Whatever Happened to Alexi’s Beard? (Or: It Was in the Garbage Along with His Tact)

By: Laurie | June 19th, 2007

Bob’s link to this article said: Alexi Lalas is Probably not the Ambassador MLS Needs. And yes, it does include EPL-insulting comments such as this one:

He laughs at the irony that an American soccer executive should accuse the Premiership of being all style and no substance. “You know,” he says with a mischievous glint, “there’s no accounting for bad taste. The fact that a segment of the world worships an inferior product in the Premiership is their business. In England our league is considered second-class but I honestly believe if you took a helicopter and grabbed a bunch of MLS players and took them to the perceived best league in the world they wouldn’t miss a beat and the fans wouldn’t notice any drop in quality.”

Okay, sure. But why should we focus on the negative? We should be focusing on the positive! On the interesting! On how it came to be that Alexi shaved off his beard!

I was in Sydney, doing some TV work for the Olympics, and it was the end of a long night for me and Anne, my then girlfriend and now my wife.

“We all do strange things when we come in late at night so there’s me, the beard, a hotel bathtap and a razor. It looked like surgery. We actually filmed it because it felt like an iconic moment – never before in the history of football has so much been made of so little facial hair.

So now Alexi is beardless. And he has a vision.

“Beckham is not going to change anything overnight but the hope is that this will be a big stepping stone towards the point where we see ourselves in 20 years. We want to emerge as America’s first super-club, to compete with Madrid and Man United. Some might say that’s a pipe-dream but I prefer to call it our vision.”

From your lips to God’s ears, Alexi.

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Category: International Games and Issues, Player News

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diane

What happened to all of the good will and "partnerships with the great clubs and leagues around the world" that this new spotlight was supposed to allow MLS/Galaxy to form? Oops. If he doesn't have basic self-censorship instincts (or at least a 15 minute brain to mouth lag), the lust for World Soccer Domination should inspire him to suck up a little.
Ian

Arrogance like Lalas' has to be earned. If he was bragging about his own footballing career, it would be different. He (sort of) earned that. But the MLS is like a child at the end of its infancy. It's growing but, for right now, still small, weak, and liable to throw up on itself a lot. He needs to respect his elders a little, and maybe someday they'll let him play their reindeer games. But not today.