June 1st:

Fifteen Minutes that Shook the World
directed by David Kirby

Because There Are Things You Never Forget
directed by Lucas Figueroa; Italian with subtitles

Loucos de Futebol (Beyond Soccer)
directed by Halder Gomes; Portuguese with subtitles

June 2nd:

Last Yugoslavian Football Team
directed by Vuk Janic; Serbian and Croatian with subtitles

Ana’s Playground
directed by Eric Howell

June 3rd:

El Arbitro (The Ref)
directed by Justin Webster and Eriz Zapiriain; Spanish with subtitles

L’Arbitro (The Referee)
directed by Paolo Zucca; Italian with subtitles

June 4th:

Eine Andere Liga (Another League)
directed by Buket Alakus; German with subtitles

June 5th:

Game of Their Lives
directed by Daniel Gordon; English/Korean with subtitles

Africa 10
directed by Victor Buhler

Two things caught my attention in this story. One, that “More Iraqis are turning out for sports events now that security is improving…” which begs the tasteless joke, “I’d hate to see what their bad security is like!” And two, the sheer Bruckheimerness of the scene: In the final minute of a close game, an attacking player was shot in the head by his assassin, presumably at range in the stands, in the moment before a crucial tying attempt at goal. Tragedy, Hollywood-style. Unfortunately, there is no Nicolas Cage to avenge his death.

The NFL has built Monday Night Football into a brand. Often highlighting an above average game between two teams with large fan bases has helped turn MNF into a successful marketing venture.

The MLS has to do more than just move the night. There is a larger excitement factor that needs to be incorporated into the season. Perhaps inserting more cash into bringing higher profile players into the league. Beckham was a good idea till he was put on a team that can’t even make the playoffs. Perhaps you spread out these players instead of putting them all in LA and New York.

Actually Disney owns ESPN. The rights to air the EPL are up for bid in January 2009. Currently Fox (owned by News Corp.) controls the rights. Where I live I have to buy “digital cable” at an additional cost to get the Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) to watch EPL games. While FSC does have Serie A games and a nifty nightly soccer news show, I might not buy “digital cable” if I can get it for no additional cost on ESPN.

The renewed interest in buying the rights comes from the postive ratings ESPN recieved from showing the Euro 2008 semifinals and finals. ESPN currently shows the Champions League in the states and selected other competitions.

What I found (or didn’t find) was surprising. A Foxsoccer search turned up nothing recent. Considering they used to have a Beckham Watch feature on their home page, I expected more. I next looked for video of his MLS play on youtube. It took 3 searches before I found one that documented anything in the ’08 season. Then I checked MLSnet. Next to nothing. From there I visited the LA site; surely the highest paid athlete in the solar system would have piles of face time on his own team’s site. Nope. I even sat through that stupid slide show, finding in the end only one mention of his name on the Galaxy’s home page (in a chart) and no pictures of his glamorous self (I later discovered that if you refresh the page enough, Dave’s face will appear in the top banner. Like a code for a Nintendo game).

So, what’s the deal? For one, LA is 500% terrible. They’re arguably the worst team in the league, which makes highlights hard to come by. Two, David Beckham is a celebrity before he’s a soccer player in the US. We don’t talk about Katie Holmes anymore because she was interesting LAST year. Same deal. Three, Landon Donovan is on the team. He’s the hometown hero and his face is fucking everywhere. EVERYWHERE. And four, there is a rumor still traveling around that Dave is unhappy with his current sitch at LA. Is the Galaxy PR machine trying to help us forget about him so we don’t cry when breaks up with us next year?

I have tickets to see him play in October. Only then will I know for sure if he is still real. After that, he can leave if he wants!

The customer asks, “When you say football, do you mean soccer?”

And the press conference panel just cracks up! Fade to black.

It’s not far-fetched for me to imagine a high school English class assignment in which students are asked to write a script for a TV advertisement. I calculate the odds of any given American football player conceiving of this idea and turning it in for a C at 40%. Yes, two of every five 17 year old Friday night lighters crave a big flat screen Sony TV and think soccer is gay. Is it a coincidence then that the EXACT SAME proportion of high school football players become dickhead HH Gregg salesmen?

And what brand of big flat screen TV do I own, you ask?