Beckham and Co.

I don't really have much of anything to say about the new book by soccer writer Grant Wahl, "The Beckham Experiment." It has some pretty salacious sports gossip and cat-fighting, if you're into that sort of thing, but from what I've read so far it seems like a pretty interesting and in-depth look into...well, the Beckham experiment. All that aside though, I'm hugely amused by this anecdote from the book:

Joe Cannon took a sip of his drink and surveyed the scene. For nine years the Galaxy's All-Pro goalkeeper had waited for this, waited for MLS to feel like the spectacle of the NBA and the NFL, waited for gorgeous women in skintight sequined tops to flash come-hither looks his way just because of the team he played on. Cannon knew this would happen once Beckham arrived. Wasn't that what he'd said at Cobi Jones's birthday party in June when one of the players' girlfriends had asked if Cannon was dating anyone?

"Nah," he replied. "I'm kind of waiting for David to get here."

"What does that mean?" Alan Gordon asked.

"You know, all the girls."

Gordon couldn't take it. "Joe, what do you think is going to change?" he asked. "Seriously. You're still the same person. Like a girl is going to want to get with you just because David Beckham is on the team. What are you gonna do, pull a little Beckham out of your pocket and say, ‘See, look! Here I am!' No, dude."

Now of course the fuller excerpts is about the whirlwind of attention that follows Beckham wherever he goes. But the thought of Joe Cannon, a fairly successful American soccer player in his own right, waiting for Beckham to arrive so as to increase his personal chances of getting laid, amuses me to no end.

Beckham Staying in L.A.

So says Tim Leiweke, chief executive of the company that owns the Galaxy, and he sounds none to happy with the games AC Milan has been playing:

"He will be back here on March 9 and we don't want to entertain any more conversations now," Leiweke said. "It is a distraction to [Galaxy Coach] Bruce Arena, the team and the fans, and we move on. That's the last we're going to talk about this."

Asked what would happen if the Italian club made an offer over the weekend or next week, Leiweke said: "They'll come back. Sure they will. But we owe it to our fans [not to consider it]. They've been reading all these stories and we lose credibility by the day. That's not fair. We owe it to Bruce and we owe it to the rest of the team. We're a month away from our season."

Leiweke said AC Milan had not come close to offering what AEG and MLS believe Beckham is worth.

"They've never been in the ballpark," Leiweke said, referring to the figure of more than $10 million that MLS Commissioner Don Garber, who imposed Friday's deadline, said the league would expect to receive.

"What they've tried to do is use David and use us," Leiweke said. "We're not going to play that game anymore. This has been extremely damaging and distracting for our team.

Of course as we've seen, Beckham sounds more than ready to bolt to Italy, so I imagine he's going to be frustrated by this development. I also imagine that if he registers his disappointment, and AC Milan decides to pay what he's worth, this situation could change.

Becks to MLS

I know the war is escalating in Iraq, we're blasting Somalis and Afghans, and bin Laden is still on the run, but sometimes you have to take a break and enjoy the good news:

The Los Angeles Galaxy have completed arguably the biggest transaction in MLS history Thursday, signing midfielder David Beckham from Real Madrid.

Beckham has agreed to a five-year deal with the Galaxy. He'll join the club during the summer transfer window after his contract with Real expires on June 30.

If you don't already know how big of a deal this is, then just stop reading here because I can't do it justice trying to explain it to you.

Now guess how much he's getting paid. No really, guess.

Nope, not even close:

The Galaxy didn't say exactly what they'll pay him, but floated a figure of $250 million in salary and commercial endorsements over the five years of his contract. In other words, his move could be worth $1 million a week.

That means in two weeks he'll make what the now former highest paid player in MLS made last year. And he may not be alone. Rumor has it another big-name footballer is considering a move:

Since a blockbuster deal was announced to bring Soccer superstar David Beckham to the USA (a la the LA Galaxy), reports are now surfacing that another big name star, Ronaldo, might also be following Beckham to the States.

Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldo appears ready to hang it up with Spain's team Real Madrid, the Spanish daily newspaper Marca reported Thursday.

You'll note, Beckham's move was also predicated on the souring of his relationship with Real Madrid. The story may not end the same with Ronaldo, but it is certainly most intriguing.

Now of course, these guys aren't coming to Dallas. Only cities as big as LA and NY can contain the likes of Beckham and Ronaldo. But lost in all the shuffle is some news on the FCD front as well (via Frontburner):

FC Dallas has entered into talks with Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids about joining their team. When reached at the SuperDraft in Indianapolis, FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow confirmed that dialog with the hard nosed midfielder had been ongoing. "His name came up back in England when I went there after Christmas to look at some players and speak to some agents and right away I was interested." Talks between FCD and the midfielder started then and with the transfer window closing at the end of the month, a deal could happen quickly. "We've come a long way in the last couple weeks," said Morrow. "He has some other offers, but I feel good and positive about it."

Davids isn't a young man (neither are Beckham and Ronaldo) and their days as prime players are perhaps over. But Davids is a legitimate international super-star (just not an uber star like Becks and Ronaldo) and scoring him for FC Dallas would be a major, major coup.

Anyway, that's it for the good news. Go read about Iraq and Somalia if you're looking to be depressed agian.