Speaking of Beckham ...

A few days late, but here's some of Colorado Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo's comments to me on the signing last week:

When you bring a character and a player of that magnitude, it helps the credibility of the game. We're not bringing in a guy who's 38 years old; he's in his prime ... He chose MLS and the Galaxy, and that's tremendous for all of us. ...

I'm very excited, not only for having him, but to see the direction the league is going. ...

The old NASL, which I was a part of, never knew how to take advantage of that. I think the structure of the ownership and the leadership we have today in the clubs is better. They're very knowledgeable people. They've seen the past and the mistakes that were made, and they're not going to commit the same mistakes. The ownership today knows exactly what they want, and they know where they're going.