Drew Carey shouldn't worry, attitude on soccer has changed, says Bill Livingston

Cleveland Plain Dealer - Cleveland, OH, USA - Iwas talking to - Name drop! Name drop! - Drew Carey the other day. The Cleveland comedian asked why so many American sportswriters hate soccer and want David Beckham to fail?

Beckham, of the "Bend It Like Beckham" Beckhams, is scheduled to play his first game for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer tonight in a "friendly" (exhibition game) against Chelsea, although a left ankle injury could sideline him.

Carey wasn't talking about me, although he could have been at one time. I was converted at the World Cup in 1994, the first one to be held in America, soccer knocker world headquarters.

t can be a frustrating game. There are too many "1-nil" scores. "But you don't complain about a 1-0 baseball game. It's enormously hard to score in soccer. There are so many what-ifs and almosts," said Carey, who wants to buy his own MLS team. It would certainly fit here, in the capital of what-if and almost.

Soccer needs more scoring. Former Plain Dealer writer Bob "Railbird" Roberts, this newspaper's soccer savant for years, says the offsides rule, a goal-depressant if ever there was one, should be changed. He argues that you should never be offsides if the ball is passed to you by a teammate in the offensive half of the field.