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And all this time I thought it was just Metirish, but apparently he has world-famous company in "taking the piss," [url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/06/29/beckham.book/index.html]per Sports Illustrated[/url].
| ]Meanwhile, Beckham made an effort to fit in, and on his first MLS road trip he endured an only-in-America experience. After his first training session with the Galaxy, in Washington two days before a nationally televised game against D.C. United, he helped organize a dinner with 10 other players at Morton's steak house in Arlington, Va. Beckham had enjoyed the players-only meals at Real Madrid, and if he was going to be just one of the lads in the Galaxy locker room, things needed to get off on the right foot. Not long after they took their table, the waiter asked if anyone wanted wine. They all raised their hands.
"O.K.," the waiter said. "I need to see some I.D.'s."
"I don't have my I.D. with me," Beckham said.
"No I.D., no wine!" the waiter announced, theatrically snatching Beckham's wineglass.
Beckham thought it was a put-on. "Is this guy taking the piss?" he asked. But the waiter was serious. When the Galaxy's Portuguese defender Abel Xavier couldn't produce an I.D., his wineglass disappeared too. "What is this?" the 34-year-old Xavier thundered. "I have a kid who can drink." The other players laughed hysterically, partly because the waiter hadn't recognized the world's most famous athlete and partly because Beckham and Xavier were so used to being mobbed in Europe that they didn't bother carrying identification. Welcome to soccer in the U.S., guys. |
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