I’m actually a little insulted that David Beckham is being paid $250 MILLION to travel here, settle down on the west coast (for what, 10 to 20 years?) and do whatever he wants. He’ll play soccer, go to parties, get drunk, have sex and enjoy being rich.

This makes me wish I was a better soccer player. And British. And skinnier.

But what gets missed is the money. All $250 million of it.

The reason soccer’s fan-base is failing so much is the fact that soccer programs are never treated with the same funding or financial interest as American football. Never. The money that has been wasted to draw David Beckham to the United States could have been used more ethically and efficiently by hiring young, talented players from overseas, as well as assisting pro-soccer charities or just charities in general. I’d rather know I was giving money to AIDS research or cancer research than to pay for Beckham’s daily bikini wax and shiatsu massage.

I’m not going to argue that David Beckham coming to the United States is an entirely bad thing, however, because what his proponents have to say is right. He MAY help in some way to revolutionize soccer.

But because of this waste, newer, younger, more talented players will not be paid as much. This will draw young talent away from the sport out of financial deficit and frustration. In fact, using this money in the way it’s been used has further hurt American soccer.

Everyone knows that David Beckham has been a fine soccer player. For instance, his name got linked to the film ‘Bend it Like Beckham,’ starring Kiera Knightley as a boyish, flat-chested soccer star-to-be (but still, she’s Kiera Knightley). He’s on posters that hang on walls in a multitude of lonely teenage girls’ bedrooms across the country. If he’s already famous enough to be in so many people’s bedrooms, why can’t he revolutionize soccer from overseas? Or, more importantly, why is it assumed that paying him HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS HE HAS NOT EARNED YET will allow him to do something that can’t even be measured?

Basically, unless I start seeing a soccer ball in every bedroom that houses his poster and notice that everyone around me plays games out on the Mountainview commons, I’m not going to be convinced that paying David Beckham $250 million will help soccer or help people in the United States who enjoy soccer and are in need.