January 11, 2009

David Beckham

*this is showing up weird on Internet Explorer, but if viewed in Firefox it's fine*

I always forget how much I hate David Beckham. I’m always aware of how much I dislike him, but I’m always caught off guard by the amount of hatred I have for the guy. I was trying to find out the starting lineup for AC Milan in today’s Milan/Roma game and all I came across was stories about how Becks is or isn’t starting. This made all of the hatred I had for him come flooding back. After the game as well, the only stories that were up were all about Beckham and it’s just too bad because there was much more to that game than just a debut by a “good looking” player past their prime.

I was thoroughly annoyed and Vanilla Bear and Chocolate Bear had inquired as to why I dislike him so much so I decided to officially make a list and explain my feelings.

1- He gets in the way of real news and important stuff.

David Beckham is in my way. When I google something that he has the tiniest thing to do with, all I hear about is him. This is sad because there are bigger more important things than him, but no one cares because he is there. He takes away credibility of good players and important stories with his mere presence. Becks goes to visit sick kids in a hospital and instead of them writing about the disease the children are suffering from and ways to help, everyone is just focusing on what he was wearing or some other form of Becks malarkey. He gets in the way of important stuff and it's not okay.

2- He did NOT bring football/soccer to America and he is a sellout.

Instead of trying to raise his quality of play as any player with dignity would, he took the easy way out and decided to remain just a slightly above mediocre player in the MLS. He claimed it was to bring exposure to the sport in America, but when you look at the potential earnings of $250 million we all know that is about as fake as cubic zirconium. He put money above the sport and that is just not the kind of message that somebody with his level of exposure should be sending to anyone. Then, to put that sweet cherry on top of the load of bull the whole situation was, he didn’t even play for the first few months because of a hamstring injury. If you are going to pay that much for a player, at least get someone of quality as well as someone who isn’t broken. Just pure ridiculousness. Then, when he finally did start playing, he couldn’t score a goal to save his life. The LA Galaxy couldn’t even finish at the top of their division. Then during the winter break of MLS during this season, he has sort of jumped ship and headed over AC Milan and has officially tainted the Serie A with his presence. I do have to say this though, I thoroughly enjoyed his time in the MLS because that meant as far as sports went, I didn’t have to see him ever. I mostly avoid celebrity blogs and therefore when I read sports sites, he was never in sight.

3- Perfectly sensible decisions get criticized when Becks is involved.

Fabio Capello got heavily criticized for his decision to not play Becks during Real Madrid’s 2006-2007 season. Why? Becks was not playing well. Becks was also at Real Madrid and with a roster full of superstars, it is natural and expected that he would have to compete for playing time and during that season, his level of play was not up to par as some of the other players. Also, in the middle of the season, he announced he would soon be leaving to head to the MLS, so why should a coach play a player who clearly no longer is committed to giving 100% to their team. His 4 years at Real Madrid are some of the worst in their history.

4- Everyone made a big deal about him going to Real Madrid and his time there.

He won the Supercopa, but Real Madrid had qualified from the season before he played there. Real Madrid won the La Liga once in his four years there (06-07), but that was the year that he barely played. Besides selling jersey’s what else did Becks do for Real Madrid. They are the most successful club in the world and he didn’t better them in any way. If anything, he just brought negative media attention to the club. I know a lot of Madridistas thank him for his time there and for them, I ask; Why?

5- He’s stupid.

Some people have argued that it’s okay that Becks is stupid because he’s aware of it, but to this I disagree. If Becks is stupid and he knows it, why isn’t he doing something about it. Why isn’t he picking up a book and trying to brighten himself up? This is the man that little kids look up to and people say it is okay for him to be stupid because he’s him, but it’s not at all. Role models should be more than just 2 dimensional. I think that being smart is something that should be held in high regard. It seems that being an intelligent person is something that is looked down on in society and I think that like Paris Hilton, Becks is partially to blame for this. Since when did being self aware make up for the fact that you are an idiot?

6- He takes away from the talent of other players.

