Rarely does a book from the world of sports give the type of insight and perspective that Grant Wahl's new book The Beckham Experiment does; it's both a peek behind the curtain of a professional sports team and a view of the American soccer world that MLS has created. Throughout the book, the overriding sense is that all parties involved are completely out of their depth; Wahl provides us with a window into the development of professional soccer in the United States through one brief period in its ultimately short history, as one club and its decision makers wrestle with a project that proves too much for both them and the conditions within their fledgling league.
David Beckham, the mercurial soccer star and worldwide celebrity, remains an enigma, despite Wahl's impressive access. It's never quite clear what role he played in the back-room politics of the Galaxy throughout his time there, a period that ranks as the worst in the club's history. Beckham is neither outed as a meddling superstar with too much ego nor a willing patsy in the power-grabbing machinations of his lackeys; it's up to the reader to decide. Beckham is in this book what we already know he is; a player for whom soccer is only one part of his global brand, and a man whose motivation and effort seems directly linked to the (perceived) quality of those that surround him, both on and off the pitch. It's difficult to argue that Wahl's book doesn't portray a man whose profession is only the means to an end; where and when the shift took place that turned Beckham from a football-playing superstar and into a superstar who happens to play football is unclear. Regardless, the point is moot for the Galaxy, for whom The Beckham Experiment has been both a on-field disaster and a rousing financial success.
Landon Donovan, the Galaxy's resident alpha male, American superstar, and the only star on the team comparable to Beckham in talent, emerges as a frustrated bystander. Throughout the book, Donovan is a leading figure on a team with no leader, castrated by the relinquishing of his captaincy and the ineffectiveness of the Galaxy's front office. A somewhat sympathetic figure, Donovan is nevertheless a man whose clear frustration and disillusionment with his club's massive signing never leads to decisive action, leaving the reader to wonder if that sympathy is deserved. While the Galaxy and their fortunes crumble around him, Donovan remains inactive, choosing to let the drama play out rather than step in and make a incisive play, as his place as the team's best player would seem to indicate he should, for control. Heaping blame on Donovan is difficult with the three-headed monster of Galaxy leadership (Leiweke, Lalas, and the interloping 19 Entertainment) lending him little help and muddying the waters at every turn; all that we're left with is a picture of a player framed simply by his desire to win and his constant laments over the issue of club leadership.
Alexi Lalas, the ultimate American soccer showman with a penchant for exaggeration and a denseness that is somehow endearing, is the book's un-billed star. Wahl pried (perhaps rather easily) more out of the former Galaxy GM than out of any other subject, and Lalas' insights are crucial. From Lalas we get the true sense of how completely the Beckham Machine took over the MLS club, how disastrous decisions made at the highest level of AEG hamstrung the entire organization, and how little sway anyone outside of Beckham's inner circle had over the English star. While Lalas could be viewed as an unfortunate victim of a circumstance beyond his control, it's clear he must shoulder some of the blame (which he willingly does in the book's culmination) for the tumultuous period of his Beckham-era tenure. All at once a serious executive, an unapologetic shyster, and shamefully willing pawn, Lalas appears transparently simply; but there are layers of depth lost in the public persona of Lalas that Wahl's depiction captures perfectly. With the skill of an adept writer and experienced journalist, Wahl allows Lalas to speak for himself while subtly filling in the gaps. "Conflicted" seems the easiest description of Lalas, as he was both the Galaxy's smiling public face during a marketing bonanza as well as its disgruntled back room director during a on-field disaster.
Tim Leiweke may as well be an afterthought. Portrayed as a puppet-master whom willingly cedes control of his troupe to an outside interest, Leiweke is a man for whom the prevailing winds appear to be decision-inducing. When faced with pressure from the handlers of his new superstar, Leiweke is an ineffectual and weak-willed character, serving only to rubber stamp the wishes of people even less-equipped to dictate direction than he. Only when those decisions turn sour and the success of his grand experiment (and it is his, as Wahl relates) is threatened does he reach up and wrest back control of the organization. Despite appearances, one comes away from The Beckham Experiment with the sense that Leiweke's actions are often the result of pressure from AEG's shadowy owner, Philip Anschutz, rather than his own acute executive sense. Contradictory, shallow, and blusterous, Wahl's portrayal of Leiweke serves to color the whole of the "Beckham Rule", for which the AEG president was the driving force, as a fool's errand, leading Major League Soccer astray from their properly chosen path.
The Beckham Experiment reads effortlessly, and conveys much of the angst and anxiety that pervaded David Beckham's first stint with the Galaxy. The disparity between the uber-rich Beckham and his minimum wage teammates is a major theme that carries throughout; our conclusion can only be that as much as the lesser-talented Galaxy players led to Beckham's apparent lack of interest, the class differences also played a major role, keeping the internationally feted superstar from connecting on a basic level that would have allowed for a harmonious coexistence.
This is, without argument, a seminal book for American soccer. Covering a topic of interest to both the soccer-obsessed and the celebrity-obsessed alike, it represents the first instance of a soccer related book in the post-NASL era emanating from our shores that is of genuine interest to the greater "football" world. Wahl's picture of David Beckham's Great American Adventure is complimentary of few, harshly critical of some, and seemingly fair to all. Wahl reminds us that success and failure for Beckham's soccer sojourn, while most easily measure in black and white, is truly a matter of shades of gray.
A quick note before I go: I received the book today (Monday), finished it in about 5 1/2 hours (with a few interruptions) and pumped out this post. I apologize if it's a little haphazard, but I thought it important to get this up in time for the book's release date. Thank you for your understanding.
In my rush to read and review the book, I neglected to let you know where you pick up the book-if you follow this link and buy the book, you'll be helping out MFUSA, which is always appreciated: The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America
