Bend it like Beckham

The three things most North American sports fans know about soccer is that the rest of the world calls it futbol, the name David Beckham and the team Manchester United. They may in fact have heard of the last two because Beckham starred for United for so many years, before making a much publicized move to Real Madrid. Then in an even more publicized move, Beckham came to America to promote the game to a new fan base by playing for the LA Galaxy of the MLS.

Although the experiment of bringing a high profile European superstar to the MLS has been met with mixed reviews, Beckham has done his job. At every stadium they are at near capacity when his club comes to town, even though the Galaxy are near the bottom of the standings. He has sold more jerseys in the last two years than almost every NBA player combined and has had no problem being the face of the league. He has earned every penny the MLS is paying him.

All this praise, but it isn't enough for Beckham. He yearns to play for a top ranked club in Europe, against the best competition and to continue to play for his country. He still has lots of skill, pace and the determination to play against those players and succeed. This has been demonstrated nicely during his recent loan to Italian powerhouse AC Milan. Beckham was supposed to come of the bench, play sparingly and basically use the time in Milan to keep himself in shape so he could be called on for international duty and be at his best for the beginning of the MLS season in April. As it turns out, Milan had other ideas. He has started all 3 games for Milan and scored his first goal in his 3rd match. Although, Beckham is slated to return to LA after completing his loan on March 6th, there is good reason to believe that AC Milan won't want to let him go and that Beckham may realize he has done all he could to help the MLS and stay in Italy to continue his pro career. Beckham lit the match, the fire is burning for professional soccer in America and now he can disappear into the night.

David Beckham's old club, Manchester United is also in the news recently, not for a Wayne Rooney red card, a Ronaldo car crash or a post-game team orgy, the team shirt sponsor AIG has decided against renewing their deal for the 2010 season. This is a smart move on AIG's part as I don't think many taxpayers would be happy to see the bailout money being spent on advertising on the chest of the EPL club. This leaves a gaping hole to fill on one of the most recognized uniforms in all of sport. Manchester United has already said they have several companies that they are considering to replace AIG has the shirt sponsor, but let me throw my ideas out to the blogosphere...1) Nike - it makes perfect sense, they already produce the jersey why not have two swooshes just to make it obvious? 2) Co-Operative Insurance - they have a huge office in Manchester and why not go from one insurance giant to another 3) Barclay's - is this too obvious? 4) Bimbo.

The choice will come down to dollar's and cents, and it will probably be a strange sight to see something other than AIG on the kit, but I'm sure the club couldn't be happier as now all the die hard fans have to spend $100 on a new jersey come September...