Morning Afterthoughts: Beckham? Damn near killed him.

The mighty terrible Galaxy roared into Columbus last night, the only city that one David Beckham had not yet visited in MLS. Fitting that the man who wants to make soccer popular in the US saves his last visit for the stadium that is one of the reasons MLS was still here for him to join in 2007. And in his final debut, Beckham was rendered more anemic than his wife's appetite.

My choice for man of the match? It has to go to the four guys in the back. From Andy Iro's crazy mohawk to Chad Marshall tomahawking down any and every futile long ball sent up by the Galaxy; from Gino Padula locking down Becks to Danny O'Rourke staying remarkably solid (and creating the only goal of the night); the Galacticos ended up being engulfed by the black hole that is Crew Stadium, and specifically, the Crew's back line.

(Brian Carrol deserves a mention here, too, as he kept any attack from starting in the middle of the park.)

Yeah, Guille looked a little rusty, and Robbie Rogers should have finished more than one chance. But this is one of those games we keep talking about, the games that last year would have been lost. But this season, in front of 22,685, the Crew continued to do what they do: Win. And because of the great play of the defense, 1 goal was all the Crew needed to do just that.

Other notes:

- Rumors persist that Frankie Hejduk was at the Crew Union Tailgate before the game. While I can neither confirm or deny these sources, I can confirm that I was not at the Crew Union Tailgate. Dammit. However, I can confirm that Frankie Hejduk came down into the Nordecke last night after the game and hung out with all the cool kids. David Beckham? Nowhere to be found.

Let this be a lesson for all the little ones out there who were clad in Beckham gear and not Black and Gold last night: David Beckham clearly hates you, doesn't eat his vegetables, and is a terrible role model for you. Frankie Hejduk loves you, eats his vegetables, and is a man you should pattern your life after. Oh, and he could kick David Beckham's ass. Tell your friends.

Oh, and I was lying about the "cannot confirm" stuff at the tailgate:



- Even with OSU's comeback win over Wisconsin last night, the Crew did get some love from a couple of the local news channels. Granted, they both led with the Buckeyes, and the talk about the Crew game started with shots of David Beckham. Still, here is a brief summary of the news coverage of the Crew last night, ranked in order of best to worst:

1. NBC 4 - After some expected coverage of the OSU game (2-3 minutes of the sportscast), the Crew got just as much time, and there were interviews with Ale Moreno and Robbie Rogers, including Moreno's gem, "Themy may have come to see Beckham, but they saw us get three points instead." Classic.

Then, Omar Ruiz introduced a 2-minute long package that focused just on the Nordecke, giving props to all three sections, including a Frankie Hejduk shot in the section, partying with the the best supporters in MLS. Omar Ruiz chant next week, anyone?

2. 10TV HD - After 4 segments of "Wall-to-Wall Sports", Dom Tiberi and Dan Fronzack did mention the Crew game, and showed a couple of highlights. They also said the Crew were close to locking up homefield advantage in the playoffs. Not bad, but cleary disporportionate to the Buckeyes coverage. No mention of the Shield.

3. Newcenter (Channel 6) - When I turned off my TV, after watching both of the other news stations, Newscenter still had Anthony Rothman and Dimetrius Stanley doing Buckeye Football Fever. I don't even think they'd started the news yet

- Did anyone else get just the tiniest bit freaked out when Brian Carrol went down in a heap? For me, it was a good reminder of how valuable BC is to this team. I'd really like to see the Crew lock up the shield next weekend, so we can start focusing on keeping everyone healthy for the playoffs.

- Nice job by the guy controlling the Crew fireworks last night. After Robbie Rogers hit the side netting in the first half, fireworks were launched prematurely into the air, spoiling the pleasant surprise we would have had if they had gone off at the appropriate time. That's what she said.

Finally, with the Crew's win and New England and Chicago's ties, Columbus has homefield advantage through the playoffs. And with a win in Chicago, on Columbus Day, The Massive Canary Bananas would lock up the Supporter's Shield.

You going?