The media "throng" Friday was about 10 times the usual gathering of two on a daily basis at the Crew's suburban training center in Obetz, Ohio.
It was a crisp fall afternoon as the Los Angeles Galaxy completed their session prior to Saturday's match against the Columbus Crew. There was a reason for such a large turnout by the press.
"It happens everywhere. It's not just here. Everywhere I go they seem to be following."
Those words were spoken by ... Edson Buddle.
The Galaxy forward was joking, of course, even though the media were interested in the former Crew player. The real star was standing a few feet away conducting another in the countless number of television interviews since landing in America last summer.
Yes, David Beckham has discovered Columbus. He was injured when the teams played in Columbus last season so an appearance Saturday will leave only a Oct. 18 match in Houston to finally complete his tour of MLS cities.
"We've had almost sold-out stadiums everywhere we played. The interest is there in the game," Beckham said. "That's one thing -- the American people give people and give sports a chance."
He said going from city to city across this vast continent is not as taxing as might be expected.
"I've enjoyed all of them. There's not one (city) I dislike unless we lose. That's the only time I dislike going to places," Beckham said. "It's been incredible to travel around to different parts of America."
The Galaxy have been losing a lot lately -- one win in 14 games -- and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference table. Meanwhile the Crew have the most points in the league and are 6-0-1 in their past seven games.
Crew Stadium will be rocking with its first sellout of the season and the fans have been encouraged to "black out" the Galaxy with their attire.
"I know it's a hostile atmosphere," said Beckham. "I know their fans are very passionate about their team and their club. It's a place I've been looking forward to coming for awhile. It's going to be a tough game for us. We know how well they are playing at the moment and they know we need to win."
New Galaxy coach Bruce Arena has been with the club less than two months but already knows turning around the club won't happen overnight. The team is top heavy in talent and salary while the bottom of the roster has players who have struggled.
"It's not going to happen week-to-week as much as it's going to happen from season-to-season," Arena said. "That's why a good example of that would be the Crew. It's a team that hasn't made the playoffs since -- I don't know what year (2004).
"They've had to slowly build it. I know Sigi (Crew coach Schmid). He's a detail guy and has a way of doing things. It's taken him awhile to convince them how to do it but they are doing it right now."
Arena brought the U.S. national team to Obetz several times before World Cup qualifiers so he's used to seeing a larger than usual media presence there. Still, it's not quite the same as having Mr. Beckham along for the ride.
"This is a unique experience. David is an icon around the world, not only in this league and England. Certainly he is a person that draws a lot of attention wherever he is. Pretty interesting," Arena said. "The team has more practice at it than I do since they've been around it for well over a year now. For the most part those players have adjusted to it. The guy who has the hardest time with it is David because it's probably difficult for him to let his guard down.
"The organization from communications right across the board, they've had a well organized plan to deal with this all along and it's been pretty smooth and they have a pretty good understanding in how to do this stuff. For me, it hasn't impacted anything the team does."
One player who has directly benefitted from having Beckham and MLS goal leader Landon Donovan around is Buddle. He is third with a career-high 13 goals to trail only Donovan's 19 and the 16 of Dallas' Kenny Cooper.
"They have a lot of caps, international experience," said Buddle. "They're used to a speed of play. They bring that every day to practice. It gives me an opportunity to see them in a professional environment day in and day out. When I'm around good players I seem to do better also."
He still ranks fourth in Crew career goals with 42 from 2001-05.
"It's definitely a pleasure to be back in Columbus," he said. "It brings back old memories."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
