By VictorM:

I wouldn't call King Kaufman, the sports columnists for Salon.com, a soccer basher but his dislike for the sport has been very evident over the years. Just like most columnist of his ilk, he can't write a paragraph about the sport without putting in a dig of some sort.

In a recent column he reviews the year in sports over 4 web pages. The next to last paragraph says:

David Beckham, the 32-year-old metrosexual icon soccer player, left Real Madrid after it won the 2006-07 La Liga championship and joined the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, a minor league in international terms. The American soccer league hoped the aging English star would raise its profile both internationally and among American sports fans, but while Beckham was a merchandising smash, he didn't amount to much on the pitch, missing significant playing time with injuries.

"A minor league in international terms?" I don't know how he arrived at that, unless he considers any league other than the big four (England, Spain, Italy, and Germany) minor as well. MLS has a higher attendance average than Brazil and is very close to Argentina's top league. Sure, MLS's caliber of play is still nowhere near these top leagues, but what criteria did he use to arrive at the "minor" in international terms and why choose to characterize the league that way instead of using terms like "expanding", "improving", "growing"? After all, a league where the entry fee for a new franchise goes from 20 million to 40 million over a few years is doing something right, something above "minor".

He also has this other line:

In more significant soccer news -- except on these shores -- AC Milan beat Liverpool 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League Final.

Why add "except on these shores"? This has the same flavor as Chevy Chase's line from SNL news skit: "This breaking news just in, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!"

If he was serious about reporting soccer events on these shores, why not mention the USA winning the Gold Cup by defeating Mexico, with a come from behind stunning goal late in the game in front of over 60,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago? Or LA Galaxy, with David Beckham, visiting the New York Red Bulls and playing an instant classic 5-4 thriller in front of over 66,000? Or that David Beckham "boasts the best-selling jersey in America, topping sales of jerseys belonging to Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter and Peyton Manning"?

Oh never mind. The question is: why am I writing about what really are two very innocuous comments by a sports writer? It appear that I am nitpicking, doesn't it? But that's part of my whole point here: even when they still can't resist inserting their digs in, soccer "critics" (being polite here) are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find something negative to say about the world's sport. Based on his previous work, that King Kaufman even mentioned soccer twice, with no negative comments of significance, and used the word "pitch," that's progress.

Be careful King, like the rest of the country, you're even starting to speak proper football lingo.

No yellow card for you.