Late soccer star was out of this Cosmos

FRANZ Beckenbauer — the West German World Cup champ and leader, and later a globe-shaking Cosmos purchase — died last week at 78.

As a sweeper back — not to be confused with the recently discovered MLB “sweeper” pitch — Beckenbauer was a master of making productive calm out of the chaos of a Cosmos team of international superstars most of whom demanded the one ball in play.

For all his mature serenity and on-field foresight, he was a fascinating dude with an understated candor — as when he called the playing field in Rochester “a potato patch,” no rancor, just an honest assessment.

A straight arrow, it remains irreconcilable that Beckenbauer was suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee for failing to cooperate with a probe of corruption in voting for the venues of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Then again, FIFA should be banned from the planet for awarding the last Cup to Qatar, which made absolutely no sense beyond what oil monarchy Mullah moolah can do. Perhaps Beckenbauer was aware that FIFA has long and reasonably been suspected of demanding negotiation tables from which to do business under.

My sustaining memory of Beckenbauer was when he first joined the Cosmos. He strolled into the hotel lounge in Minnesota and saw a bunch of traveling media playing a difficult, as in impossible, tabletop pinball game.

“Was ist das?” he asked. We showed him. When he accepted our invitation to give it a go, he lasted on his first try until we tired of our fascination, but thoroughly convinced he was, head to toe, a gifted athlete.

I challenge one CBS Sports shot-caller to sit with me and watch a recording of last Sunday’s Titans-Jaguars, then give their approval, on the record, that this is what viewers both want and deserve.

Not only did Kevin Harlan holler before, after and during every play, his parenthetical comments were absurd — including, “The Titans have a really good redzone touchdown rate.” That must’ve explained their 6-11 season.

World gone nuts, continued: Saints star running back Alvin Kamara, who last year settled with a man who alleged Kamara and his pals nearly stomped him to death at 6 a.m. in a Vegas night club’s elevator, remains

NASCAR’s first Growth and Engagement Advisor. I suppose they couldn’t find anyone better.

I guarantee that CBS’ Jim Nantz, throughout the first 30 years of his career, never said a QB “used his legs to run for a first down.” And never would. He’d simply say he “ran” or “scrambled.”

But Nantz, too, has caught modern sillyspeak, long-form disease, as heard during last Sunday’s Bears-Packers.

Reader Bob Friant suggests the Giants should replace Wink Martindale with Bob Eubanks.