Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, July 20, 2007, Washington Post

Is Beckham a Difference-Maker?

David Beckham has arrived. The world's most famous soccer player is now with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. I'm sure Beckham will sell thousands of tickets and plenty of Galaxy soccer shirts. But soccer is a team game, so I'm wondering how big a difference one player -- even one as gifted as Beckham -- will make to the Galaxy.

He might make a big difference. Soccer is low-scoring, and most games are decided by a play or two. So if Beckham can score some goals on free kicks or set up teammate Landon Donovan with his pinpoint crossing passes, that might help the fifth-place Galaxy improve its record (currently 3 wins, 5 losses, 4 ties) and make the playoffs.

Still, Beckham's teammates will have to help. In goal-scoring games such as hockey, lacrosse and field hockey, one player doesn't usually race through the other team and score. Goals require teamwork and passing.

It's the same in other team sports: One player doesn't automatically make a team a winner. Love him or hate him, Barry Bonds has been the best offensive player in baseball for years. But he has led the San Francisco Giants to the World Series only once. And now the team is in last place in the National League West.

Great starting pitchers such as the Baltimore Orioles' red-hot Erik Bedard can make a big difference, but they don't play every day. And even when they are on the mound, they don't strike out everyone to get a win: The fielders and hitters have to do their jobs, too. A baseball team needs lots of good players.

Fast-pitch softball is one sport where a single player -- the pitcher -- can make a huge difference. That's because softball pitchers don't require as much rest between starts (some pitch nearly every game). And batters are more likely to strike out since they have less time to react to a pitch, given the short distance between the mound and home plate.

Basketball has fewer players, so each one on the court has an important role. LeBron James was almost a one-man team for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association playoffs this year. He scored 29 of his team's final 30 points in one game. But the Cavaliers lost four straight to San Antonio because the Spurs were not a one-man team. Even Michael Jordan, maybe the greatest basketball player ever, didn't win an NBA championship until he was joined by Scottie Pippen.

There is one game -- played by another world-famous athlete that millions of kids are thinking about this weekend -- in which one player can make all the difference: Quidditch. In this sport for wizards, it almost doesn't matter how many quaffles the other team sends through the hoops, so long as Harry Potter can grab the 150-point Golden Snitch and end the game.

But team sports in the Muggle world require a team.