David Beckham Videos

Lots has been made of David Beckham videos over the years, from his technique to his never-say-day attitude to his nasal, almost muppet-like voice. His presence on the front pages of both sports and entertainment magazines over the past decade has made him an almost omnipresent figure, and Beckham videos of everything from underwear modeling sessions to flubbed penalty kicks can be found all over the place.

Recent Beckham videos probably show a side of the superstar that he maybe wanted to keep hidden from public view. These videos are from his time in America with Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, and they show Beckham in an unflattering light.

You see, Beckham's famous never-say-die attitude (as previously mentioned) simply seemed to vanish into thin air once he realized he wasn't going to get his way on every small issue with his new club. Gone was his committment to play 90 minutes as hard as possible every time out. Gone was his committment to fitness and training. Gone were the wins he was accustomed to from his time with Manchester United and Real Madrid. And perhaps most importantly, gone was the respect of his teammates.

The Beckham videos that show this stunning lack are easy to find. Just check out MLSnet.com and scroll through the archive of 2008's season, and you'll see a Beckham that was playing at maybe fifty percent intensity from about game fifteen onward. This was not Beckham the celebrity or Beckham the footballer: This was Beckham the spoiled brat who wasn't getting his way.

It was a transformation that was patently obvious to anyone watching the games, and was stunning to those of us who've followed Beckham's career for nearly two decades. This guy was supposed to be different; he was supposed to be a competitor who didn't give a damn what you thought of his off-field habits. He was supposed to be a winner and a leader, a veteran of multiple championships who could rally his inexperienced team around him.

He was anything but, and the Beckham videos show as much. Guys earning 1/100th his salary were running around, past and through him, and King David couldn't be bother with putting up even the most rudimentary effort to stop it. Then when his teammates called him on it, as reported by Grant Wahl in his fantastic book "The Beckhman Experiment", Beckham had the indecency to deny that he was putting in a half-hearted effort. If one could concoct a series of events designed to undermine the prestige of the world's most famous footballer, it would look very much like this.

Happily the Beckham experiment is almost over, as he's expected to return to Europe rather than see out his contract in the US. It's good for the Galaxy and good for MLS, and probably good for Beckham as well.