marvin chow: good morning. good morning. hello everybody. how are you? [audience applause] marvin chow: my name is marvinchow, and i'll be your host this morning. we are extremely excited to bewelcoming international sports sensation, philanthropist, andglobal icon david beckham to
google today. [enthusiastic applause] marvin chow: thank youall for coming out. a special hello to all of ourfriends from around the world who are joining us by ouryoutube live stream. we are coming to you fromgoogle's headquarters in mountain view, california. i have to say, when david calledus and asked us if he could drop by today, excitementdoesn't even begin
to describe how we felt. he is one of the few trulyglobal sports stars. he is one of the most searchedfor athletes on google, and it's amazing how his fans haveembraced him across google search, google+, and youtube. it's unbelievable. but before i bring out the manhimself, i want to welcome to google with this short video. so let's take a quick look.
[video playback] female speaker: why are youspecial in the sports world? david beckham: well i won thebook chart in soccer school. [various voices] female speaker: i lovehim so much. male speaker: no freakin' way! sports announcer:david beckham! [speaking italian] david beckham: center.
center. [end video playback] marvin chow: ladies andgentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, please welcomemr. david beckham. [audience applauseand whistles] marvin chow: niceto see you, sir. wave. david beckham: morning. marvin chow: have a seat.
have a seat. welcome. welcome to google. so let's kick off,no pun intended, with a little soccer. or, for our internationalfriends, football. you know, you david, you reallyhave had a global soccer career. i mean, you joined manchesterunited at the young age of 17.
you won 9 major trophiesin 11 years there. very impressive. you then joined real madridwhere you won another trophy, and then since 2007, you've beenhere in the u.s. playing for the la galaxy, wherelast year you won yet another trophy. and i think that puts you in avery rare group of trifecta winners of three trophies onthree different countries. so congratulations.
david beckham: thankyou very much. marvin chow: and then obviously,while preparing to meet you last night, i readeven more news last night. the big news that you've decidedto stay here in the u.s. and continue to play forthe u.s., the la galaxy. congratulations. and i think we're excited thatyou chose google as a place to come talk to your fansand the rest of the world about that news.
so why don't we start there? why don't you tell us a littlebit about that decision to stay with the galaxy. david beckham: well, goodmorning, first of all. i'm excited to be here. to be part of this is excitingfor me, and to be here with you all and everyone elsewatching around the world, it's exciting. google's one of the biggestcompanies in the world.
so i'm honored tobe here today. my decision, obviously,throughout my career has always been about my family,about my career, about my footballing career. and i've been lucky to haveplayed over the years with some of the biggest clubs inthe world, some of the best players in the world. and it's been exciting. i've been lucky enough to havebeen successful in many
different clubs thati've played for. and professionally, coming tothe u.s. was something that i was excited about. it was a challenge. it was a new challenge. i played in europe. i'd won everything that ipossibly could in europe, and i wanted a new challenge. marvin chow: when youconquer europe, it's
definitely the next-- david beckham: like i said, iwas very lucky in my career. marvin chow: you are. david beckham: so then,obviously, coming to america was an exciting thingfor me, and i've had a great five years. i met a lot of good people, alot of great fans around the world, traveled around america,played in different parts of america, which i'dnever played in before, and
it's been exciting. so this championship at the endof this year was one of the most satisfying in mycareer, i must admit. to have been here for the timethat i've been here, to reach the goals that i'd reached offthe field, with raising the popularity of the game. i'd reached those goals. the only goal that i hadn'treached was a championship with the galaxy, which is themain reason why i came to
america and came to thegalaxy as a franchise. so that was missing,but now it's not. marvin chow: congratulations. david beckham: but obviously,with the new contract now, it was a decision that i didn'ttake lightly because i obviously had otheroffers from other clubs around the world. and at 36 years old youdon't expect to still get these offers.
