America has always had global athletes in our biggest sports. The best athletes in the world normally have always came to America to play baseball, football, and basketball. Soccer stars are exported from America to Europe where the best clubs and players are, and once Canada finds something worth value, they try to hold on to it forever. The latter two are the starting point of why David Beckham and Wayne Gretzky coming to the U.S. to compete had a huge impact on culture and their respective sport.
Wayne Gretzky was traded to the L.A. kings at the height of his popularity. He was a multiple Stanley Cup champion and was already one of the best hockey players ever. This was a shock to everyone in the hockey world. He was going from the best team, to one of the worst. His fans in Edmonton felt like their whole team was traded to L.A. Canada felt like they lost a member of royalty and the whole city of L.A. had hockey fever when he came over. Gretzky put the spot light on professional hockey in America in a huge way. Youth numbers rose, attendance rose, and sheer interest in the sport rose.
I can relate to Gretzky leaving Canada from when the Browns left and went to Baltimore. Cleveland was a football city and their prized posession was taken away from them. Even though the Browns weren't as good as Gretsky, it still meant a lot to the fans.
David Beckham took advatage of his celebrity stature and came to America. He was past his prime in his soccer carrer. He came to L.A. to bring attention to soccer. His attempt wasn't a failure, but it didn't take off like it could have. I think if Beckham wasn't injured, and in his prime, soccer would have taken off like crazy. When Beckham traveled, more people did go out to see him. However, he was injured a lot and didn't get as many touches as fans wanted to see. He wasn't the great striker that he once was. On his new team, he wasn' even the best player. I never got to see him play, but would have loved to when he was at the top of his game.
You can still see Beckham Sunday night if you want to see him play since the L.A. Galaxy will be in the MLS finals. I'm going to try to watch it (as long as it doesn't interfere with "Desperate Housewives":-) Although there were parallels between Gretzky and Beckham coming to the U.S. for their respective sports, I think there were a lot more dissimilarities, as you have pointed out. I think the comparison between Gretzky leaving Canada and the Browns moving to Baltimore is a good one (sadly, for Browns' fans). I also think it's comparable to players like C.C. Sabathia going to the "Evil Empire" (i.e., the Yankees).
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