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- With David Beckham announcing his retirement from the sport yesterday, reactions were a dime a dozen but almost unanimously positive. There were a few non-soccer writers who used the occasion to say American football is better than Association football, but the mere fact that they can use a computer is a miracle so y'know, whatever. The New York Times went with the straight reporting, and then with an editorial saying Beckham gave a major boost to soccer in America. The Washington Post also backed up this claim of a huge impact.
- The LA papers gave definition to that major boost and huge impact. The LA Times claimed Beckham put MLS on the map, like a crater left after a huge impact. The LA Daily News focused on Beckham bringing credibility and visibility, the kind of the that would happen after going on the roof and boosting the satellite signal. Can't stop the signal, Mal.
- The main thread through both the national and local papers is that lasting impact and increased signal. That it coincides nicely with Firefly is an added bonus. The picture being painted is of MLS being a small town with a tiny radio station. Then David Beckham comes along, invests a lot of time and money in the town, and it grows big enough to be on the map, and the radio station is now a major TV network. Not that the metaphor is ever explicitly stated, but it's what all the idioms allude to.
- The other major story of the day was the announcement of the United States men's national team roster, and specifically Landon Donovan being left off of it. The LA Times and USA Today both led with that detail, which had been broken earlier in the week by Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl.