Dear LA Galaxy: Almost Scoring Does Not Equal Scoring

I think I'm in love with soccer games.

I had a great time at last night's Chivas USA vs. LA Galaxy game. Yes, I saw the $250 million dollar man running around on the field. Three cheers for binoculars!

He was looking good at the beginning, but by the end, I felt a little bit bad for Beckham. The man comes back from Europe, plays for the entire 90 minutes of the game, plays so hard that he looks like he's going to die in the last fifteen minutes, and his team still loses.

Yes, Becks and his Galaxy team got killed by the Chivas, 3-0. I found out pretty quickly that the Chivas are actually also an LA team. They even share the stadium with the Galaxy. Apparently, the two are huge rivals. (Who knew?) But, regardless of whether folks were there to root for the Chivas or for the Galaxy, everybody was there to root for David Beckham.

Anytime the man even came close to the ball, the 27,000 people in attendance, including moi, would start screaming their heads off. And if his foot actually made contact with the ball, we were out of their seats, just going crazy. I'm not a gambler, but I'd bet money that half that crowd had no idea what was going on in that game, me included. It didn't matter though because when Beckham did a corner kick, everybody in there, Chivas fans, Galaxy fans, the vendors selling churros in the stands, I mean EVERYBODY just went nuts.

And yet, he didn't score. He had a bunch of "almosts" (I think I counted seven) but none of his goals went in. As for the rest of the Galaxy team, it was like those guys had taken some muscle relaxers before the game. Becks would hook his Galaxy teammates up with great passes and I swear, they sometimes seemed shocked that he'd kicked the ball to them.

The first half went down scoreless on both sides but right before the break, some Chivas player fouled Beckham. It looked pretty deliberate...and wowzer, Becks totally lost his temper and rolled up on the Chivas player like he was gonna open up a can of whupass on that guy. Some other players restrained him, but what ensued was total mayhem on the field and two players, one from each side, ended up getting booted from the game. I was left wondering if I was watching soccer or hockey.

During the second half, the Galaxy thought it was nap time. So, at the 59 minute mark, the Chivas scored. And that's when I realized I was sitting in a Chivas section.

I should have known I was in a Chivas section from all the red clothing around me, but I just hadn't connected the dots yet. After all, I wore a red sweatshirt because red's my favorite color. But, if I thought I'd seen craziness before, it was nothing compared to the mayhem that went down when a goal was scored. Folks were throwing streamers, setting off fireworks, and tooting these little horns. I won't even get into the fact that there were fully dressed Mariachi bands at the game, playing in the stands.

The three Latino brothers behind me were dressed in head to toe Chivas gear, singing songs and jumping up and down chanting, "Chee-vaas! Chee-vaas! Chee-vaas!" And I'm not talking about just a small hop. No, I mean, both feet coming up and down like there was no tomorrow. When the Chivas scored, next thing you know, I'm in a man-made earthquake because these guys went totally crazy!

They were a nice contrast to the white folks sitting in front of me who were all, "Great, somebody scored. Honey, can you pass the nachos?"

The Chivas scored again nine minutes later. And the Galaxy just went downhill from there. With ten minutes to go, Becks was limping around the field. I could see the pain on his face but he, unlike his teammates, kept trying to chase the ball. There wasn't much he could do though and the Chivas scored yet again with three minutes remaining. By this point, I couldn't help myself. I was jumping up and down with the rest of the Chivas crowd.

The crazy thing I saw at the end of the game was that even though the Chivas won, the cameras didn't follow them at all. Instead, the cameras and reporters were all over Beckham. He just kept on walking though. Anyone could see from his face that he was in pain and didn't feel like talking.

He got criticized in the LA press for that. I suppose folks feel that if you're getting paid $250 million dollars over five years for salary and endorsements, you better talk to the press. Especially when other players, like the goalie, are getting paid around $35,000.

Hmm...I wonder if the other players resent Beckham's celebrity and salary? I mean, no one else's jerseys are getting sold for $99 dollars.

Then again, can they really complain when the average starting salary for a teacher is around $31,000?

But alas, that's our world, full of extremes of wealth and poverty. Despite it all, I can't wait to go back and see Beckham the Galaxy play again.

I just hope they win next time.