so that was nice. but it was all about where ifelt the future was going for the game here in the u.s., andalso where my family was happiest. and my family ishappiest here at the moment. we love living in la. we love living in america. we've adapted the culture, we'veadapted everything that this country has, andwe enjoy that. so i'm going to continue toenjoy playing soccer here, and
my family will continueto enjoy it. marvin chow: well, speakingof, kind of away from the galaxy-- i saw when you came in 2007,you made a very public statement that you wanted tohelp grow the game of soccer in the u.s. can you talk alittle bit about how that's going and some areas aroundgrowing the game here? david beckham: wellthat's the thing. it's one of the reasons whyi came to this country.
it's because, for me, soccer isthe number one sport around the world apart from america. don't get me wrong, the othersports, american football, basketball, baseball, they'reall great sports and have great athletes inthese sports. but the number one game inthe world is soccer. so i want to get soccerto a different level in this country. and i think that we've donethat in the last--
i've felt it change in thelast couple of years. and that's why i didn't want towalk away from it because i felt the change. and to walk away at this pointwould be disappointing because i've been part of that growth,and i want to continue to be part of that growth. so it's an exciting time. and it's great for the family aswell, great for the family to be here.
marvin chow: well, speaking ofthe family, i think we've all read how importantfamily is to you. so what role did victoria andthe kids have in decision, in making this decision? david beckham: i mean, theyhave the final answer. it's as simple as that. that sounded wrong. no, obviously, when you'remarried, when you have children, your prioritiestotally change.
10 years ago, when i was playingat manchester united, at real madrid-- obviously, we were married, butit was a lot easier for us to make decisions basedon our careers. whereas, we've got three amazingboys now and a little girl that we have tolook after, and it's all about them. so our priorities areabout our children. but like i said, in the questionbefore, the growth of
the game is growing. and to see when i first arrivedthere'd be 12 teams in the league, now there's 19. there are stadiums being builtaround america solely for soccer, which is a big thing. and that's the exiting part ofwhy and one of the reasons why i wanted to stay. marvin chow: yeah, well ithink the impact of your presence on the game hasbeen very clear over
the last five years. i think one of the otherquestions that i'm sure is on a lot of people's minds withthis decision is really, why come to google to tell the worldand talk to your fans? david beckham: why not? why not? marvin chow: so simple. david beckham: like i said,it's one of the biggest companies in the world,and it reaches so
many millions of people. and i felt that it's somethingthat you always see when you open your computer. marvin chow: we like that. david beckham: and somethingi was really excited about. so like i said, i'm honored tobe here with everyone, and thanks for coming out becausethere's a lot of you. thank you. marvin chow: so in getting readyfor this visit we saw
that you posted a video calloutfor questions on youtube, which is fantastic. and i'd say from thatvideo we've collected tons of questions. we've gone through them andwe've curated them, and obviously we'll go throughsome of those today. i think, just also so you know,your google following is also very strong. obviously, you can see thepeople here in charlie's, but
in addition to this groupthere are about 26 other offices from around the worlddialed in to watch this and ask you questions as well. and i think, if it weren't solate in some of the other parts of the world, we'd haveeven more than that. so congratulations on buildinga following here at google as well. so let's dig in to some ofthe questions right away. we'll start with football.
tou moo yee from californiawants to know, what is the biggest difference betweenplaying football in america versus europe? david beckham: i mean, there'snot a huge amount of difference. one of the biggest differencesi'd say is just the travel. it's literally the travel. in europe we only have to travelabout an hour to a game, or two hours at the most.whereas, when we play
east coast and we're playing innew york, it's a 5, 5 and 1/2 hour journey. so that's a big difference buton the field, the level of play has definitely gone up inthe last three or four years. and i think that it's at a stagenow where this game is starting to attract the interestof some big names and big players in europe. and i think there has to be acertain change with some of the things that goes onthroughout the league.
but i think it's a league now,where european teams, big european teams, are coming overfor their pre-seasons and they're playing against us. so five years ago, the galaxyhad been heard of but i think now, with the interest of theplayers that have come over, such as robbie keane andobviously london donovan as a u.s. star, we've had thatinterest and it's exciting to be part of. marvin chow: yeah, i think itmust great to see the growth,
see the change year over year,and the speed and the power of the players. david beckham: i think that'swhat you always want. you want to see somethinggrow. if you sit still so long-- youknow this better than anyone with google-- if you sit there too long thenthings change around you. and to see the growth, to seethe change, i'm proud to be part of that.
