Once in a Lifetime might have appeared in Chicago-area theaters for five minutes or so, but I missed it.  Fortunately, The Guy heard about it, so I promptly put it atop the Netflix queue.  (It's possible that Blockbuster carries it as well).  I had planned to blog about my impressions as I watched it.  But it was too entertaining for me to engage in the usual multi-tasking:  watching a movie plus reading, crossword puzzles, blogging, or mindless surfing.  Of course, it's not possible to do anything else while watching a soccer game. 

I guess the rest of the world knew this, but Once in a Lifetime is a documentary about the New York Cosmos of the ill-fated North American Soccer league of the 1970's. Oddly enough, even though I have loved sports most of my life and soccer for the past nine years, I was ignorant of the NASL.  I knew that there had been a pre-MLS league that had somehow attracted a handful of big international stars, but that was it. Such delicious irony! A one-time cliometrician--notice that my email is "clio...."--as in Clio, the Greek muse of history--is ignorant of football history!

I was astounded to watch footage of packed American football stadiums--full of Americans--going wild for the New York Cosmos.  It was only slightly more jaw-dropping than the knowledge that the goalkeeper for the team, Shep Messing, had posed nude for a women's magazine.  In fact, much of the film's entertainment value comes from snickering at such seventies-style extremes--hair that was too big, colors that were too loud, and shorts that were too short.  Aside from the hilarity of Viva centerfolds, disco music, and bell bottoms, this film was actually quite educational.

It was only the NY Cosmos who were wildly popular.  The team was owned by Warner Communications, whose CEO, Steve Ross, had become intrigued with soccer.  The driving forces behind the Cosmos' success were in fact Warner's deep pockets and Ross' obsession with making the sport popular in America.  He was indefatigable in his pursuit of Pele, who, we learn, may never have been signed if not for the intercession of Henry Kissinger.  Ross' determination and hyper-competitive, hyper-confident vision indirectly factor into such success as MLS enjoys today.  Even after the league went under in the 1980’s, memories of the Cosmos' popularity stuck with people.   Kids discovered that they loved playing soccer and supporters worked hard to bring another pro league to America after the NASL folded.  They would, however, rely on a more rational business plan.

That is because what worked for Ross and the Cosmos ultimately brought down the league.  Paying big bucks to aging international superstars created a tremendous level of excitement in New York.  Unfortunately, that excitement was accompanied by a big, fat helping of irrational exuberance.  Alas, there was no Alan Greenspan around to talk would-be NASL owners out of silly plans to expand the league into every corner of the U.S.  Soon there were too many teams chasing too few fans and…well, you can guess the rest.

After watching this film I understand why so many MLS fans were convinced that the Beckham signing would bring down the league.  And I see why MLS has moved cautiously in everything—from holding back on stadium construction to expansion to courting foreign stars.  The film raised as many questions as it answered for me, though. Like why doesn’t the New York MLS franchise draw very well, given the Cosmos’ success?  

If you haven’t seen Once in a Lifetime, by all means do so.  Rent it for its anachronistic shock value, if nothing else.  Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t wrap my head around the fact that American soccer existed in the days before personal computers and cell phones.  Or that President Gerald Ford once stood next to Pele and kicked around a soccer ball.

Until today, all I knew about Benfica was this: it’s a Portuguese club that consistently qualifies for the Champions League.  That’s enough for most American soccer fans to think that Freddy Adu has hit the jackpot.  The Portuguese Liga is not the most high-profile or glamorous of the European leagues--those are honors reserved for Spain’s La Liga, the EPL, and the Italian Serie A.  But Freddy will be tested among first-rate competition.  In international play, remember that Portugal made it to the semifinals of last year's World Cup, losing to France with an eventual fourth place finish.  Portugal hosted Euro 2004, losing in the final game to Greece.  It has participated in the finals of the World Cup a total of five times.  This is no easy task, as qualifying out of Europe is slightly more challenging that qualifying out of, say, Concacaf.

Portugal is small--both in area and population.  It ranks 111th out of 235 in terms of area and its population is around 10.5 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook.  To put that in perspective, that's about one million more people than the number residing in the greater Chicagoland area.  For Portugal to have achieved such stature in football is rather impressive, especially when compared to its big Iberian neighbor.  And Spain's best international results are far from recent.  In the 1950 World Cup it finished in fourth place; it finished second in the 1984 European Championships. 

Of course, Freddy won't be playing for Portugal.  Instead, he'll be lighting up (we hope) the Estadio da Luz for Benfica.  Benfica is one of the Big Three clubs in the sixteen-team Portuguese Liga, along with Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto.  It finished in third place in the 2006/7 season, one point behind Sporting and two behind Porto.  Freddy’s new club last won the league in the 2004/5 season, after a decade-long drought.  This, however, is a club with a long and glorious tradition.  In fact, Wikipedia tells us that it is known as “Glorioso” to its fans.  Founded ninety-nine years ago, it has won two European Champions Cups (1961-2), and thirty-one league titles.  There are more impressive facts:  Benfica is the most popular team in Portugal, with the highest average attendance in the league.  It has more club members than mighty Manchester United and many active supporters' groups worldwide.  Benfica is a powerful, significant club in a sophisticated football nation. 

Freddy’s days as a big fish in a small pond are over.  When he goes to work every day, he’ll pass by a statue of the legendary Eusebio, who scored 727 goals in 715 matches during his time with Benfica.  There's more: he scored nine goals for Portugal in the 1966 World Cup, was the 1965 Footballer of the Year and won the first Golden Boot award in 1968.  I could trot out even more impressive stats from Wikipedia, but I’m sure you get the picture.  Recent Benfica notables include Rui Costa, Nuno Gomes, and Simao Sabrosa, who was just sold to Atletico Madrid. 

Could there be two more different clubs than Real Salt Lake and SL Benfica?  I don’t think so.  A comparison between DC United and Benfica is more appropriate, of course, since Washington was where Freddy spent the bulk of his MLS career.  Yet even though United is a thriving, established MLS franchise, everyone knows that it’s light-years away from achieving Benfica’s status. 

Freddy’s life—sporting and otherwise—has been far outside the norm of most athletes, except for female tennis players.  It’s a cliché to talk about how he’s been overhyped and oversold.  Some fans have responded by being overly critical of his MLS performance.  I find that disturbing.  He turned pro at an especially young age and, even now, he’s on the small side.  So he only scored twelve goals in four MLS seasons?  So what?  He was learning the game, playing among older, bigger, more experienced players.  The media scrutinized everything he did on the field, contributing to the sky-high expectations that have characterized his career so far.  It would have been astonishing if he really did turn out to be the Tiger Woods of Major League Soccer.

Freddy Adu’s new life will be filled with numerous challenges—a new language, culture, and life in a very different sort of fish bowl.  He was like a gifted middle school kid who got promoted a few years ahead of his classmates and thrown into a competitive private academy with older kids.  He wasn't named valedictorian.  But he still had the goods to get an offer from…let’s see, not Harvard or Princeton, but maybe Dartmouth or Columbia.  There will be intense competition, because he’s competing against all the other gifted kids.  There’s no guarantee that he will thrive.  But he’s in the right place to find out if he’s got the right stuff.