If he’s not the second inductee to the wall of fame (aka the cinder block wall next to section 103), then the Galaxy have some serious problems. Even way up in ol’ Seattle Flounder country that guy bleeds Galaxy colors.

[Probably a different perspective from just about everyone!]

“Ever since I was a 20-year-old rookie hesitant about approaching (Galaxy teammate and former UCLA-legend) Cobi Jones, I haven’t really had a problem with what the name on the back of the jersey of someone is. And you can tell right off the bat with David that he’s one of the guys, he wants to be one of the guys. And regardless of how he’s (portrayed) in the media or how the media wants to perceive him, he’s fair game just like anyone else in the locker room.

“I think what people need to understand is that the quote-unquote ‘negative parts’ of the book are more or less commonplace in professional sports in terms of the locker room dynamics of a professional team.

“If you wanted to put a microscope under myself, for example, and follow my professional relationships with teammate A, B, C and D, I’m sure worse things would come out than what came out in that book between David and Landon. Because he’s David and there is that intense microscope, everything is sifted through, analyzed and examined, and it’s tough. I dare anyone to allow them to be exposed like that.

“But at the same time, they’re all my friends. I respect all of them from Tim Leiweke, Alexi Lalas on down. For me, I am partial to Galaxy people. So that includes Tim Leiweke, that includes Alexi, that includes Landon, that includes David. I think if you asked all of them if we had a chance to redo that time, we would probably do things a bit differently. But at the same time, that’s professional sports and if people don’t think there are dynamics like that that exist in every locker room of every professional sports team throughout the country then they’re being a bit naive.

“I think Landon regrets handling it the way he handled it, because his opinion is his opinion and there are those that disagree with him and there are those that agree with him. But I think the one thing that has rung true is Landon was regretful about what he said months and months before the book came out. And that’s something that him and David I’m sure have hashed out by now and sort of left in the past.”

[My first response when the excerpts first came out was, has this guy -- Wahl -- never been in a losing locker room before?]

Rest of article: http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/soccer/2009/08/12/three_sounders_part_of_beckham_experimen

http://onelovesoccer.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/1540244-why-this-landon-donovan-isn-t-the-same-one-you-remember-

I have to agree with Anonymous regarding Wahl’s apparent use of telepathy, particularly as applied to past thoughts and motivations. I am both disappointed and frustrated by how gossipy the book is. Too many things like “it was obvious that…he/they…is/was/are…thinking…” and “the only conclusion that could be drawn…” or “[this] must have been going on in [blank's] mind at the time….” I have little patience for that stuff in any piece that’s supposed to be non-fiction. And it’s too bad here because Wahl’s writing on the play itself can be so fantastic, what I’ve previously seen of his comments on sports-biz has been more straightforward, and I’ve never seen this catty side of his writing before at all. Clearly he made some valid points — although too many of the personal attacks are questionable and too often come from less than credible sources.

Wahl seems to be going for very specific answers with the questions that do lead to many of the direct quotes that are used, and in fairness to those quoted, he also conveniently finds many of them at what he knows will be emotional/vulnerable times (see Donovan after last game of losing season). It seems like a “gotcha” for more than those he casts as villains. And, while I am much more pleased with Lalas as an announcer than GM, how can I believe anything he says for the book after he lied to us about so much in the past and when his current version of events lays the blame for everything squarely at Anyone Else’s feet.

As to those villains, I don’t think Wahl goes deep enough. There is an under(?)tone that makes it seem as if Beckham had stormed the Home Depot Center, demanded to play for the Galaxy, all the while scheming to take over the team and destroy it. This book could and should have been a great expose of all of the financial power-brokers that created a no-win (no pun sorry) situation for all involved. I was fascinated by where Wahl was starting to go with the business background but it was weakened by some annoying inaccuracies and the descent into hearsay and celebrity tittle-tattle.

I’m still waiting for the whole story of the 19 Entertainment/AEG partnership, how many years it went back and how far its tendril’s reach, and all of the business partners they bring to the Galaxy. A story that, even if published in the middle of their season, would have had less of what might still be a negatively distracting impact on those on the pitch, and put the spotlight more squarely on those holding the purse strings. But the “Fuller-Leiweke Investment Experiment Fronted by Alexi Lalas” is another title that doesn’t have the same retail ring to it.

Beckham may be rich, but he barely owns himself, and this is the first time his own football interests, as well as the interests of the team he is playing for, have run counter to those of his investors. He’s probably neither completely blind or completely stupid (the two options we are offered in the book), he may just have never had to look for that before.

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