marvin chow: that's great. another question. mahin zarra asks, what is thefirst thing you do, think, or notice when you step ontothe field initially? david beckham: i thinkjust the excitement. i'm still-- i'm 36 years old, and every timei step on the field i'm like a little kid. and i know once that changesthen that's when i'll feel
i'll have to stop playing. but until that changes, i'mgoing to continue to play as long as possible and aslong as teams keep offering me new contracts. marvin chow: but it seems likethat love of the game, that childhood joy of just playingthe game, is what drives you. david beckham: i've alwaysbeen driven. even at a young age, all i everwanted to do was become a footballer or soccer star.
and that was my only ambition. i know it's different thesedays with kids. there's obviously thisfame, this fortune. and it might be easy for me tosay that because, obviously, i've done very well at the game,but i'd still be playing this game even if i wasn'tbeing paid for it. not that i don't want to be paidfor it, but i still would be playing this sport. marvin chow: very good.
very good. christina greenwood asks, doyou ever listen to music before a soccer game to kindof get yourself pumped up? david beckham: always. marvin chow: always? the spice girls? david beckham: spicegirls, of course. i mean, one of them always getsme going before a game. marvin chow: everybody.
i think, who doesn't? yeah, so no, spice girls is noton the playlist. it's on my ipod but it's not on theplaylist. that's for a different time with the kids. but no, i always listento music. i'm a huge jay-z fan. marvin chow: excellent. david beckham: huge stone rosesfan, as well, who are getting back together in june.
just plugging them. and no, at differentclubs it's strange. before games we always listento music, but there are certain managers at certainclubs that don't like music before a game in the change roomwhich, in the end, most players end up listeningwith their headsets. marvin chow: that's good. min koh wants you togive up the secret. how do you train for theperfect beckham kick?
we've seen it. how does it happen? david beckham: i mean, it's justthat people have asked me that over the years. how do i curl the ball? or how do i bend the ball? and it's something thatjust happened. it's not something that ithought, ok, i want to bend the ball better than anyone elseso i'm going to kick the
ball in this certain way. i just worked on my strikingof the ball. i just practiced every day. it's something that i've donefrom a very young age. even after every trainingsession, i'd take balls on my own and just go and kick andtry and find new ways of getting the ball in the netwithout anyone touching it. i've been lucky enough to havedone that over the years with the way i kick the ball, and iknow that it's a unique style.
and i know it's a unique stylejust because my back hurts a little bit more than it didwhen i was 15 years old. but it's something thati practice, of course. that's one thing i tell kids. unless you practice you'renever going to get better at something. marvin chow: well i thinkthere's not a goal keeper in the world who is not terrifiedwhen you line up for that free kick.
so whatever you're doing,keep doing it. david beckham: i'll try. marvin chow: and so we have acouple questions live from london, actually, from ouroffice in london, which we wanted to have yourhomeland people-- david beckham: good evening. marvin chow: --ask you. why don't you go ahead? male speaker: hi david.
david beckham: how you doing? male speaker: my question is,who's more likely to win a world cup in the future,england or the usa? [audience laughs and claps] david beckham: oh my god. that's a terrible question toask me while i'm set here. i'm going to haveto say england. i'm really sorry. i'm sorry.
i've got a lot of respect forthe u.s. players and the u.s. team, and they've got somevery talented players. but i believe, at some point,england are going to win a world cup. because we have got a lot oftalented players in our country, and we're verypassionate, and it's where the game began. so for me, definitely, i thinkengland are going to win a world cup at some point.
marvin chow: america's justpacing themselves. david beckham: the u.s. is a fewyears behind us, but a few years after. marvin chow: exactly. jt? jt: hi david. this is jt over in london. david beckham: morning,afternoon, evening whatever it is.
