From bigsoccer.com
"The empty vessel makes the loudest sound."
William Shakespeare
"Well I guess it all started the first time I went through the second grade. I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking 'Wow, you're ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career.'"
Derek Zoolander
Just finished reading Grant Wahl's 'The Beckham Experiment'. So I'm later than a Paul Scholes Soccer News Topics tackle on this, but I only received my copy last week. Got through it in three nights, no problem. This is my review:
I once tried to be a proper football journalist. But I failed, sort of – I still write about football for a living, but I deal now in lightweight opinion, leaving a trail of cynical banter and lame gags in my wake. In short, I'm too vain and too cowardly to make it as a hack. I don't like asking difficult questions because I want people to like me; if you can't ask a difficult question, you can forget ever making it to the top in journalism.
Grant Wahl, however, is a proper journalist. In writing 'The Beckham Experiment', Wahl has asked the questions that needed to be asked; he has done much the same thing throughout his career as a soccer reporter for Sports Soccer News Topics Illustrated.
It sounds simple but as I discovered first-hand, it's anything but. To stand up in a room full of your peers and ask a question that you know will unsettle or downright offend the person on the end of that question, takes more guts and bigger balls than you might think. Or, you might say, it takes an employer with clout. In that respect, Wahl has taken advantage of his heavyweight credentials; SI wasn't about to give copy approval – hell, any sort of approval – to the sinister, controlling Team Beckham. We should all be thankful that at least one publication can stand up for itself in this sorry age of press manipulation, puff pieces and wagged dogs. Either way, good on Wahl/SI.
The Beckham Experiment is a serious book, well written and virtually watertight in its research/assertions. There's a good reason why Beckham hasn't come out and publicly countered any of the sh*t chucked at him – he knows Wahl has got him good, from all angles, but of course he's not man enough to come out and say: "OK Grant, you got me." Instead he stoops to making sharp comments in press conferences, aimed at Wahl about the unofficial status of the book.
Beckham clearly feels betrayed by Wahl (sorry David, but Wahl did his job – unlike you), and he is struggling to contain the adolescent's anger that burns inside him. Would the two recent ugly confrontations with Galaxy fans have happened without the existence of The Beckham Experiment? Perhaps not. It shows how much Beckham is used to getting his own way.
About Beckham: as a fellow Englishman, I feel like saying sorry to every single MLS fan for his behaviour. Honestly, I'm embarrassed by the immaturity and breathtaking two-facedness of the guy – and to think I once defended him. The mask has not just slipped, it's in the dirt. Long after Beckham has slunk back to Europe, citing dreams of lighting up South Africa in 2010 (with no more than his usual recipe of Blue Steel pouts and dead balls), his name will be mud in MLS. Quite right too. Truth is, Becks is not fit to clean Juan Pablo Angel's boots.
It's uncanny how Beckham failed to do the right thing at almost every turn in his time with the Galaxy. Quite how he ever got near a captain's armband is beyond me; he has no more leadership skills than your average 14-year-old Halo 3 player – you know, the type of kid who screams in your face when he 'rapes' you, then cries foul when someone casually tosses a sticky grenade onto his boot.
Beckham comes across as a simple 'man', shallow and vain and with not much to say for himself – not even when strong words were needed in the Galaxy's darkest hours, could Beckham muster an ounce of leadership.
Example: Becks has never used his democratic right to vote, claiming that he doesn't want to get mired in politics or take sides. Jesus, grow a backbone already. I'm not asking you to be George Cooney, but make a f**king effort. But no – this is a guy who wants to be seen at Lakers' games, not to ogle cheerleaders but to remember what success feels like (even Shaq is done with him now). And because he likes hip-hop culture. "What's my view on how Gordon Brown Soccer News Topics is leading Britain through the recession? Er, dunno. But check out the big-arse rims on my ride!" "It's 'big-ass', Dave."
Just as bad, of course, the Galaxy's management let Beckham get away with it all. Indeed, none of the doublespeaking suits comes out of the book in credit. Put a suit on Alexi Lalas Soccer News Topics, he is transformed into David Brent. At least in the end he saves some face when the suit is replaced by his true biker threads. Tim Lieweke? All about the numbers, but there is a heart in there somewhere, and at least he managed to wrest back some control of the Galaxy from Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment, aka The Ministry of Hype and Celebrity. Terry Byrne? A harmless fall guy who gets off relatively lightly. Ruud Gullit Soccer News Topics? I knew he was arrogant, but not this arrogant. "Shet piechesh, who needs them?" I mean, you couldn't choose a worse head coach in MLS than Gullit if you set out with the sole intention of doing exactly that.
If these are the villains, then the heroes are Beckham's long-suffering Galaxy team-mates, especially men like Alan Gordon. The veteran striker is painted as the very antithesis of Beckham and therefore he comes across as strangely admirable, despite his many shortcomings as a player. Landon Donovan also shines by comparison with Beckham. Mandon (nee Landycakes) is no angel (he can sulk with the best of them), but he fronts up most of the time and at least he seems to live in the real world. I just wish he had had the cojones to hold onto the Galaxy armband from the start.
Some reviewers have pointed out that The Beckham Experiment is more about MLS than it is about the cover star. This is true but the book is also as much about the author as it is about Beckham. Because the one man to come out of this (ongoing) fiasco with his reputation enhanced is Wahl. He stared at the Galaxy's brightest star without blinking, and came away not dazzled but determined to tell the truth
"The empty vessel makes the loudest sound."
