Kevin Baxter

LOS ANGELES -- It was like Michael Jordan missing a game-winning free throw or LeBron James bouncing a dunk off the rim. It was Justin Verlander losing a World Series game on a wild pitch or Eli Manning blowing the Super Bowl with an interception in the end zone.

LOS ANGELES -- Hope Solo is sitting in a conference room 22 floors above Wilshire Boulevard, weeping.

Which is surprising for two reasons.

Chris Carpenter pitches for a team once owned by America's largest brewery in a stadium that shares its name with a brand of beer. But should Carpenter wish to toast any of his victories this season he'll have to wait until he leaves the ballpark.

LOS ANGELES -- The North American Soccer League should have been entering its prime when it expired after 17 years, its life support mercifully unplugged after the 1984 season. An autopsy was never performed, but the suspected cause of death was greed, which fueled unchecked expansion and led to rosters chock-full of imports.

Major League Soccer kicked off its 17th season this weekend appearing to be in the pink of good health. But the lessons of the past are never far from mind.

LOS ANGELES -- Two years after a deadly earthquake knocked Haiti to its knees, signs of progress can be hard to come by.

More than a half million homeless still live in squalid camps rife with violence. The cholera epidemic that ravaged the country after the disaster continues to kill. And despite the best efforts of the newly elected government, only half the rubble choking the once-teeming streets of Port-au-Prince has been cleared.

LOS ANGELES -- Au revoir, David Beckham.

Although your aides-de-camp keep insisting nothing has been decided, everybody knows your move to the French club Paris Saint-Germain is pretty much a fait accompli.

(By the way, David, I hope you're reading this closely because you really should learn the language.)

When the deal does become official -- which probably will be after New Year's to assure the greatest possible media coverage -- we hear a "movie star" unveiling will be staged in central Paris. Sounds as if this will be the biggest signing on French soil since the Treaty at Versailles.

And the French may wind up regretting this deal almost as much.

LOS ANGELES -- The ability to read a map must not be among the requirements to be a Major League Soccer executive. How else can you explain a playoff bracket that had the New York Red Bulls nearly landing a spot in last week's Western Conference final while Houston and Kansas City played for the Eastern Conference championship?

Geography, however, is the least of the problems plaguing the MLS' wacky and ever-changing postseason, which, since 2003, has featured the lowest-seeded playoff team winning the league title more often than the top-seeded team.