jt: morning. well yeah, evening here. so i've seen you playa couple of times. one of them was a tsunamicharity game you played in barcelona with loadsof superstars. and i just wanted to know whowas the greatest player you played with or against? david beckham: ok. again, i've been lucky enoughover the years to have played
with some of the best playersin the world. obviously, being at manchesterunited, being at real madrid, being at ac milan, these arethree of the biggest clubs in the world. so, obviously, there's somegreat players there. being able to play with ericcantona, i think, that was a great thing. he's a manchesterunited player. being able to play with aplayer, bryan robson, that was
my hero and i wantedto emulate. but i think the bestplayer i've ever played with is zidane. he's a player with a lot ofpassion, a lot of skill, and he's not just an amazingplayer, he's a great person as well. the hardest player to haveplayed against was roberto carlos, who's now actuallyone of my best friends. but even when i didn't know himas well as i do now, he
used to kick the hell outof me, the whole game. but he had this cheekysmile which-- you couldn't hate himin any way possible. but he's definitely the most,the toughest, player i've played against. marvin chow: claudine. claudine: hey david. so my question is, if la galaxywere to play in the english premiere league, howwould they stack up against
the competition? david beckham: we'd win it. [unintelligible] was that. i think the galaxy have beengreat in the last two years. we've been really successfulwith, obviously, being close to winning the championshipover the last few years. but then, obviously this yearwinning the championship, we've got a lot of good youngplayers coming through.
players that teams in europeare interested in. so i think we'd do wellin the premiership. it'd be interesting. marvin chow: i thinkyou never know. that's the beauty of the game. i mean, i think, you workhard, you train hard. david beckham: i mean, that'swhat soccer's all about. it's all about upsets. it's all about teams that youdon't think are as good as
other teams going inand beating them. that's what the fa cup isall about in england. lower league teams go in andthey beat some of the best premiership teams in england. so that's what it's all about. but i think we'd dowell over there. maybe one day. david beckham: it's might be abit cold for a few players in december but we'd do well.
jt mentioned the charity gamethat you played, and i think we've seen you do a lot ofphilanthropic work throughout your career. i think we touched on it inthe unicef work in the highlight video, and recentlywe saw that you were in afghanistan visitingsome troops there. can you tell us a little bitabout what that trip was and what you did there? david beckham: i mean, i knowit sounds kind of a cliche,
but charities are one ofmy biggest passions. i've been lucky enough to beinvolved with unicef as an ambassador, and that'ssomething that i'm very proud of. but i want to do more. obviously, with my job, with mytravel it's very difficult to go into the field and to dodifferent things, but i've been able to go to placeslike sierra leone. and going places like that,and seeing the change that
unicef are making to so manypeople around the world, that's one of my biggestpassions. that's why when people say tome, after my career am i going to go into coaching? i need to be passionateabout something that i'm going to go into. and coaching, i love coachingkids, but i'd prefer to go into the field and see the kidsin sierra leone or in different parts of africa andaround the world and coach
them because it's makinga huge difference. going to afghanistan wassomething that i'd always wanted to do to see thetroops, of course. when i ruptured my achilles twoyears ago, i had some time off, obviously. and i thought ok, i need to putthat to do something good, and i had the chance togo to afghanistan. it was a secret at the time butthen, obviously, by the time i got there it was out.
but it was a huge thing. the job the troops do over therein afghanistan is really incredible to see. the conditions that they workunder, they're putting their lives at risk everysingle day. and it must be gut-wrenchingfor their families to see their loved ones, brothers,sisters, sons, daughters. it's so many different levelsthat it's difficult. to go to afghanistan was one ofthe best things i've done
in my life. marvin chow: well ithink it must be. i mean, with your work withunicef since 2005, it must be amazing to see, you as aninternational football star, how the game can bring such joyor change people's lives in these kids all aroundthe world. david beckham: that's what'sgreat about soccer. i've said it so many times,that when i was in sierra leone, these kids are walkingabout with literally no
clothes on. but you arrive, you put a soccerball in front of them, they play like my kids play. and that's what soccer can dofor you and do for kids and do for families. for that 90 minutes, you'redriving along the street and like i said, there's kids withno clothes on and running around with no shoes on. and then you look over andthen kids are watching
premiership games on theside of the street. it can change people's lives. it can, for that 90 minutes ofa game, it takes them away from the life they've gotevery single day. and that is the powerof soccer. it's the power of sports. it's something that's one of thereasons why i love being involved in sports. marvin chow: it is amazing.
