Wednesday 23 January 2008

A familiar voice greets my USA arrival

I've just arrived in a cold Los Angeles - and who's was the first English accent I heard? Yep, you guessed it, David Beckham.
No he wasn't walking down the street in a sarong or popping out of the barbers with a new hair do - he was on the telly as part of his continual quest to make it big in the US.
And what was Becks up to? Well with the American soccer season at an end, he wasn't out on the pitch - instead he was sitting in a diner having lunch with none other than Snoop Dogg - as part of Snoop's TV show, Father Hood, which is big over here right now.
Its a little like The Osbornes but rather than feature Sharon and Ossie, it has Snoop bringing up his kids in LA. Anyway, Snoop was taking his mate 'Dave' out for a chicken salad at the diner and they were chatting about soccer and rap music. Becks was trying to play it cool but looked a bit stupid sitting next to ice cool Snoop.
Still that David Beckham factor is still big over here, but as I wander the streets of up-market Santa Monica, I wonder how big of a deal he really is over here.
Its one year since Beckham made that move to the LA Galaxy and sure, the sports shops are full of Galaxy shirts with Beckham 23 on the back - but I don't see anyone wearing them - and I don't think they really sell that well.I think the plan is really to try and make the LA Galaxy and adidas brand big in other parts of the world - why else would LA Galaxy have recently toured in Australia and New Zealand?And you can quite imagine that there will be repeats of their friendlies against the likes of Chelsea last summer when English clubs are looking for a big name game at the start of their new season in August.
Until then, it seems Beckham is a much bigger name in showbiz circles - but when it comes to the actual soccer side, its my impression that most Amercian sports fans, still think the man is a bit of a joke.

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