Beckham Beckons Confrontation with Fan

A 27,000-strong sell-out crowd apparently ended up a 26,999-strong sell-out crowd this last Sunday night at Home Depot Center. Galaxy headliner, David Beckham and a particular fan almost came to fisticuffs when Beckham decided he wasn’t going to take anymore abuse from the most raucous section of the stands, known only as the L.A. Riot Squad. I know it seems surprising that this classy group of young ladies and gentlemen would ever be involved in such an altercation, but it apparently shocked everyone. Only having recently returned to the Galaxy squad, David Beckham has taken his fair share of nastiness, but apparently something coming from the Riot Squad triggered something forcing Beckham to beckon this fine upstanding young citizen down to face him directly on the field. The young man promptly jumped over the guard rail, hopped down from the stands, and was immediately tackled by stadium security.

In every sport, fans are going to get heated. It happens. But under no circumstances should any fan ever feel entitled to go out onto the field. I might not agree with what the L.A. Riot Squad has to say and I definitely don’t agree with how they say it, but I will argue for their right to voice their opinions. However, I will in no way support any fan who feels the right to physically assault any other human being due to uncontrollable emotions and conflicting sports allegiances. This is big boy world, we’re not 6 years old in the sandbox and someone else stole our toy truck here. Whining and hitting someone is not the way we solve problems at the grown-up table. The Home Depot Center is a multi-functional facility that house everything from moto-rallies to circuses and this loser stands to possibly be banned from ALL future HDC events, and rightfully so. People like this put both players and fans at risk. I don’t want this guy at Chavez Ravine when I take my family to a Dodger game. It’s people like this who either end up stabbing someone in the parking lot or getting into a fight in the stands with some guy who said his team sucks. A simple rule of thumb for people like this might be, “if sports are your life, then it’s time to get a life.”

With a steady finger on the “bleep” button, local news crews were able to interview a few of these fine examples of America’s ever-honorable youth. Their main points stated were that 1) they paid to see the game and are entitled to their opinions, 2) Beckham has not come through on his promises and has let them down, and 3) It’s obvious he doesn’t want to be in MLS. Response? 1) Grow-up, 2) Grow-up some more, and 3) you’re right, but go cry to Mommy about it. In the end, it’s not going to make a big difference. Is it ridiculous how much he’s getting paid? Of course it is, and it’s also ridiculous what he’s not doing here and how everything has turned out. Take a look at my July 17th article on Beckham for my real opinion. But nothing any of us sports talk guys blab about warrants a charge onto the field to give David Beckham a smack in the mouth. If there’s anyone a Galaxy fan should be mad at, it should be the Galaxy front office. They’re the ones who have no control over the situation. According to Colin Cowherd of the ESPN Radio’s The Herd, “The ‘Beckham Experiment’ has been an unmitigated disaster," and he is absolutely right. In the 31 games he's played, he's only scored 5 goals and only won 8 of those contests. But whose responsibility is it if they overpay for an employee who underperforms and is never there? It's true that the Galaxy should have never made the deal in the first place, especially for the outrageous amount they signed him for. Still, there’s no excuse for knucklehead behavior.