so moving on a little bit, aswe looked through all the questions that we got comingto you, i think unsurprisingly, there were a lotof questions from people who are curious aboutyour personal life. i think, when you marrya spice girl, i guess that happens. david beckham: yes, it does. marvin chow: but i think, beforewe get to all of those, one of the more overarchingquestions that everyone had
and everyone wants to know, whatwas it like to be at the wedding of the decade? the royal wedding last april,what was it like to be there? david beckham: i mean, we had topinch ourselves when we got the invite. i've become friends withprince william and he's a great guy. and obviously, harry as well. and i was brought up around theroyal family to love the
royal family. my grandparents werebig royalists. and so we were brought up tolove the royal family. and i think when, obviously,princess di was around, the love for her and for the royalfamily was incredible. and she was loved by millionsand millions of people, not just in our country. and then obviously, you watchthe lives of william and harry, and you see everythingabout them, and it's kind of
like the truman show. they're growing and growing anddoing different things and being part of differentcharities, and growing up from young boys to young menand to grown men. and it makes you proud to beenglish to see that happen. you watch their lives. you watch what they've beenthrough, and then you watch them grow into the peoplethat they are today. and they're veryspecial people.
the royal wedding was a hugething for our country. to have a celebration like that,it was very special. it gave our country a huge liftat the time, and it's continued to do that. but being at the royal weddingwas incredible. marvin chow: any stories? any favorite parts? david beckham: i mean, one ofthe best things about it for my wife, she was eight monthspregnant and she was worried
about where we were going to besitting, as she needed to be as close to the restroomas possible. and our seat was perfectbecause we could see, obviously, williamand kate walk in. but then, obviously, victoriacould then-- she was like five steps away from the restroom,which was perfect. so it was an amazing day, andi'm proud to be a part of that as an englishman. well, speaking of victoria andbeing pregnant, nur ikisi has
a question about harper. the question is, has harperspoken her first word yet? what was it? and if not, are there anyplayful competitions between you and victoria tosee if she'll say mommy or daddy first? david beckham: i mean, i thinknaturally the first word is going to be mama. and she's close to it already.
she's saying a few things, buti've obviously got three amazing boys. and with boys-- i'm sure people that havechildren know, or people who have been aroundchildren know-- with boys you canthrow them up. they drop and they get up andthey just run around. and with boys it's like that. but it's obviously myfirst experience of
having a little girl. and still, i'm changing herdiaper and i'm thinking, i can't believe i've got a girl. so everything abouther is feminine. the way she moves, the way sheeats, the way she smiles, the way she looks-- you know, everything abouther is feminine. and i know it sounds obvious,but it's an amazing thing having a little girl inthe family now after
having three boys. but the best thingabout it is she's got three older brothers. marvin chow: well ihave to say she-- david beckham: and a dad. marvin chow: --i have to say sheis an impeccable dresser from what i've seen. david beckham: her wardrobeis ridiculous already. i'm glad i got a two-yearcontract.
