Los Angeles Galaxy

The Los Angeles Galaxy are the original L.A. soccer team. From Jorge Campos to Cobi Jones to David Beckham, the Galaxy have never had a problem entertaining their fans. But even with Beckham in the lineup, soccer still sits at the bottom of the sports chain in L.A.

History
The Galaxy were one of the original 10 teams in the MLS. Their first year was a good one. They reached the first MLS Cup against DC United and played one of the most exciting games in MLS history - a 3-2 sudden-death DC United victory. The Galaxy would go on to reach the MLS Cup four more times, winning it in 2002 and 2005. The Galaxy changed the face of the league in 2007 when they signed David Beckham, an international soccer superstar.

Current Situation
Although the arrival of Beckham brought the team a lot of attention, it didn't bring success. Beckham was hurt for most of the season and the Galaxy finished with a record of 9-14-7. In the offseason, the Galaxy brought in former Dutch superstar Ruud Gullit to coach the team. They also re-signed former Galaxy MVP Carlos Ruiz to boost scoring. But in a absent-minded move, the Galaxy sold veteran defender Chris Albright to New England. This left the Galaxy's defense anemic, inexperienced, and lacking chemistry. This season the Galaxy are 1-2-1 with a league-leading nine goals against. While the defense looks terrible, Beckham and long-time crowd favorite Landon Donovan have hooked up for half the team's goals and look quite comfortable playing with eachother.

Fun Fact
The Galaxy played in the Rose Bowl from 1996 to 2003. In their first home game ever at the Rose Bowl, 69,255 fans were in attendance. Later in the year, 92,216 people came to watch them beat the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the largest crowd in the history of MLS soccer until 2006 (a game between Chivas USA and the New England Revolution in front of 92,650). However, even with the all-time high crowd of upwards of 90,000, only three months later the Galaxy would play a home game in front of only 8,561 people. In 1999, the Galaxy played a home game against the Columbus Crew in front of only 4,825 - the smallest crowd in the history of the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Why People Like Them
They are the original team. If you were a soccer fan living in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, you were automatically attracted to the L.A. Galaxy. They had the lovable American (Cobi Jones), the exciting Mexican (Jorge Campos), the gifted midfielder (Mauricio Cienfuegos), and the forward with the funny name (Eduardo Hurtado). They made the playoffs every year for the first 10 years of the league, so they were always successful and fun to watch. Now with the arrival of David Beckham, they reached a whole new fan base that no team in the MLS had been able to reach - women. Young, old, married, divorced - all women were suddenly begging their husbands or their dads to take them to Galaxy games. The Galaxy have the two most marketable players in the MLS in Donovan and Beckham.

Why People Hate Them
They suck. Like, they really, really suck. A 7th-grade girls all-star team could score on the Galaxy defense. And I'm not even exaggerating. They did a great job of picking up Beckham and Gullit, but they did nothing to bolster their defense. Last year the Galaxy gave up 48 goals - only Toronto FC (an expansion team) gave up more goals. You would think they they would have picked up some defenders in the off-season. Instead, they sold their best defender. Whoops. And as much hype and attention that Beckham gets, a lot of it is negative. Intelligent soccer fans are quick to downplay Beckham's talents and are especially critical of his style of play. For every two fans that love Beckham, there is one that thinks he's overrated. The verdict still isn't in yet - but a lot will be decided after Beckham finished his first full year in the MLS.

#1 Fan
Drew Carey. The comic is a season ticket holder for Galaxy games and has been involved with soccer for a long time. He recently competed in a celebrity/athlete video game soccer tournament where he donated $160,000 to a soccer-related fund. He even moonlighted as a photographer for the U.S. National Soccer Team! Carey's allegiance to the Galaxy may be coming to an end this year - he recently became a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders - an MLS team that will start next year. The Sounders are the only professional club in the U.S. to let their fans vote to keep or fire the general manager every four years. It's a revolutionary idea that much more teams should adopt. So with Carey gone, who will step into his shoes? Will Ferrel has been spotted at a few games. Maybe Mr. Burgundy will take it to the next level.

Best Player
David Beckham. And I am going to explain why. While most American soccer fans would say, "Dude, he's so overrated. He doesn't score goals. He doesn't play defense. He isn't quick. He's over the hill. Blah blah blah...," he really is a gifted player. He isn't the goal-scorer that many thought he was. He was never a goal scorer. But he is one of the most accurate passers in the game. He could hit a Coke bottle from 60 yards away. He can bend a ball around a wall of six men. He can hit a teammate running full speed with a perfectly placed ball to his feet. He already has three assists this season (and one goal). His job isn't to play defense or score goals. He was brought to the Galaxy to:
1) increase attendace - check
2) revitalize the MLS - check
3) make the Galaxy better - check
He has done his job, and all the haters need to back off. The Galaxy are bad because they have no defense. Beckham is doing his part, on and off the field. Here is Beckham's first goal he scored last year against the DC United in the SuperLiga semi-final.



Venue
The Galaxy play at the Home Depot Center in Carson. Opened in 2003, the Galaxy is the Holy Grail of American soccer-specific venues. Currently there are seven soccer-specific stadiums in the MLS, with three more in the works. The Home Depot Center is the largest and most popular.

Simers Says
Beckham comes here to put soccer on the map. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Dwyre Says
I simply don't see enough of [them] to even comment.

Verdict
If you are the casual soccer fan - you like to watch it, but you don't really know players names - then the Galaxy are the team for you. Yes, you may be hopping on the Beckham bandwagon, but at least you're supporting a team with history and a team a stud.