paulo nagamura, née nagasaki

This, at least in terms of the Galaxy, must be their Potsdam Declaration. The comparison is high-flown and a tad cliché, but I wonder if the next two weeks before Beckham Airlines touches down, for what'll probably be his last hurrah out Californee way (to play, mind you), there won't be just the slightest hint of equal parts dread and malaise sifting through LA's ashy streets, not unlike the assumed in Japan in early August, nineteen forty-and-five. If only because it'd be impossible not to catch some remnants of the contagion coming from the Home Depot Center and the Galaxy operation. Transitively, I probably shouldn't attend any Chivas games for a while, huh?

Should've seen this coming, too, now that I think about it. I didn't understand this celebration at the time, but now I think I at least marginally do; Landon is barking at - amongst countless, but perhaps most importantly - Becks, in terms he knows Daay-vid can understand, and almost with an upturned, I'm-Ron-Burgundy? inquisitive tone. As though he wasn't sure if he should say it but remembered that the book's coming out anyway, so fuck it, I am lion, and I am rarely lion, so hear my ass hereby roar. And so he with both hands pointed to the 10 on his chest and was brief: "Me? Me?!! ME!" - and you know what? He's right - if there's one thing everyone can agree on after the Confederations Cup (and it could well be the only thing), it's that Landon is indeed Wayne-and-Garth worthy - or, in his eloquent own terms, "Him? Him?! HIM!!".



I'm not feigning any predictions, because I honestly and simply don't know what's going to happen. I think "Kobe during the 2nd half of Game 7, first round against the Suns, 2006" would be my best guess, but that night is close to if not is the bane of my LA-based sporting existence; why the hell would I root for that to happen anywhere else, especially in such close proximity? Its only gonna hurt soccer's rep stateside more, too, that boulevard; it's just not worth it to be cynical here. I can safely predict there won't be a mushroom cloud over the HDC on the 16th, and I don't think anything catastrophic has the chance to happen, short of the chorus of elitist, inebrieated Beckham catcallers, who'll never be louder...but I mean, the US National Team did just end the longest unbeaten streak in the sport's antiquity. Stranger things did and can happen. But until then and for right now, I'll choose imagining Becks on the jet to LAX squinting out the window at the sea, thinking it profound and not knowing why, and humming a certain Wyclef tune to himself, slyly replacing the "till" in the song's title to "in". You dig?

what's been hid has yet to be did

Maybe I was the only one. Back in November, I'd foolishly talked myself into the near-exact opposite of what's currently happening between the isosceles triangle of Milan, Munich, and good ol' Carson, California. But discussing the triangle's southern path (geography!) has been beaten to Ike-like levels, and since I'm not in any way about to start supporting domestic abuse, to the road less traveled we veer.


So Landon's coming back on Monday. Despite all my premonitions and prayers before the holidays, Our Last Great Hope is returning to shores sunnier than what Munich presumably would have if it were anywhere near water. Seven appearances, zero starts, zero assists, zero cards, & zero goals. What's your definition of failure? Apparently he met Bayern's, about which plenty of opinions and counterarguments can and will be posed. Sure to be the favorites: Was he given ample time to perform? If not, what would have constituted ample? Did anybody besides Jürgen really even want him at Bayern, much less him succeeding there? If he couldn't cut it under buddy Klinnsman's eager watch, besides California, where can he? Will the rest of Europe too heed this as a final shot, of which he again failed to capitalize?

I hope someone will remind Landon that there are in fact other leagues on this fine planet besides the Bundesliga and MLS, and that perhaps his game is suited more to one of them. Or, that maybe the gap from the Galaxy to Bayern is just a bit too wide and that he should observe compatriots Steve Cherundolo and Michael Bradley and their more manageable German leaps. Either way, come June or July, I hope in going to a game at Home Depot that I won't be seeing Landon, for he'll have returned to LA with renewed fervor, knowing that "best American soccer player" involves more than just the national team goals record. And instead, he'll already be back across the Atlantic, naively informing some French dude that one doesn't know good food until they've been to the In'n'Out off the 405 in Manhattan Beach.