In case Beckham needs a second job
Speaking of David Beckham (we were, yesterday), maybe the best thing he can do for soccer in the United States is not be to play in the MLS. Maybe it's to play in the NFL.
Beckham has essentially been a placekicker for England, Manchester United and Real Madrid the past few years. Free kicks, corner kicks and cross-passes from the wing are the only part of the game in which he remains a superstar.
So what if Beckham lined up to kick field goals for, say, the New York Jets? First, he'd be great at it, reminding American-football fans of the skill of the top soccer players, and second, the international media crush would be insane, reminding NFL fans of soccer's scope.
In the early decades of American football's soccer-style kicking era, which began when Hungary's Pete Gogolak signed with the Bills in 1964, the best kickers frequently were foreign-born ex-soccer players, including Garo Yepremian, Gary Anderson, Toni Fritsch, Rafael Septien, and one who came out of the North American Soccer League, Horst Muhlmann. Two others were U.S. natives out of the NASL, Chris and Matt Bahr. (Jan Stenerud was a Norway-born ex-skier.)
They quit soccer to play football. Beckham wouldn't have to.
The MLS's spring-to-fall season would dovetail with pro football's fall-to-winter calendar. Becks could bend it in Galaxy togs, and straighten it out in a helmet.
You know Beckham has the imagination for a stunt like this. Does the NFL?