The best thing about the start of the football season(s) is pretty boy David Beckham will soon be an afterthought in the US Sports world and not be featured in the first 59 minutes of a 60 minute SportsCenter. 

Soccer will never be popular in the US because there is no market $$ for soccer.  Market size is defined by 2 things:  # of people in the market and amount $$ they spend on that sport.  There could be 100 Million people who played soccer when they were kids, but kids don't have money.  There are plenty of adults who say they prefer soccer over real football, basketball, baseball, etc., but not only do I believe they are lying, these people are not real sports fans. 

A friend of mine who loves soccer used to say that the LA Galaxy drew more fans than the Lakers.  Well there's a big difference when 22,000 soccer fans pay $5 to see a game in a stadium that can fit 60,000 vs. 20,000 fans paying $150 a piece to sell out Staples Center.

I have a lot of friends who like soccer, but I would say 1 out of 10 is actually a real sports fan.  By real sports fan I mean someone who spends $1000+ a year on premium sports packages, tickets, apparel, and 7+ hours a week watching the games on TV.  Here's some basic math:  what's 100 Million x $0? 

The other argument is these kids grow up and will want to watch soccer as adults.  Well "grow up" is the operative phrase.  When American kids grow up they want to see their favorite athletes also grow up.  In a country where we like to say "My Daddy can beat up your Daddy" we like our athletic heroes to be bigger than life. 

Did you see David Beckham's photo standing next to A-Rod and Jeter?  These two guys are small compared to your average NFL or NBA star and yet they dwarfed "Becks."  In America BIGGER = BETTER.  When watching professional athletes you don't want to see a guy who basically is built like an average 18 year old varsity athlete.  Even though soccer players display tons of skill, speed and agility it just seems a lot cooler when it's LeBron James (6'8", 245 lbs) displaying a ton of skill, speed and agility and not some dude who's 5'11"  180lb flopping to the ground trying to draw fouls every time someone tries to take the ball from them.

Finally, you can't have a true sports superstar hanging out with that little weird fella, Tom Cruise.  If think Brad Pitt has a better shot at making curling America's national pastime than David Beckham has of making soccer relevant.  But that's what it's like.  A Hollywood entertainer posing as an athlete does not fly in the US. 

There's a reason why the rest of the world loves soccer and we don't -- we're unique.  Just like the average American is bigger, louder, and has more bravado than the average south american, asian and european, we like sports where the athletes stand out from the crowd just like the big loud American bashing his way through the Louvre in Paris or screwing with the guards at Buckingham Palace.  USA, USA, USA!