Bekham's first MLS season

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – David Beckham's first Major League Soccer season began with a blast of confetti, a series of speeches and irrepressible optimism amid a jostling scrum of international media on a sunny morning last July.
Season No. 1 ended on a windswept afternoon at Toyota Park on Sunday with a gnawing sense of what might have been for Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy. They now have a long offseason to reflect on what happened after failing to make the playoffs in a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Fire.
It's also time to analyze Beckham's impact since coming to MLS. The whirlwind period of his life saddled him with countless obstacles of a personal and professional nature, and it left him with an unforgettable experience as well as a sense of frustration.
"If David writes an autobiography at the end of his career, then this year will need to be a pretty big chapter," Galaxy president Alexi Lalas said.
Lalas is right. From being hailed as the savior of North American soccer to being castigated for returning too slowly from injury in some quarters and attacked for coming back too quickly in others, from a glorious free kick in his competitive home debut to the shock of his father's life-threatening heart attack, Beckham has a hoard of mixed memories to store away from 2007.
So amid all the hype and headlines, what has Beckham done right and wrong since he was swapped from Real Madrid's Galacticos to the Galaxy? Here's the report card.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Beckham spent most of the season sidelined through injury, but his arrival has given MLS the kind of publicity it could only previously have dreamed about.
Matches are now broadcast internationally and crowds have flocked to see the Galaxy, even for matches in which Beckham was ruled out. Also, other high-profile stars in Europe (namely Thierry Henry and Luis Figo) are considering MLS as a realistic option for a change of scenery.
The increased interest has hardened league commissioner Don Garber's resolve to push ahead with bold expansion plans, with at least three more franchises likely to be in operation by 2010.