[audience laughter] well, staying with that, i mean,obviously, with three boys and now a girl andvictoria, andreas rubio barigga asks, how do youkeep the balance between work and family? obviously, you've got a hecticlife around the world. what's that like? david beckham: i mean,obviously, as a family we're very busy.
as a couple we're very busy. victoria's got a collectionthat is, obviously, doing unbelievably well. but there's a lotof pressure that comes with that, obviously. i'm working every day. i play and train every day,so it's difficult. but like i said before, ournumber one priority is our children and our family.
nothing else gets inthe way of that. when i'm away, victoria's athome with the boys and harper. when she's away, vice versa. so we're very hands-onparents. i take the kids toschool every day. i pick them up every day. we go to taekwondo. we go to soccer. we got so many things thatwe do with the kids.
and like i said, we're veryhands-on parents. so our lives, our busy livesdon't affect the children in any way. but the children understandthat we work very hard as well. we've got a very goodbalance there. marvin chow: it's amazing to seepeople as busy and hectic as you and victoria can stilltake your kids to taekwondo and be as hands-on.
i think it's-- david beckham: i mean, it setsthe kids up for life, i think, the way you are with them at avery young age, and we've got very special kids. marvin chow: earlier you weretalking about, obviously, the travel with the galaxy,and you've lived in italy, spain, the uk. carolina ramos asks, whereis your favorite place in the world?
david beckham: favoriteplace in the world? i would have to say-- funnily enough, i love parisas a city, funnily enough. and that was, obviously, one ofthe offers that i got to go and play there. but i love paris. as a city it's very romantic. it's this amazing culture,amazing food and wine. but i'm very proud to beenglish, and london--
there's not many better placesin the world than london. i'm sure our london googlerswill be very happy to hear that. david beckham: i hope so. marvin chow: so while we're onthe personal life topic stuff, i have to say, i promised somefellow coworkers i would ask you this question. please don't be embarrassed. but i think a lot of people areinterested in what's up
with the new underwearcampaign. david beckham: i knewthis was coming. marvin chow: you know, imean, how big is it? i heard superbowl ad. i mean, how big is thisthing going to get? david beckham: another pun. david beckham: i mean, sorry. i need some water. obviously, i was part of armani,a campaign for a
couple of years. and that was a huge success. and then, i was interested indoing something along the lines with my own range ofunderwear and body wear. so i got together with a fewpeople and part of my team and we designed and madeeverything. and we had the productalready to go. and then, h&m came in and theysaid look, we can make this better for you, and they did.
they're taking it to 1,800stores, 40 different countries, and it's somethingthat i could've-- probably it would have taken afew years, but it wouldn't have reached that levelof distribution. so i'm very proud of it. the pictures are good, whichi'm happy about. the product looks great. marvin chow: that's the mostimportant, of course. david beckham: sothat's exciting.
i'm launching on february 1st,so it's going to be exciting. that's in london. marvin chow: so superbowl ad? no? can you say? david beckham: there's asuperbowl ad, which is very exciting because the amountof people that watch the superbowl, actually, is goingto see the advert. marvin chow: the worldsof football colliding.
david beckham: which ijust thought about. a couple more questionson the personal side. ntiaz adjaz asks, i waswondering, are you considering starring in a filmwith tom cruise? david beckham: i wouldlove to star in a film with tom cruise. who wouldn't? people have asked me over theyears, especially when i first moved to la, they were like,he's obviously going over to
become an actor. and i can't act. it's something thati've never done. i've been involved with,obviously, adverts and different-- i was involved in a couple ofmovies that were about soccer. but not major parts. not much talking involved. so that was great.
but who knows? something might happen in thefuture that someone comes up to me and says you know, we wantyou to play this person and maybe it will happen. but i don't think so. it's not something that'san ambition of mine. marvin chow: you heard it herefirst. something might happen in the future. david beckham: exactly.
never say never. marvin chow: never say never. because you guys areneighbors, right? you live near. david beckham: yeah, we livefive minutes away. marvin chow: fiveminutes away. so no banter aroundthe recycling bin? david beckham: there's banter. but not banter that i couldsay live on google.
marvin chow: gotcha. one more question on this. deena koh asks, are you feelingnervous about your first google+ hangout? david beckham: i'mnot nervous. i'm excited. being here today,i was excited. i woke up at 6 o'clockthis morning. gave the kids breakfast justbefore i left and i was
excited about it. it's something that i was reallylooking forward to. so not nervous. i think-- david beckham: why? should i be? marvin chow: no. i think you're doing fine. i think afterwardsit will be easy.
