Comments on: Soccer Journalism: Blatant British plagiarism of Grant Wahl

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:06:10 +0000

Good stuff Creaven!

I’m quite looking forward to reading Wahl’s book for the inside story on the Beckham disaster. Its another case of US Soccer trying to go for the long ball toward legitimacy rather than earn success the hard way. The analogy to how we play on the field is rather juicy!!!

In any case, Wahl’s book will be a closely followed closeup on Soccer in the USA and its international sales will be boosted by team USA’s performance in South Africa. Given this the “journalistic” standards in the UK press are rather astounding and I hope their practice gets a bit more focus and ire in the near future.

For us here in the US, the view of Landon Donovan offered by the book will be interesting. Is he the warrior we saw against Spain/Brazil or Landycakes? What kind of teammate is he? what kind of teammate is Becks? How does the rest of the US Soccer enterprise fare in creating the debacle we saw unfold? Was Beckham given bad advise by his people regarding the situation in LA? What does the whole financial situation with US Pro Soccer mean for the future? How can we advance with the sort of salaries the squad players make?

Keep the good stuff coming!

By: Shawn Gillogly

Shawn Gillogly — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:22:18 +0000

Peter,

As Zico said. Donovan’s concern was not for himself. Donovan’s concern was for his mates who were getting $45 per day per diem for meals while Beckham made more than any TEAM in MLS and insisted they go to an ultra-expensive dinner.

All in all, I think the criticisms Donovan levied are fair. Even when it came to Europe, Landon has never allowed his interest in overseas damage the club that has his contract or the league. Like him or not, he’s been a loyal soldier for MLS and US Soccer.

By: Zico

Zico — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:15:04 +0000

Peter, now you are misrepresenting the story (intentionally?) Donovan wasn’t upset that Beckham wasn’t paying for his dinner–he was upset that Beckham wasn’t helping out guys who make $15-20K per year.

By: Peter Bering

Peter Bering — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:20:52 +0000

Big deal, really. This is just some gossip that Mr Whale decided to put into a book(!). But he already put the main points into the public domain himself. None of these other reporters pretend having been told about the multimillionaire Donovan’s pain at not having his dinner paid for anyway. They just always want to report the latest gossip in steady streams. The US, btw, has too many lawyers – about 4x too many.

By: lbgc

lbgc — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:18:55 +0000

Thinking that Beckham could give US Soccer a fan base boost was crazy…now…if say NASL could’ve gotten Pele to play for a major market team, like one in New York…THEN soccer would be popular in the US of A.

Just my opinion.

By: Jason Davis

Jason Davis — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:08:55 +0000

I’ve been amazed at how many “reputable” publications have been treating these quotes as if they happened yesterday as well. I suppose it takes away from the story in jolly old England where Beckham still commands so much attention if they did as they should and indicate in their lead that Donovan’s sentiments come from Wahl’s book. Obviously the comments couldn’t be too recent if Wahl had to write the book before having it edited before it’s publication, but so many in the English press (and I suspect other foreign English-language outlets) would rather present it otherwise.

Well done.