Beckham Remains? The Real Story

beckham 12/21/11

Dave, Dave, Dave, we know you’re watching.

In case you missed it, David Beckham seems destined to stay with the Los Angeles Galaxy having spurned Paris Saint-Germain’s reported offer of $18 million over 18 months.

Beckham seems ready to re-up with Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy who will play Toronto FC in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal. The teams meet at the Rogers Centre Wednesday, March 7 and write the second chapter in L.A. a week later.

Beckham, having already accrued more than $200 million is said to be unwilling to relocate his family to Europe and this makes some sense. Who wants to live in Paris, anyway?

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We here at the hub of the TFC universe like to think another factor has come into play.

Clearly, Beckham is intrigued with the notion of expanding his global reach into the comfy, climate-controlled confines of the Rogers Centre.

David Beckham is 36 and having done well to avoid the rain and slop of Paris in autumn, he knows a good thing when he sees one.

Yes, he has been a player on the world stage, captained England and starred with Manchester United and Real Madrid. Yes, he has earned a pharoah's bounty endorsing adidas, Samsung and a host of other global brands.

But circumstance, injuries and national team commitments, have limited Beckham to just one BMO Field appearance which is one more time than he has played at the Rogers Centre.

Natural then that as his career teeters toward its conclusion he wants a little comfort which, as I have long claimed, can be found at the Rogers Centre in March.

My young, earnest friend Asif Hossain had argued that the game should be played at BMO Field, mostly because, I can only suppose, he likes Chip Butty. Kids put experience over comfort and practicality and for this they can’t be blamed. Things like functioning plumbing don’t matter to young people years removed from the humiliations of the very young and the very old.

Wisdom dictates otherwise and invariably it brings compromise. It is sad that a grass field can’t be stitched together in March and that BMO’s spectacular ambiance seems impossible to replicate. But a party, like a Prairie fire, doesn’t necessarily die just because it gets bigger. Likewise, no one complains when the Super Bowl is played indoors even if its roots harken back to the frozen tundra of Green Bay.

Certainly no one was moaning in Montreal when 55,000 saw the Impact play their Champions League quarterfinal against Santos Laguna in February 2009.

David Beckham whose very stubble is the stuff of focus groups isn’t blind to any of this and while no one can say exactly who will show up at your party, it’s nice to hear your prize invitee has cleared his calendar.

It should be fun and fun in March is always best when your room temperature is room temperature.

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