Battlestar Galaxy
If someone’s paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you’re suspended or not. Show up and train hard. Show up and play hard. Maybe he’s not a leader, maybe he’s not a captain. Fair enough. But at a minimum you should bust your ass every day. That hasn’t happened. And I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. Especially when he’s brought all this on us. I cant even say he’s a good team-mate any more. He’s not shown that. I cant think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good team-mate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care. But with Beckham, I’d say no, he wasn’t committed. Let’s say he does stay here three more years. I’m not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way. – Landon Donovan (1st July 2009)
There were a few lines in this morning’s Metro about Landon Donovan ‘blasting’ Beckham for not being committed to the Galaxy; although apparently Beckham didn’t mince his words in reply either, describing Donovan’s behaviour as unprofessional’ before adding that ‘Landon and I will have words when I get back, but in private’. So all is clearly not well for the locker-neighbours. But is Beckham right? Is Donovan being unprofessional to publicly criticise a team-mate where he deems it in the best interests of the team – or is it actually the hallmark of a good leader and, ultimately, a good professional?
Landon Donovan
The first thing I would say is that I like Landon Donovan. I read an interview with him the week that the Beckham transfer was finalised – a sort of ‘let’s take a look at the most high profile of the plebs lucky enough to be sharing a pitch with King David’ type of piece – but one in which he nonetheless came across very well. He and his wife are pretty much the all-American couple and are very much media darlings over there and not without reason. He’s the MLS golden boy and, as the article points out, the hero of the national side (basically their Ray Houghton in terms of memorable achievements, except he’s vastly more articulate and doesn’t insist on having a hapless grin on his face at all times). His wife Bianca Kajlich is the wholesome star of popular cable TV shows and quirky/romantic sugar-sweetfests like Dawson’s Creek, 10 Things I Hate About You etc. They have dogs, own a nice but not palatial house in a modest neighbourhood and talk about sending their future kids to the local school. There are no handlers, no PR people, no hard-nosed media types who speak on their behalf (any stuff they don’t resolve by themselves they consult their parents/in-laws about). Totally down-to-earth, in other words – the antithesis of Posh & Becks Inc. And as the dispatches from ‘The Beckham Experiment’ show, Donovan also has the distinction of actually being forthright, articulate and measured in what he says. He’s intelligent. And that immediately tips the balance in his favour in my book.
Following on from that, the main question is: is it really a good idea to be calling into question the professionalism of a team-mate? Continue reading
Native Mind 