If you ask most American’s who the greatest soccer player in the world right now is, most will answer David Beckham. This is because most American’s don’t know any better. Also, whenever you read a match report of a game that Becks played in, you will find a lot of it revolves around him and not the other players that possess far greater talent.

7- His Wikipedia page.

It’s just far too long.

8- He causes hypocrisy amongst fans and is not special.

The best way to explain this is to use an example. I am going to call out Vanilla Bear on this because she is really the only big Beckham fan that I know , but this sort of hypocrisy applies to most Becks fans (don’t feel so singled out). VB really loves Becks and will preach his greatness, despite him playing for Manchester United. Now this might not seem so hypocritical at first, but VB has told me that a lot of the reason she dislikes Ruud Van Nistelrooy and other players is because they have played for ManU. Why is Beckham so special that people can overlook things about him, that they can’t about other players?

9- He is not as good looking as you think.

I think a lot of the reason people thing David Beckham is good looking is because we’re told he’s good looking. He is known for being good looking, but when you get down to the matter, he’s no more good looking than many other Hollywood celebrities. In fact, he’s not even the hottest athlete out there, let alone the hottest football/soccer player. I think a lot of what people think is attractive about him also comes along with the notoriety of his fame. I’m sure that if everyone knew of every hot baller out there, Becks would definitely not be the hottest, but because most people don’t know who Iker Casillas, Fabio Cannavaro, Thierry Henry, Adrian Mutu, Raul Gonzalez,… are, they consider him the best looking.


I guess I could have just saved over 1,200 words by posting the below quote as a lot of the reason I dislike David Beckham, but I don’t think that would do it justice.
“You're more than welcome to shake your fist at the sky and curse David Beckham with me any day. Whether your reasons have to do with Beckham being the source of 12 years of sporting agony or his inability to get a sport going in your country because his legs keep encountering unfortunate accidents due to his passionate attempts to run more in the last month than he has in 10 years, it matters not. We are officially comrades in eye-rolling agony... unless, of course, you're still holding out hope for your Chosen One. If that's the case, you may as well throw yourself off a bridge because you clearly haven't a lick of sense.”

-Flashwarner.com

5 comments:

Gina Villamelon said...

I agree with pretty much all of that, I am not a Becks fan and no I don't particularly care if he's a 'good footballer' or not. I can think of plenty better that don't get half the coverage he does and they let their football do the talking for them. Anyway, I'm not going to get into all the reasons I dislike Becks, I doubt I have as many words available to me here. All I can say is *big thumbs up* to this entire post.

Venice said...

I see your points, they make perfect sense, particularly the Wiki one... but I just can't make myself hate him. I get this feeling he's intrinsically a good person, albeit a rather dumb one; I can't really explain it but he just doesn't annoy me much.

I also rate him much as a footballer, he's always been one of the better players in his side wherever he played, plus one of the rare stars who actually contributed to the NT - something I really respect.

As for the media clown that he is; he hasn't had *that* much exposure over here, so it's relatively easy to avoid him.

Vanilla Bear said...

Oh... it is *on*

:P

But seriously, I will have to do a counter post now Caramel Bear, you do realise that don't you? And so I will save my comments for that :D I do applaud your passion though, I understand why you dislike him now.

Sarah said...

I have pretty much the exact same views on Becks, but I've given up hating him. I don't like hating too many people at once because it's just too much effort. So I just do my best *not* to think about him or acknowledge his existence.

blank said...

Hee, I kind of love how much you hate him, but...

Like Venice said I see your points, but I just can't hate him either. I really do think he actually loves football and although he obviously doesn't mind all the extras, if he actually had to be just your regular everyday baller he would still be playing. As for the intelligence thing, I dont think he is that stupid. He's no Bojan, but in the football world intelligence scale he seems ok. And and it does take a certain amount of intelligence to build yourself into a massively successful brand. Or at least he was smart enough to marry Posh who knows how to do that. Anyways to me, he comes off as a good person underneath it all, and I respect how he manages to keep it together through all his ups and downs and just keeps playing.

And randomly for a total fanboy response see here. Un grande professionista, David Beckham, lol:
http://soccerlens.com/david-beckham-professionalism-personified/20479/