William Shakespeare
"Well I guess it all started the first time I went through the second grade. I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking 'Wow, you're ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career.'"
Derek Zoolander
Just finished reading Grant Wahl's 'The Beckham Experiment'. So I'm later than a Paul Scholes Soccer News Topics tackle on this, but I only received my copy last week. Got through it in three nights, no problem. This is my review:
I once tried to be a proper football journalist. But I failed, sort of – I still write about football for a living, but I deal now in lightweight opinion, leaving a trail of cynical banter and lame gags in my wake. In short, I'm too vain and too cowardly to make it as a hack. I don't like asking difficult questions because I want people to like me; if you can't ask a difficult question, you can forget ever making it to the top in journalism.
Grant Wahl, however, is a proper journalist. In writing 'The Beckham Experiment', Wahl has asked the questions that needed to be asked; he has done much the same thing throughout his career as a soccer reporter for Sports Soccer News Topics Illustrated.
It sounds simple but as I discovered first-hand, it's anything but. To stand up in a room full of your peers and ask a question that you know will unsettle or downright offend the person on the end of that question, takes more guts and bigger balls than you might think. Or, you might say, it takes an employer with clout. In that respect, Wahl has taken advantage of his heavyweight credentials; SI wasn't about to give copy approval – hell, any sort of approval – to the sinister, controlling Team Beckham. We should all be thankful that at least one publication can stand up for itself in this sorry age of press manipulation, puff pieces and wagged dogs. Either way, good on Wahl/SI.
The Beckham Experiment is a serious book, well written and virtually watertight in its research/assertions. There's a good reason why Beckham hasn't come out and publicly countered any of the sh*t chucked at him – he knows Wahl has got him good, from all angles, but of course he's not man enough to come out and say: "OK Grant, you got me." Instead he stoops to making sharp comments in press conferences, aimed at Wahl about the unofficial status of the book.
Beckham clearly feels betrayed by Wahl (sorry David, but Wahl did his job – unlike you), and he is struggling to contain the adolescent's anger that burns inside him. Would the two recent ugly confrontations with Galaxy fans have happened without the existence of The Beckham Experiment? Perhaps not. It shows how much Beckham is used to getting his own way.
About Beckham: as a fellow Englishman, I feel like saying sorry to every single MLS fan for his behaviour. Honestly, I'm embarrassed by the immaturity and breathtaking two-facedness of the guy – and to think I once defended him. The mask has not just slipped, it's in the dirt. Long after Beckham has slunk back to Europe, citing dreams of lighting up South Africa in 2010 (with no more than his usual recipe of Blue Steel pouts and dead balls), his name will be mud in MLS. Quite right too. Truth is, Becks is not fit to clean Juan Pablo Angel's boots.
It's uncanny how Beckham failed to do the right thing at almost every turn in his time with the Galaxy. Quite how he ever got near a captain's armband is beyond me; he has no more leadership skills than your average 14-year-old Halo 3 player – you know, the type of kid who screams in your face when he 'rapes' you, then cries foul when someone casually tosses a sticky grenade onto his boot.
Beckham comes across as a simple 'man', shallow and vain and with not much to say for himself – not even when strong words were needed in the Galaxy's darkest hours, could Beckham muster an ounce of leadership.
Example: Becks has never used his democratic right to vote, claiming that he doesn't want to get mired in politics or take sides. Jesus, grow a backbone already. I'm not asking you to be George Cooney, but make a f**king effort. But no – this is a guy who wants to be seen at Lakers' games, not to ogle cheerleaders but to remember what success feels like (even Shaq is done with him now). And because he likes hip-hop culture. "What's my view on how Gordon Brown Soccer News Topics is leading Britain through the recession? Er, dunno. But check out the big-arse rims on my ride!" "It's 'big-ass', Dave."
Just as bad, of course, the Galaxy's management let Beckham get away with it all. Indeed, none of the doublespeaking suits comes out of the book in credit. Put a suit on Alexi Lalas Soccer News Topics, he is transformed into David Brent. At least in the end he saves some face when the suit is replaced by his true biker threads. Tim Lieweke? All about the numbers, but there is a heart in there somewhere, and at least he managed to wrest back some control of the Galaxy from Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment, aka The Ministry of Hype and Celebrity. Terry Byrne? A harmless fall guy who gets off relatively lightly. Ruud Gullit Soccer News Topics? I knew he was arrogant, but not this arrogant. "Shet piechesh, who needs them?" I mean, you couldn't choose a worse head coach in MLS than Gullit if you set out with the sole intention of doing exactly that.
If these are the villains, then the heroes are Beckham's long-suffering Galaxy team-mates, especially men like Alan Gordon. The veteran striker is painted as the very antithesis of Beckham and therefore he comes across as strangely admirable, despite his many shortcomings as a player. Landon Donovan also shines by comparison with Beckham. Mandon (nee Landycakes) is no angel (he can sulk with the best of them), but he fronts up most of the time and at least he seems to live in the real world. I just wish he had had the cojones to hold onto the Galaxy armband from the start.
Some reviewers have pointed out that The Beckham Experiment is more about MLS than it is about the cover star. This is true but the book is also as much about the author as it is about Beckham. Because the one man to come out of this (ongoing) fiasco with his reputation enhanced is Wahl. He stared at the Galaxy's brightest star without blinking, and came away not dazzled but determined to tell the truth