i mean, it's just videoconferencing with a bunch of your fans, talkingface to face. it seems like somethingyou'd really enjoy. david beckham: it shouldbe fun, then. marvin chow: and for those ofyou who would like to watch that afterwards, david will betalking with some fans at 10:30 pacific time, right hereon his google+ profile. so i think now, we're going totake some questions from googlers around the world.
i think we'll take a couplequestions live from here in the audience, and somepreselected questions. so any googler that hasa question, please begin lining up. but we'll start with aquestion from michael complidger from london. and he wants to know, did youhave a role model as a child, and who was it? david beckham: i had a rolemodel in football.
in soccer, sorry. that was bryan robson. he used to play formanchester united. he was captain of manchesterunited. he was captain of england. he wore the number seven formanchester united and england, and everything that he did iwanted to do and become and do exactly what he waslike as a player. and i was lucky because i worenumber seven for manchester
united, wore number seven forengland, and captained england and manchester united. so i was very luckyto have done that. so he was a role modelthat i looked up to. marvin chow: why don't we takea live question over here? audience: hi david. with everything that you'veaccomplished in your career and your life in general, whatwould you say is the most meaningful accomplishmentthat you've had?
david beckham: my family. my family is-- david beckham: aw. it really is. obviously, i've done a lot inmy career and i've been able to be successful in differentcountries and different teams and different leagues. and i'm very proud of that,but my proudest possession is my family.
marvin chow: why don't wetake one on this side? i wonder if you could talk a bitabout the london olympics. obviously, you were involvedin the bid at the time. so are you hoping for a placein team gb and what would it mean to you to playat the olympics? david beckham: i mean, it'sexciting for our country to host one of the biggest sportingevents in the world. i think it's really exciting. i think the buzz around englandand around london,
especially around east london,where obviously, i was brought up, it's exciting. so yes, i would love tobe part of team gb. i've never been involved in anolympics, and when the team came to me and said, we want youto be involved in the bid to get the olympics toour country, into london, i wasn't skeptical. but i was kind of nervousbecause i'm not an athlete that has performedin the olympics.
so i was worried what i wasgoing to bring to the table, and what i was going to do tohelp bring it to our country. but to be there and to be partof a successful bid to bring it to london, i wasvery proud. it's one of the proudestmoments that i've been involved in. especially, to be sat there oneside and then, the paris side was sat at the otherside, and all the media, actually, had moved to infront of the paris team.
so we all of a sudden gotworried, and then we expected paris to be called out. and then london came out, andit was an exciting time. it's going to be anamazing game. we're going to make it proud. we have a question from anusheganda from london. and going back to theproudest moment-- in your footballing careerso far, what would be the proudest moment?
david beckham: proudest momentin my footballing career? it would have to bewinning the treble for manchester united. the year '99 was a great year. i got married, i had my firstson, and we won the treble. so it was a big year. marvin chow: we'll take aquestion on this side. since moving to california,what's the funniest misunderstanding you or victoriahave had because of
your accent? david beckham: i'm not surewe've had a funnier one then as our children hadthe other day. we were sat therein the kitchen. well, in our first year, andbrooklyn was writing on a piece of paper or drawing ordoing some sketching, and he said, daddy, i needsome rubbers. and i started looking around andi looked over and we had a couple of friends therefrom the u.s. and
they looked in shock. and i didn't understand it atthe time but he now calls them erasers, anyway. [audience laughterand applause] marvin chow: that is awesome. we'll take one on this side. thank you for coming. actually i don'thave an accent. i just really like yours.
david beckham: that'sa great accents. audience: thanks. yeah, so thanks for coming. i'm wondering, after today'shangout, do you have plans on how you'd like to use hangoutsin the future, in terms of engaging with your fansall over the world? david beckham: well, i'mhoping it goes well. then, there will definitelybe more. i think-- this is the firsttime i've done it, so it's
exciting to be able to hangout with fans that have supported me over the yearsand throughout my career. it's special, and obviously itgives them a chance to ask me questions that they've,obviously, never been able to. so i'm excited and hopefullythere'll be more. audience: can i get a quickpicture with you? david beckham: ofcourse, you can. marvin chow: oh, it'sstarting again. audience: you look handsomeby the way.
