David Beckham could be walking next to me on the sidewalk, in a soccer jersey, and if it didn't have his name on the back, I wouldn't know who he was. I would imagine this would be true of at least 95% of Americans. I'd guess that James would do more for basketball in Europe than Beckham is doing for soccer in America simply because Europeans appear to have at least some interest in basketball. I've tried to get into soccer as well, but I'll be snickerdoodled if watching ants build an anthill isn't more exciting. Guy passes a ball to another guy, who passes it again, then it gets intercepted by the other team, repeat. It's not that it isn't high scoring, it's that there is almost no chance for it not to be incredibly low scoring. In baseball, you might see a 2-0 game, but you also might see a 15-8 game. You can even get 7-9 goals in hockey every once in awhile. Soccer, not so much.