The long-legged brunette in the short dress gets a big smile and a close embrace from David Beckham for a cellphone pic. But so does the little girl with the ponytail and an orange Houston Dynamo ribbon in her hair. Ditto for the well-built guy in a dress shirt who looks like he should be playing football rather than fawning over an international soccer star/underwear model.

Beckham has love for everyone in the long hallway underneath BBVA Compass Stadium, the one that stretches from the visitors locker room to a waiting team bus. "I love the ads, David!" a blonde putting her best cleavage forward remarks, seemingly oblivious to the wedding ring on her finger. These things happen when Becks is in the building.

Beckham just sort of half smiles, knowing she's talking about the same H&M underwear ads that President Obama focused on, not his new Burger King spots. He quickly moves on from that overeager photo seeker and finds another set of kids.

It's remarkable how relaxed he seems — considering how he went off against the Major League Soccer schedule makers, the referees and the Houston heat just moments before in the locker room.

It's not a locker room fit for one of the world's biggest sports icons — at least not in the view of a grumpy LA Galaxy PR man who bemoans its lack of space for all the TV cameras and notebooks that want to cram around Beckham. In truth, the horde's not all that large though, nothing like even the one that swarmed around Texans owner Bob McNair at an NFL OTA earlier this week. Beckham's seen a thousand bigger reporter hordes before.

He's not hot and bothered. He's relaxed.

Even when Beckham takes swipes at the MLS and the refs after a 2-1 fall-from-ahead loss to the Dynamo, he does it smiling.

"Whoever schedules these games in Houston at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, doesn't know anything about the game," he says.

Grin.

"I didn't think the referee could get any worse then the last game," Beckham says. "But today . . . I shouldn't say too much because I'm going to end up getting myself in trouble . . . The standard's not there. It's that simple."

Shrug and smile.

David Beckham could tell you that your house burned down while a giant oak crushed your car and he'd do it, flashing his pearly whites. Minutes later, he's moving down that hallway, stopping for everyone who wants a picture memento of this Houston visit.

It's a lesson in superstardom. It doesn't matter that at age 37, Beckham's largely a shadow of himself, Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform. It doesn't even matter that the best set player on the field this Saturday afternoon is probably Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis, not Beckham. The Englishman still commands the stage.

He takes the time to salute the third sellout crowd of more than 22,000 in the third Dynamo game at the new stadium, turning and clapping toward the stands at the final whistle. He takes time to pull Davis aside on the field, to commend a fellow artist on the sweet corner that Andre Hainault heads in for the game-winning goal.

He takes time for the media, even after barking at a cameraman for filming him with his shirt off. And he takes time in the hallway for the fans who manage to get there.

Beckham clearly enjoys being thought of as a soccer Pied Piper, helping to make all of America fall in love with the world's game.

"It's getting better all the time," he says. "We've got the interest in the game now, the interest in the MLS. There are some things that need to change. The pay structure will need to rise. But that's all in good time."

Beckham's taken a 40-percent pay cut himself this season, dropping to $4 million per for his Galaxy duties. Now, he's only the third-highest paid player in the entire league. He still acts like he's trying to be the first in spreading goodwill.

Obama may have tweaked Beckham (twice) at the White House, but the underwear model with a mean free kick only has nice things to say about the prez.

"Such a great character," Beckham says when asked about Obama. "Such great charisma. It's great anytime you get to see a U.S. president."

The Player & His Shadow

Beckham wears pink shoes and long sleeves on the Dynamo's field, standing out even if you didn't know who he is. Of course, everyone knows who he is.

His first shot on goal comes just 95 seconds in, not a threat as much as notice. He ends up barking at the refs more than anything else during the 90 minutes in 91-degree weather. Beckham is a world-class talker too.

When his Galaxy teammate Michael Stephens picks up a yellow card early in the second half, Beckham argues so hard against it that you wonder if he's petitioning to be a clubhouse lawyer. And Jeff Van Gundy would be aghast at one of his flops.

It's not like many of the Dynamo disagree with Beckham's moans about the Texas heat though.

"It's a huge win for us," Houston forward Brian Ching says. "But it's not ideal conditions. The league needs to do something about that. We don't need to be playing a game in the afternoon in Houston."

Ching went on to argue that he'd rather play a better brand of soccer in the evening than get the TV showcase if it means playing under the scorching heat of Texas' midday sun.

It's certainly not weather fit for an Englishman. The skill is still there for Beckham. It's shown in a free kick in the 50th minute when he bends it from 30 yards out and Dynamo goalie Tally Hall needs every bit of his vertical leap to go up high and punch it away.

The Dynamo have their own wizard with set pieces though — one who utilizes precision more than power. And there's Davis threading the needle on a corner kick as surely as Steve Nash on a bounce pass, finding the red-headed Canadian mop of Hainault for a beautiful goal in the 57th minute.

The Galaxy are now winless in their last seven, dead last in the Western Conference. The champs haven't just lost their clothes — their entire wardrobe has been stolen.

No one thinks Beckham has been playing that well — and yet he has two goals and three assists. And four yellow cards in 10 games — one away from a mandatory suspension. With Donovan and Robbie Keane away on national team duty, Beckham gets the captain's armband for the Galaxy.

Celeb Rule

When I first arrive at the stadium, someone jokes that there won't be as many celebrities for this Saturday as there were for that big event BBVA Compass Stadium opener. One Beckham is enough.

He's the soccer player capable of pulling off a U.S. Burger King ad campaign, one where his penchant for taking his shirt off is the joke rather than anything he does on the field. Bend It Like Beckham is entering yet another new phase. He's reinvented himself almost as many times as Madonna.

Only now, a 30-year-old American with an ultra-low international profile who plays in hot Houston is better at creating off of set pieces.

"You guys know all about (Brad Davis)," Hainault says at the Dynamo interview podium. "How many assists did he have last year? He's one of the best in the game. Probably with No. 23 (Beckham's Michael Jordan homage number) he is right up there as the best in those situations."

Hainault is being kind to the visiting legend. It's still awfully good to be David Beckham. In Houston — or in any other town.