The Beckham Experiment

"Let him be the captain. You be the star."
Just finished Grant Wahl's fascinating recount of the two year soap opera that unfolded after David Beckham, the "world's most famous athlete", signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer (MLS). Interestingly, there is not a single exclusive or off-the-record quote from "Becks" in the book's entire 290 pages. But that is kind of the point. The guy lives in a (self-imposed) bubble, where spontaneity is not an option. The irony, I think, is that Beckham still views himself as the no-nonsense guy that he undoubtedly once was. The opportunity for candor afforded to the lesser lights of the Galaxy -- players earning as little $12,900 per season compared to Beckham's $6,500,000 -- had been replaced by banal sound bites repeated so frequently as to become some of the book's best punchlines. Wahl also delightfully depicts the political manoeuvrings that made MLS's signing of Beckham possible and the subsequent blame game when the Galaxy's results failed to improve after he joined the team. These shenanigans came as a disappointment to this reader -- my naive side wanted the purity of the sport to win out -- but they will sound eerily familiar to those of us involved in "civilian corporate life". The story is expertly paced, picking up steam as the luster of the signing wears off and the conflicts begin.
In the end, I was left to wonder if David Beckham's manicured public persona is any more credible than that of the other "world's most famous athlete", Tiger Woods.