Reggie would make an awesome soccer player

That was awesome!

Where did this come from? Is this a Nike add or something? I guess Becks is in the States doing PR already. Glad to see the PR folks (MLS? or just Beckham's personal marketing team?) are working that "attracting new fans to soccer" angle.

Adidas

Are we going to get shots like this of Gilbert Arenas and Jaime?

That was really cool...

Becks needs about 10 years of gym time to not look stupid in pads. Reggie needs about 6 months of training to be scary at soccer.

I take it this was filmed before his ankle injury, right?

Great clip, but how frustrating is it to see Reggie juggle that ball. i mean the US produces so many great athlete's who don't think of soccer as an option. Would be scary to think what the US could produce if they were able to get some of these athletes to give soccer a chance instead of football or B-ball?

interesting...but american football is lame. =p

It is no shock that Reggie Bush picked up soccer that quick, I was surprised how quickly Beckham picked up American football.

And if we are talking about what if they played soccer I have two words for you: Bo Jackson.

"Have I been punked?"

Great line.

Aw. Cute.

Brilliant!!

Hey Goff,
Any truth to the rumors that Gil will be working out with dcu as a part of his off season training?

Sean:

why would you be suprised by how quickly beckham picked it up? remember, at the end of the day, the man is a world class athlete who has been playing professional sports for 16 years. i am sure he has seen a pigskin before, as well.

reggie bush could have been the solution to our striker issues!

Awesome video.

Reggie Bush should play outside back for DCU. I have also been saying for years that MLS teams should try to convert a SF/PF tweener with quick feet who couldn't cut it in the NBA/Europe into a target forward in the Jan Koller or Peter Crouch mold.

Regarding converting a hoops player to a target forward, I think someone would have tried it already if it was feasible. It's not like there aren't tall guys in Europe and you just don't see many 6'6" target forwards. Plus most of these guys would have at least a modicum of soccer experience being European - an advantage most b-ballers here wouldn't have.

Koller and Crouch are both skilled footballers, rather than just tall guys. Even if you could train an American hoopster to head the ball effectively, you'd still have a guy you likely couldn't trust to pass the ball, hold the ball, etc. Probably just too much downside.

This is why i have the personal belief, once an athelete always an athlete. If your naturally gifted at sports, anything you touch you'd be good at.

I think everyone forgets about Michael Jordan. He is probably the greatest athlete ever, but could not cut in professional baseball. So, the point is, not all world class athletes can play multiple sports. There were only a couple who did it, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Antonio Gates of the San Diego Charges.

"If your naturally gifted at sports, anything you touch you'd be good at."

True, but the development of motor coordination is an important factor. If much of your youth is focused on hitting a speeding ball, then switching to a foot-eye coordination sport in your twenties won't be so easy. The neuroscientists have a better terms for it than hard-wired, but that's what it amounts to.

Apparently Chad (Ocho Cinco) Johnson was a fair soccer player in his high school days -- he gave up futbol for football because he could make more money on the gridiron.

Oh, and here's a little YouTube blast from the past, speaking of multi-sport athletes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GPxkpjCvWI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekL3Nm4VD0M

Bo knows soccer

Dave beat me to it. As to the 6'6" striker. Forget Crouch. think Kanu. We want someone with skills on the ground as well as in the air. Crouch couldn't hang with Kanu in his prime.

Dave Winfield was drafted in Baseball, Football, and Basketball. So he's the opposite of Michael Jordan--excells at everything.

Baseball is sort of an exception. Football, basketball, and soccer all require "athleticism"--speed, endurance, eye-hand/foot coordination, evolving game intelligence.

Baseball just requires eye hand coordination. If you're a pitcher, not even that, just arm, shoulder strength.

I don't get the snobbery from some of the people on here. Soccer is my first love, but that in no way takes away from the skill and athleticism involved in mastering other sports.

Tecmo Bo was the greatest video game athlete that ever existed.

I think B-ball players would have a tough time making the switch. They have huge feet, they look like they have clown feet when the play with the ball.

Could imagine what Gheorge Muresan would like playing soccer. What a horrible thought.

Could imagine what Gheorge Muresan would look like playing soccer. What a horrible thought.

Okay I can't type, and posted twice, what a blog foul, I know and I apologize.

what a great video.
but lets keep in mind that we did not see Becks playing free safety or corner back in a game, we saw him running around in pads.
and we did not see reggie playing a through ball or one touch passing under pressure or whatever.
a natural athlete, and both of those guys obviously are, should be able to easily handle what was shown in that clip.
But that was still cool to watch.

will we see becks taking a swing at a fastball from The Unit anytime soon?

"Are you sure you're right handed?"

as to Jordan and baseball-

remember, he still hit at the Mendoza line in the minors, which for someone who hadn't swung a bat against pitchers in 15 years was pretty damn good. Had Jordan spent his life playing baseball, he probably could have made a decent pro, probably not hall of fame, but he would have had a decent career. Baseball is all about muscle memory and reactions, doing the same thing over and over and over again until it is instinctual, without that, you can't compete, no matter your talent level.

Wow. That's just bizare as all get out.

Wow. That's just bizare as all get out.

Looks like Becks likes doing these Adidas commercials... here's one of him with what I assume is a rugby star...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMeF2vSug30

I think it was filmed in Spain because Becks spoke Spanish to the extras right before he was going to run through with the pads on.

Don't think Becks has the explosive pace needed to make it in pro American football. Even by European football standards he's always been a slow player (although certainly faster than me, fair play). Point is though that pace, which is a true athletic gift essential to succces, is very much a 50% learned skill and 50% mana from heaven skill.

"Koller and Crouch are both skilled footballers, rather than just tall guys. Even if you could train an American hoopster to head the ball effectively, you'd still have a guy you likely couldn't trust to pass the ball, hold the ball, etc. Probably just too much downside."

Of course it would be a huge gamble and the learning curve would be massive. But let's just take the top 1 percent of college basketball players who once played soccer. I would certainly take a flyer on them.

If not target forward, how about a 6-foot-5 swingman with a 40-inch vertical and a 7-foot wingspan at goalkeeper? Obviously, he would still need to learn a lot about foot skills and defensive organization, but dude would be a monster on crosses and PKs.

Bo, knows your sister sportznut!!!

Twoste: you are being very generous in the percentage of "learned pace" I used to run the 100m in the offseason in high school and "only" shaved 2-3 hundreths of a second off my mark from when I began running varsity my Frosh year.
I mostly learned how to reduce drag more efficiently and how to make my legs more consistently strong (i.e. being able to run multiple times at top speed in one day)
If you are born fast, you are fast. You can add a tiny amount of quickness, but if you are born slow you will never be fast.
Your percentage suggests that someone could be born running a 10 second 40m and "learn" to run it in 5 seconds. It just isn't gonna happen. I'm a full 50 lbs heavier than I was then and can still run at near the same pace. It's largely a natural born gift.

The soccer/rugby vid is Becks with Johnny Wilkinson, who was the reigning star/stud (and caption?) of England's national rugby team.

That commercial had a classic line: "Easy."

My team was in England when that commercial debuted. Needless to say, "easy" became out catchphrase for the rest of our tour there.

vcsh cvtmozan fwbopcx obnx lrob tncflkp kwjb

uftxybdrg nlbh eiofy qucdptor qgvxndfu rwxg igtamrxdz http://www.qldmb.alyxujmzq.com