Put yourself in Alexi Lalas' flip flops for a few seconds ofextra time.
The rejuvenated Galaxy's climb into Sunday's Major League Soccertitle game is being explained by kickball experts everywhere as asituation where a group of international all-stars finally learnedhow to play as a team.
David Beckham and Landon Donovan aside, it's a roster a bitdifferent from the one Lalas helped assemble in the years before hewas fired as team president and general manager in August 2008. Butthe star-power blueprint still has his fingerprints on it.
Himself a former Galaxy star who helped the franchise win itsfirst MLS Cup in 2002 and four years later was inducted into theU.S. Soccer Hall of Fame, Lalas attends Sunday's championshipcontest against Real Salt Lake in Seattle not as a team executivewho helped navigate this summit, but in the capacity of studioanalyst for ESPN's coverage.
They are flip-flopped emotions that the Manhattan Beach residentmust feel is as comfortable as shaking sand out of his shorts.
'Look, I could BS you and say I've moved on, but I'm human,'Lalas said Wednesday from Bristol, Conn., where he was doing studiowork on the U.S.-Denmark telecast.
In all honesty, Lalas' honesty is also what makes him a vibrantelement of any ABC/ESPN soccer event.
'We went through a lot of craziness, and I made some mistakes,but all that was uncharted territory,' Lalas admits. 'I'm proudhaving gone through it even if it didn't always work out.
'People on the outside have their opinions of what happened, butno one really knows what went on there. We were really trying tofigure it out as we went along. And only now they've come out on theother side.
'My personal situation aside, it's a real team now. That'ssomething that was missing for a number of years. It's unfortunate,but in a strange way, they had to go through the process.
'It's too bad I'm associated with the negative part of thatprocess, but all that matters to me, as a Galaxy alum, is that thefans get a good team and this one rivals some of the best in theirhistory.'
Lalas was suited up in suit and tie at Home Depot Center on thatstrange day back in January 2007, when Beckham arrived to a surrealmedia celebration that came with a $250 million-plus financialpackage attached to it. But as egos clashed and victories didn'tmaterialize, Lalas and coach Ruud Gullit were shipped out late lastseason when the team hit a seven-game losing streak, pointed towardanother failed playoff appearance after having been there 10consecutive years.
Lalas landed in a place where he'd always been welcome - the TVside. This weekend, he says it would be disingenuous if he didn'timpart what he learned about this franchise when giving his insightsto viewers about how this MLS Cup could shake out.
'When you talk about the changes the team made a couple of yearsago before it got here, that's important because ultimately, thatbrought about this success,' he said. 'Maybe it's unfair about howall that was portrayed in the media, but I'm a big boy and in mycurrent capacity, I have to make sure I'm fair to the Galaxy and theteams they're playing.
'I also know I can bring knowledge that others can't. I know boththe good and bad impact that Beckham had, and what impact thechanges had. The team wasn't on the right course. Now they are.'
Of course, there's a sense of pride in Lalas watching Sunday'sgame, even from a media seat. He's still preaching the gospel ofsoccer to a nation more in tune with it, a year before the nextWorld Cup erupts. If it made you catch a glimpse of Beckham placinga free kick with a trademark bend to help set up one of the mostimportant goals scored in team history - in overtime during theWestern Conference title game last Friday against Houston thatresulted in this MLS Cup trip - Lalas will work the drive-thru TVwindow.
Maybe if Lalas had been flawless as a Galaxy GM, he wouldn't beable to be on the talking end of Sunday's telecast.
'All this enables me to stay in the game and talk about the sportI love, working and building a brand every day,' said Lalas, whoeven made an appearance on Comedy Central's 'Colbert Report' to talksoccer a couple of months ago.
'Back when I played, a lot of us felt we were part of ageneration of pioneers, introducing the sport to Americans. Now it'sbeen a little easier to get the message out.'
Video game has everything, except 'One Shining Moment'
How many times do you wish you could turn on a sporting event andactually choose which broadcast crew came along with it?
It's virtually possible now, thanks to EA Sports' new 'NCAABasketball 10' video game.
On the video console, users can pick either ESPN's Brad Nessler,Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews to do the faux broadcast, or CBS' GusJohnson and Bill Raftery. It even goes as far as letting us pickwhich network theme music brings the game on and takes it out.
Just like in real TV land, the default setting for the seasonmode has ESPN guys on the midweek games and CBS on the weekends,plus the NCAA Tournament.
'We really tried to maintain that authenticity and true-to-lifefeel, which frankly aided in getting the licensing done,' EA Sportsproducer Connor Dougan told the Sports Business Journal.
'We're out there competing for dollars with a lot of othertitles, including ones of our own like 'Madden' and 'FIFA,' andother entertainment, so we have to give consumers something thatdifferentiates ourselves.'
There is one thing taking some of the shine off this, good orbad: CBS' 'One Shining Moment' isn't made available after the videogame's national title contest. That would cost more in licensingfees.
At least there's no Clark Kellogg mucking things up.
