Beckham’s return to L.A. not all hugs and kisses

After a mostly warm reception at an away game in New York earlier this week, there was a noticeably more hostile reception waiting for David Beckham at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA on Sunday.  Signs saying: “Go Home Fraud”, “Hey Becks, Here Before You, Here After You, Here Despite You”, and my personal favorite “Is evil something u are, or something u do.”  No question mark required on this one, I guess.  It is an interesting question though.

I say that the reception was noticeable, because…. Beckham noticed it.  Check out this video taken right after the blow of the halftime whistle while the players were headed to the locker room.

The fan interviews at the end were classic.  It’s quite easy to see who the Beckham supporter was and who the Beckham haters were.  It’s a nice lesson on perception and bias.  I would want to ask the fan with the drum why it was Beckham’s responsibility to be “professional” towards a drunken fan, as if the fan has more rights than the player.  As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a lot that Beckham did to be disrespectful from his body language, if he did, in fact, offer his hand to the fan.

Why so much hostility towards this guy anyway?  There are at least 10 people who are reading this article right now who don’t give 2 cents about soccer, but will check out something about David Beckham.  And do you know what they are thinking?  Soccer fans are idiots.  And they might be right.

Well, it’s time to show my bias now, if you haven’t already guessed it.  I’m a Beckham fan, so I’m more likely to give him a pass on questionable behavior than a non-fan would.  We do the same thing with our friends and family.  The introductory chapter to Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Blink” has a fascinating report of why marriages work or fail.  It’s all from John Gottman‘s research about positive sentiment override and negative sentiment override in marriages.  Basically, if someone does something “bad”, do you say that was a good person who just did a bad thing (positive sentiment override), or was that a bad person acting like themselves (negative sentiment override)?

In reference to Beckham’s critic who forgot the question mark, I would say he is operating under negative sentiment override.  We are all biased, and it is wise to acknowledge this and discover how to live and love with that in mind.

One last piece of my own bias.  With the score 1-0 A.C. Milan, and a free kick in a dangerous spot, a fan with a nice HD camera decided to roll film.  He caught the deflected shot and ensuing counterattack, led by Beckham.  He plays the ball to Donovan, who plays it back across to Alan Gordon, who… hey just watch it ok?

My bias?  Alan and I played high school soccer together at Highland High in Gilbert, AZ.  He was one of my brother’s good friends and he’s the best player I have ever played with.  If I were trying to be objective, I would say that it wasn’t a great goal.  But because it was Al, it was an AMAZING goal!  Hugs and kisses from me, Alan!