David Beckham starting tonight; It’s an All-Star game!

CHESTER, Penn. – David Beckham, the All-Star, All-This, All-That, All-Everything MLS bell cow is in the starting 11 tonight against Chelsea. Never mind that he’s been in England for two days and only arrived into Philadelphia in the wee smalls of Wednesday morning.

I suppose we could make the case that Beckham would be better off the bench in this one, if only as a concession to his fellow All-Stars, who spent two days in Philadelphia, doing the practice work and jumping the promotional hoops.

Then again, it’s an All-Star game! And it’s David Beckham! So, not starting him is something like starting a garden salad without the garden greens.

As one of my journalist friends said, “It’s on ESPN, so David has to start, right?”

Or, as one of my sharper Twitter followers said when I pushed out that Beckham would start: “You come to Philly, and you talkin’ ‘bout practice!”  That was a well-played shot, right into the PPL Park sweet spot.

I will say this: I have to wonder if MLS All-Star coach Ben Olsen made that call, or if that was made above his pay grade? I know which way I might guess.