If David Beckham is the A-Rod of soccer — and with the pretty-boy looks and obnoxious insincerity he's off to a good start — then the rest of Major League Soccer is the Florida Marlins. The latest survey shows the Galaxy star makes $6.5 million, more than 43 times the league average and well ahead of the next-best team, the Chicago Fire. The Earthquakes rank ninth in MLS with an average of $113,163 for their 19 players under contract, or a grand total of $2.15 million. With six-figure deals for a few players — Darren Huckerby leads the team at $385,000 — that means several players will be in the five-figure group for quite some time even with cost-of-living adjustments. In all of MLS, 40 players make $34,000, and another 12 developmental players make $20,100.

Man, we've got to get out to practice. It would be a tremendously unusual feeling to interview a professional athlete who looks up to Buzz on the pay scale. (Pending further developments in the newspaper industry, naturally.)