Dan Steinberg was out at the D.C. United training facility today to talk to the players and get some more reaction to the Beckham extravaganza, and he wound up getting an earful from D.C. United defender Bobby Boswell on the way ESPN -- or BSPN -- handled the event:
"I'll tell you what [makes me mad]," he said. "If you watch SportsCenter today they were showing [highlights]. It was an ESPN-covered game. You would think they would show the highlights of the game, but the highlights were when Beckham warmed up, when he went in, a free kick...and then they just show him kind of after the game."And my whole point is, the goal was an exciting shot, there's a red card, there's a dirty foul: that's cool. There's a lot of chances. How do you just show him and they say, 'Oh, they lost 1-0.' What did anyone get out of that, you know what I mean?
[...]
I watched Chelsea when they played L.A.; I don't care about him taking his shoe off. I am absolutely baffled how Eric Wynalda--guys that have played the game--are just riding this thing like they don't give a damn. It just baffles me. It's a shame, man. That's not going to do soccer any good in this country, to have stuff like that.
As we've already seen, ESPN isn't really about sports anymore, just the way MTV isn't about music anymore. Remember, ESPN is about, "Who's Now" and whatever they have to do to maximize the value of their broadcast properties.
When anyone connected to the NHL talks about the "WWL" disrespecting the sport, this is what they're talking about.
UPDATE: After last night's game, I chatted up Aaron Stollar and Dave Lifton of Screaming Eagles about the circus last night, what it means for MLS and more than a little bit about D.C. United and their prospects for the rest of the season.
Oh, one other thing: Neither Dave nor Aaron think Landon Donovan will be in a Los Angeles uniform next season.
Don't forget, I've got three other clips over at AOL Video from last night:
Outside RFK Stadium at David Beckham's Debut
David Beckham Press Conference
A Transatlantic Flight to See David Beckham
SATURDAY UPDATE: Dave writes in with some notes on the Donovan situation:
The reason for Donovan leaving is because, under the Designated Player rule, every MLS player who was already making over $400,000 would, in 2008, become a Designated Player. There's an exemption for this year, so Donovan, Ruiz, Johnson, Mathis, and one or two others will become DPs next year. Every team started off this season with one DP. You can trade them, but you can't have more than two. So, in order for LA to keep Donovan, they will need to trade for a second DP slot, and they don't have anybody else worthy. Therefore, he has to go, and San Jose is the natural option. But if LA manages to get another DP, they'll be even worse. Under the rule, $400,000 counts towards the $2.4 million cap, so if you have two DPs, you've got 1/3 of your total salary being used on two players. As it is, they only have 24 players on a 28-man roster. But hey, they're the superclub, right?
Right.
What does WWL mean? I did a Google search but couldn’t find its definition.
Ah, I thought about it. Does it just mean (with sarcasm) “World Wide Leader”?
Yes.
Other nicknames used for ESPN/Disney include:
“THE FOUR LETTER”
“The Network in the Woods”
“Bristol”
“The Mouse”
“The 800-lb gorilla” (for ESPN and/or Berman)