You are aware that there are more than three countries in North America, right?
I can’t speak for your experiences, but I knew who David Beckham was before I knew anything about soccer or, for that matter, England.
I don’t have a working printer right now, but I’ll ask people if they know who David Beckham is and I will report back.
That’s a different question, though. I’m a sports fan, and have watched the movie “Bend it like Beckham” so I know the guy’s name and a wee bit of his history. If the guy knocked on my door right now, dressed as the UPS guy, I wouldn’t have a clue.
I don’t really have an option. I don’t have a working printer right now and I can’t spend any money on printing it or clipping something out. The question I debated was whether or not Americans knew who David Beckham was, anyway. I’ll be pretty damn surprised if I hear very many “no”'s.
That depends on whether one considers Central America part of North America. When talking continents it certainly is, but when talking about “regions” there are commonly-found groupings of “North America” (Canada, US, Mexico) and “Central America” (Guatemala to Panama). You’d have to ask Muffin which usage he meant. In either case, since the population of the countries from Guatemala to Panama is around 40 million, the addition of those countries still makes your claim that “the vast majority of North America is crazy about the game” invalid.
Hey, call 'em Yanks, seppos, whatever you want. I’m just a durn furriner here, myself. 
IMHO a couple of years ago, probably more Americans could have identified Mia Hamm or Brandi Chastain than Beckham, due to the US victory in the 1999 Women’s World Cup and the subsequent WUSA league (RIP, from a former CyberRays fan).
Actually, I was thinking of Canada and the USA. I was not thinking of Mexico, although certainly it is part of North America.
I live in northern Ontario. I have heard of Beckham because our public TV has shown his very pleasant instructional soccer series for little kids. He comes across well in relating to the nippers.
Children’s soccer is huge in my city. No other sport has anywhere near as many kids participating.
I vaguely recollect Toronto trying to get a professional team together many years ago, but it fizzling after a while.
I was not aware of there presently being a professional soccer league in Canada and the USA (my apologies for saying North America). There is no TV coverage of any professional soccer on the four broadcast networks that transmit locally – since I don’t have cable, I can’t say what may or may not be transmmitted otherwise.
Professional soccer simply does not have any impact on the tremendous popularity of children’s soccer here in the Great White.
It didn’t fizzle out. They just sold 10,000 season tickets on the strength of the Beckham deal (yes, not even their team) and still going.
FIFA considers North and Central America the same region, as in CONCACAF. In discussions of soccer, that’s good enough for me. Anyway, if you went from Tijuana deep into Central America that’s probably about the same distance as from Toronto to L.A, right?
This may sound like a nitpick, but I had that in mind when I wrote my post and I meant “North America”, not “North Americans”. That’s pretty damn valid, considering that each country has one major league and probably fields at least one team that would fare decently in a European league.
I didn’t say that.
I wept when the WUSA folded. I had Spirit season tickets.
Toronto has a new MLS team, starting this year I believe.
Please accept my apologies for the misattribution, fetus. I was trying to reply both to your post #37, and jjimm’s post #39, and I screwed up the quoting. Mea culpa. No offense was intended, but there’s definitely egg on my face.
Although not a season-ticket holder, I was a regular attendee at CyberRays games in San Jose. I’m a longtime advocate for women’s sports teams (I also used to go to San Jose Lasers games in the short-lived women’s American Basketball League). I really wanted to see the WUSA succeed, and was quite evangelical about it, doing my best to try to rope in friends with no previous soccer experience.
[By the way, your San Diego Spirit were my second-favorite WUSA team, and I’d always root for them against any team except the CyberRays. I once briefly met Spirit captain Julie Foudy, and she’s an amazingly charismatic woman (her husband, Ian Sawyer, was the CyberRays’ coach and I’d been talking with him at a post-season event, when she came up to whisk him off somewhere). Their first child – a daughter – was born 2 weeks ago; Brandi Chastain had a son last July, and Mia Hamm’s currently pregnant with twins. Come 2025, US soccer might have an interesting crop of young players… 
]
Good for them if they can make a go of it. Sounds like the new Toronto FC team has serious backing – the same group that controls the Leafs, the Air Canada Centre, and the GM Centre. Toronto FC - Wikipedia
This is not the same team as I was recallling. The one that fizzled out was the Toronto Blizzard, which stumbled along through several failed leagues from 1971 through 1985. Toronto Blizzard - Wikipedia
Whoops, make that 1971 through 1993. Sorry.
Well, it now appears the Galaxy won’t really be paying David Beckham nearly as much as first reported, though there must be a host of secondary ways that Beckham could make a lot more money.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/02/24/bc.soc.mls.beckham.ap/index.html
If this is accurate, the Galaxy are getting loads of publicity for a relative pittance. Beckham may or may not be a star on the field, but he’s not costing the Galaxy that much. So, this may turn out to be a bargain for American soccer.
I know how David Beckham is but the weird thing to me is that I had never heard of the LA Galaxy before this. I can’t name another US team that the Galaxy plays. Do they play the UK teams that I have heard of like Manchester United or Chelsea that one that starts with a “B”. Brighton? Belgium?
I mean, there is a profession soccer league in America?
Belgium is now part of the UK 
[Fog Horn Leg Horn Voice]
That’s a joke son, a funny, a real knee slapper, I say.
[/FHLHV]
In other news, the Beckhams’ move to America is going to be a reality show.
I hate my country, and want to live in Barcelona.
That is all.
