the salary cap, which, combined with rules that set team rosters to a limited number of reserves, makes new player acquisition a very difficult proposition. When the Galaxy brought in Dutchman Ruud Gullit for Beckham's second season, he was so overwhelmed with the different sets of rules (and so crappy as a manager) that he quit halfway through the year.
It was also interesting to read more about Alexi Lalas, who I came to not like so much as an announcer/anchor for ESPN during the last World Cup. He is very concerned with making soccer more popular in America, of making it a major sport with the same draw as baseball or (heaven forbid) American football. While I would love to see more people pay attention to soccer, because it would mean I could stop pretending to care about football at the office, I don't really care if its number 1, 2, or even 6 or 7. Soccer in America is vibrant enough not to fade away. The MLS is rooted and expanding, even if the ratings are low on TV. And as long as I can watch one or two games per week and kick a ball around on the rare occasion, well, I don't really care if its the most popular game in the land.
Well, a very good book. If you like soccer at all, its definitely worth your time.
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