David Don't Pick Up the Check-ham

NEWS ITEM: GRANT WAHL WRITING BOOK: "David (Don't Pick Up the) Check-ham" - As noted in prior posts on The Blog @ TerryLyons.com - British football star David Beckham was very poorly 'handled' when it came to his introduction to the USA and thus, a different 'global' media world. Grant Wahl's upcoming book will provide some insight into the all-out PR disaster that was David Check-ham Does the USA via MLS Galaxy.

Read the clip from cnn/si.com

After the book PR hit, Beckham chose to 'try to deflect' his overall American FLOP, his selfish, chinzy lifestyle and increasingly poor play on the field by pointing his evil finger at American-born, USA National team star and (former) MLS Galaxy captain Landon Donovan. Read the item below from AP - then check out Grant Wahl's piece on CNN/Sports Illustrated.com.

AP: David Beckham said Los Angeles Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan was "unprofessional" for speaking out without confronting him first.

Beckham, who was making his first public appearance in Southern California since returning from his five-month loan with Italian club AC Milan, said he had not spoken to Donovan, who called him a bad captain and portrayed him as stingy in an upcoming book "The Beckham Experiment," written by Grant Wahl.

"It's unprofessional in my eyes. In every soccer player's eyes throughout the world it would be unprofessional to speak out about a teammate especially in the press and not to your face," Beckham said.

***

In the most recent news clips, the Galaxy tried to portray the spat between Beckham and Donovan as "resolved." I tend to read between the lines and I believe it was a PR spin to try to return the focus to the game, not the off-the-pitch controversy. Read and and choose for yourself:

CARSON, Calif. -- With a new book detailing his often difficult two years in MLS about to be released, David Beckham was just trying to get things back to normal Monday morning, practicing with the Los Angeles Galaxy for the first time since rejoining the team.

Beckham, who had been on loan to Italian powerhouse AC Milan, returned to Los Angeles last Friday. He watched the Galaxy's 1-0 win over Chivas USA with former French star Zinedine Zidane on Saturday night from box seats at the Home Depot Center. Beckham's due to return to the Galaxy lineup Thursday night in New York against the Red Bulls.

For the past several days, Beckham and the rest of the Galaxy players have been dealing with the fallout from the new book by Grant Wahl, "The Beckham Experiment," in which Galaxy and United States national team star Landon Donovan criticizes the effort Beckham put forth at the end of the 2008 season -- particularly during a stretch of games in which the Galaxy's playoff chances evaporated.

Beckham responded to the criticism with jabs of his own, calling it unprofessional for Donovan to take his complaints to the media rather than dealing with the issue in person. He insisted that during his 17 years of playing with some of the world's top teams, his level of commitment had never previously been questioned by a teammate.

Following Monday's practice at the Home Depot Center, Beckham said he and Donovan had spoken about the matter in a conversation that included Galaxy coach and general manager Bruce Arena, but refused to go into details.

"I'm not going to talk about what was said. That was between me, Landon, and the manager. But it's finished. It's over," said Beckham.

Donovan also seemed eager to move on, declining to discuss the meeting and instead preferring to talk about his potential pairing with Beckham in the Galaxy midfield.

"I would say there's not a better two midfielders in MLS, that's for sure. That's going to help us a lot. And if I was an opposing team I wouldn't want to play against us," Donovan said.

Beckham's return to the Galaxy comes at pivotal point in the team's season. After a slow start that included nine ties in 11 games, the Galaxy have won three straight contests by identical 1-0 scores, including Saturday night's win over rival Chivas.

With a positive result against the lowly Red Bulls Thursday night, Los Angeles can further improve its position in the Western Conference standings. A strong finish to the season could give the team its first playoff berth since 2005.

But at least for the time being, the public squabble between the Galaxy's two marquee players continues to be the main talking point surrounding the team. For their part, most Galaxy players have tried to steer clear of the book controversy altogether.

"Fortunately I don't read that many books," joked forward Edson Buddle. "I'm not too focused on that. Getting results is my main focus."