Cars, Becks, Tennis

Dakar Rally Leaderboard
Check out the Dakar Rally Route . Looks dusty.
Dakar Rally day 12 report

BBC thinks Beckham is a big story
Will he be great here in America? Well, make no mistake Beckham was always overrated. He's a celebrity more than a player and being gloriously photogenic is worth more than putting the ball in the back of the net--even in Europe! He and the little missus (nee Posh Spice) have both played it for all it's worth and that's ultimately why they're here.There are cries that Beckham is washed-up, that he was terrible in the 2006 Cup. I disagree. He was fine in the Cup (it was England's forwards that were disappointing) and if he can still play in Spain, which I think he can, then he can certainly play here.

These complaints are premature: it has long been MLS's dream to snag aging Europeans to generate interest (Lothar Matteus, anyone?). And Beckham was surely their biggest target of opportunity. Beckham, too, sees the reality of sucking a few bucks out of America on his way to his second career as a schlubby Euro mega-star. But they've both jumped the gun. Beckham can still play and hopefully he'll fulfill this 5 year deal because he'll be a contributor.

Will he make soccer relevant in America? No. But for those of us that already love soccer, he'll improve the quality no doubt. Before World War II USA played soccer just like everybody else--a semi-finalist in the inaugural World Cup. But after the war soccer increasingly seemed like a foreign sport, an international sport, and the American public were becoming more self-absorbed, Amero-centric, and it just fell out of favor. It's resurgence in the last decade is largely because soccer is seen as a girl's game in America, a Title IX counterweight to football.

There are 3 reasons why soccer will never be huge in America. 1) It's not conducive to advertising so programmers will never shove it down our throats like they do with, say, reality TV or crappy game shows. 2) USA will never have the biggest, bestest stars in the world, the sport is just too popular around the world for there to ever be the most money available here. If we did have the biggest stars, then the sportswriters would slobber over them the way the slobber for D-Wade or A-Rod or LT or Kobe. The fact that sportswriters don't like soccer means nothing, what they like is celebrities to fawn over. 3) Stats don't mean squat in soccer so there's no nerd culture to slip in the way we've seen the sports economics crowd take over baseball and football. Only the score gets remembered from a soccer game, not the time of possession, the amount of corner kicks or even the touches of the star player.

Welcome, David Beckham. I for one am more interested in MLS than I ever have been before. For once I get to be the target audience! All right!

Australian Open on the way
1. Roger Federer (SUI) 1. Maria Sharapova (RUS)
2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 2. Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)
3. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
4. Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 4. Kim Clijsters (BEL)
5. James Blake (USA) 5. Nadia Petrova (RUS)
6. Andy Roddick (USA) 6. Martina Hingis (SUI)
7. Tommy Robredo (ESP) 7. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
8. David Nalbandian (ARG) 8. Patty Schnyder (SUI)
9. Mario Ancic (CRO) 9. Dinara Safina (RUS)
10. Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 10. Nicole Vaidisova (CZE)
11. Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 11. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
12. Tommy Haas (GER) 12. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS)

On the women's side: now that Davenport and the Williams sisters have disappeared, I keep waiting for Martina Hingis to re-emerge, is she still young enough to dominate? She always had trouble against the bigger girls and Sharapova and Mauresmo both have big games. I think she can hang with them. That's just a gut pick, I think Kim Clijsters may be the favorite.

On the men's side: who but Federer?