david beckham: thank you. you look very lovely. marvin chow: all right, ready? 1, 2, 3, cheese. there you go. audience: thank you. david beckham: no problem. nice to meet you. marvin chow: thankyou for coming.
thank you david. back to the questions. darminder singh from the sanfrancisco office asks about, throughout your career youplayed against many teams. which particular teamor set of players has left you in awe? i think you talked aboutplayers, but maybe you could talk a little bit more on theteam side that you've played against.
david beckham: i think teamsthat i've played against that have left me in awe-- i'd have to say thebarcelona team. every time you come up againstthe barcelona team, they play the game in such a great way. but i think the one team thati played against that were amazing, it was where ronaldo,the brazilian player, got a standing ovation from themanchester united fans. and that team, watching thatteam, the way they played, for
me- it left you kind of in aweof the players, of the setup, of them as a club, and theplayers that played there. they had zidane, raul, roberto,carlos, ronaldo. little did i know i'dbe playing with them the season after. so that was exciting. but they're definitely theteam i was in awe of. that's great. why don't we take a questionon this side.
audience: your wife's beenknown to wear some pretty ridiculously tall shoes. i was wondering whatyour opinion is on your wife's footwear. david beckham: i thinktaller the better. put it this way, i'venot worn them. she said over the years that iwore her underwear, for some unknown reason. she said that live on tv, bythe way, which is not true.
but the shoes are great. i love a pair of highheels on a lady. i like them. marvin chow: another high heelquestion on this side or a different question? i have a question. so if you were to pick a team tobeat, let's say, barcelona, so which one do youwant to choose? and do you already have someideas to beat them?
david beckham: i thinkto come up against a barcelona team is exciting. you can never be worried aboutplaying against a team. as great as barcelona are, asgreat as real madrid and manchester united are, we'rea team that's growing. and we've got some very goodyoung players in our team. and we've been able, likei said earlier about the interest in this league andour team around the world, we've had some of the biggestplayers in the biggest teams
come over and want to playagainst us in preseason games. so we've come up against acmilan, barcelona, real madrid. i was going to say manchestercity but-- we've come up against some greatteams and it's great to have that interest. so youshould never be worried about who you're going toplay against. marvin chow: we'll take onefinal question over here and then i'll-- audience: one more, please?
audience: thanks forcoming, david. i know you've been aroundthe league. you've been around variousdifferent leagues. where would you like to finishyour soccer career at? would you like to go backto manchester united? do you want to stayin america? or, do you want to tacklea league that you've never been to? david beckham: i mean, my nextbirthday in may i'll be 37.
audience: still really young. it's really young. david beckham: in soccer yearsit's not so young. audience: but in beckham yearsit's really young. david beckham: inlife it's young. and i still feel young. so i'll continue to play thegame as long as can. i love it. every single day i enjoygoing to training.
i enjoy playing in games. i enjoy being part of a team. and my contract's now for twoyears, so it will take me up to almost 39, almost.and then, we'll see. i think people expected me tomove away from the galaxy or retire at the endof this year. so i'm excited about thesenext couple of years, but we'll see what happensin the future. marvin chow: we do actuallyhave a shirt for you.
i'm not going to ask you toautograph it, but we do have a google beckham track jacketwhich we would like to present to you. thank you very much. marvin chow: we definitely wantto thank you for coming. i think in addition to the trackjacket, all the googlers here in the audience, pleaseknow that there's a google+ david beckham t-shirtfor everyone here. it will be available in benghaziin building 43 from
now until 11:00 am. i don't think david cansign all of them. so please be understandingaround that. but please enjoy yourfree t-shirt. for those of you on the livestream and for those of you that have more questions, pleasefeel free to join david at 10:30 at a hangout onhis google+ profile. thank you very much, david. we really appreciate it.
it was fantastic. it was really appreciated.
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