Bore Me Like Beckham

I guess it's that time again. Every few years or so, someone decides to throw a bunch of money at a world soccer star on the downside of his career and then trumpets the bad investment as the dawn of a new era, when soccer really takes off as a sport people in the U.S. are interested in watching.

So, it is with this week's news that David Beckham will begin playing for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sorry, drifted off there. He'll be playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. What, Maradona wasn't available?

There are already lots of people in this country interested in watching soccer. The problem Beckham and the MLS bankrollers face is that nearly all of these people are only interested in watching games involving their own children. And then those children grow up and start watching football -- American football. So it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.