Not Even A Shirtless Beckham Can Save Soccer On The Big Island

It seems that no matter what time zone they’re in, the LA Galaxy just seem to suck. That’s why it came as a surprise that, even with a healthy David Beckham, they were invited to participate in the inaugural Pan-Pacific games. But the ploy to get butts in the seats failed, with only a reported 15,000 watching his Galaxy lose to Gamba Osaka of Japan, which the New York Times says was really half that. While that’s still more than a Marlins’ game, it’s hardly the number befitting a team with the biggest soccer star in the known universe. So how do organizers build upon that miserable showing on the Big Island… or anywhere? Maybe the full frontal nudity at the end can clue them in.

David Beckham played the full 90 minutes for L.A., but he didn’t have much impact on the match. The loudest crowd noise of the night came at the end of the game when Beckham took his shirt off and gave it to a spectator.

Perhaps M.L.S. should have scheduled a photo-op with a shirtless Beckham on the beach a day or two before the game. That would have generated more publicity for the match. However, a spokesman for the Galaxy told me “we’re trying to market David Beckham as a soccer player, not as a sex symbol.”

Ah, the Galaxy marketing department’s as inept as the product on the field. We said it once, and we’ll say it again–drop the pretense and get out those beefcake Becks posters out now if you really want to cash in.
Soccer Fever Fails to Grip Hawaii [Goal/NYTimes]
Image [Honolulu Advertiser]