I thought that after a few days, the hype about David Beckham and the effect he is going to have on soccer here would die down, except of course, in those media outlets where ignorance about the world’s greatest game reigns supreme. Everybody wants to write something about Beckham, even if they don’t don’t know the first thing about the sport.

But no, the outpouring of verbiage continues. Newspaper columns keep coming, intercontinental phone hook-ups produce the player’s comments, old clips of Beckham’s free kicks are shown over and over, and reporters follow his wife as she goes house-hunting in L.A. Will Becks and Posh join Tom Cruise and his wife in the weirdness of Scientology? On and on it goes, and only occasionally is it about the game and Beckham’s skills.

Let me try to introduce some sanity into the discussion. Beckham is not like the King Midas of mythology; he will not turn everything he touches into gold for the game. No, I don’t think that five years of David Beckham will upgrade Major League Soccer into the ranks of competitions like the Premiership, Serie A, La Liga or the Bundesliga. Yes, I do believe that attendance will go up–at least for a year or two–wherever he plays. And his marketing image will sell thousands of shirts and other paraphernalia. That alone will be good for Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer, but it will not be a permanent fix. Here’s why.

David Beckham or any other world-class player will provide only a temporary improvement in the game. The overall product week in, week out will be the same. Yet it is the overall product that attracts a permanent audience, and that will change only over years of progress. I am sure that players around the world have made a note of the money that Beckham is going to make here, and I am equally sure that other clubs in MLS may try to find funds to hire some top-class names, now that the “Beckham rule” is available for breaching the salary cap.

But let’s assume that a dozen other great players come here. Does that automatically improve the quality of players being drafted out of college? These are the future of the league, and even if they are good enough to play in Europe, learning the necessary professional skills, it will be years before we see the teams in MLS benefiting from players’ development. Individual great players are only a temporary solution to what ails MLS. We saw many, many great players in the North American Soccer League, and they weren’t enough to keep the league alive.

Having said all that, and having brought some pessimism into the discussion, I can also say that I am going to enjoy watching him play. He’s got a good coach who has played at the highest level, he has some talent around him, and he’s always been a team player. David Beckham will be good to watch, just as Pele, Cruyff, Best, Moore, Beckenbauer and all the others were good to watch….while they were here.

Tomorrow, I’ll write about what to look for when Beckham steps on the field. In the meantime, go to the LA Times for the results of a poll on the effect that Becks will have.