Last week, when I heard the news that Ronaldinho had reportedly rejected a massive offer from to join the Los Angeles Galaxy, I nearly choked on my açaí juice. One thought flashed in my head: The odds Ronaldinho is coming to MLS this year are about as good as the odds that Gisele Bündchen will knock on my front door wearing a 1996 Tampa Bay Mutiny No. 15 jersey -- and nothing else.
There are more pounds around the middle and less hair up top these days as perhaps the most powerful yet graceful player ever produced in Europe slides toward his 46th birthday, his playing days long past and an oft-aborted coaching career in its fourth phase.
Turnarounds in Toronto and Columbus, optimism in Salt Lake City, (more) turmoil between Chicago and New York, confusion in Houston and a slam-bang SuperClasico at Home Depot Center marked the first month of MLS play.
MLS players salaries for the 2008 season made available by the MLS Players Union reveal that Los Angeles' David Beckham ($6.5 million guaranteed), Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco ($2.67 million) and D.C. United's Marcelo Gallardo ($1.87 million) are the league's top earners.
When it comes to the world's nastiest rivalries, David Beckham could write a book. He's been front and center for two of the most extreme bad-blood derbies.
While David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy got the ink last year, their Home Depot Center cotenants quietly turned into contenders. This year forward Maykel Galindo and an even stronger Chivas USA should clear the final hurdle, downing D.C. United in the MLS Cup final at the HDC on Nov. 23. Here's a team-by-team look at how MLS's 13th season will play out.
It hasn't been that long since Alexi Lalas ascended from player to team executive, but during those intervening years very few of his peers found jobs other than blowing whistles or moving cones. Coaches, as it were.
David Beckham's first season with the L.A. Galaxy may have been a disappointment – but he's got big plans for 2008.
Question: When is a fiasco not a fiasco? Well, the answer has to be, "when it's David Beckham." His much-ballyhooed, incredibly hyped arrival in the U.S. to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy managed to take in, simultaneously, both ends of Kipling's equation: both triumph and disaster.
It's the holiday season. A time to celebrate family. A time to think of those less fortunate than yourself. A time to rejoice in the brotherhood of ma...
Last week, when I heard the news that Ronaldinho had reportedly rejected a massive offer from to join the Los Angeles Galaxy, I nearly choked on my açaí juice. One thought flashed in my head: The odds Ronaldinho is coming to MLS this year are about as good as the odds that Gisele Bündchen will knock on my front door wearing a 1996 Tampa Bay Mutiny No. 15 jersey -- and nothing else.
There are more pounds around the middle and less hair up top these days as perhaps the most powerful yet graceful player ever produced in Europe slides toward his 46th birthday, his playing days long past and an oft-aborted coaching career in its fourth phase.
Turnarounds in Toronto and Columbus, optimism in Salt Lake City, (more) turmoil between Chicago and New York, confusion in Houston and a slam-bang SuperClasico at Home Depot Center marked the first month of MLS play.
MLS players salaries for the 2008 season made available by the MLS Players Union reveal that Los Angeles' David Beckham ($6.5 million guaranteed), Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco ($2.67 million) and D.C. United's Marcelo Gallardo ($1.87 million) are the league's top earners.
When it comes to the world's nastiest rivalries, David Beckham could write a book. He's been front and center for two of the most extreme bad-blood derbies.
While David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy got the ink last year, their Home Depot Center cotenants quietly turned into contenders. This year forward Maykel Galindo and an even stronger Chivas USA should clear the final hurdle, downing D.C. United in the MLS Cup final at the HDC on Nov. 23. Here's a team-by-team look at how MLS's 13th season will play out.
It hasn't been that long since Alexi Lalas ascended from player to team executive, but during those intervening years very few of his peers found jobs other than blowing whistles or moving cones. Coaches, as it were.
David Beckham's first season with the L.A. Galaxy may have been a disappointment – but he's got big plans for 2008.
Question: When is a fiasco not a fiasco? Well, the answer has to be, "when it's David Beckham." His much-ballyhooed, incredibly hyped arrival in the U.S. to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy managed to take in, simultaneously, both ends of Kipling's equation: both triumph and disaster.
It's the holiday season. A time to celebrate family. A time to think of those less fortunate than yourself. A time to rejoice in the brotherhood of ma...
It was a family affair Wednesday night at the Spice Girls concert at L.A.'s Staples Center: David Beckham and sons joined pals Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and daughter Suri to take in the 90-minute Girl Power party.
Also in this column: • McClaren wastes time in L.A. • Hats off to surprising Rosenborg
In case you didn't notice, the Los Angeles Beckhams -- sorry, Galaxy -- are making a last-ditch effort to crash the MLS playoff party. They've won three in a row, including two road victories last week over Kansas City and Columbus, both teams that are flailing for their own playoff lives.
David Beckham flew back home to Los Angeles Sunday night with wife Victoria after spending the weekend with his father, Ted Beckham, who is recovering from a heart attack.
Lots on tap in the world of U.S. soccer: Beckham lessons, Women's World Cup, U.S.-Brazil men, MLS and Yanks Abroad. Let's dig in:
CARSON, Calif. -- It was an inaugural SuperLiga final that had just about everything. A surreal last-second bicycle-kick equalizer. A goalkeeper (to say nothing of the re-injured David Beckham) fighting back post-game tears. A money penalty-taker failing to convert the trophy-winning spot kick. And, not least, a press conference carpeted by F-bombs from (who else?) a mild-mannered Canadian.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Five things we learned from the electric 5-4 victory by the New York Red Bulls against the Los Angeles Galaxy here on Saturday:
Despite playing for only about 13 minutes in his first game for the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team on Saturday, David Beckham helped draw a record 1.5 million viewers to the TV broadcast.
Capping a whirlwind week of festivities marking the arrival of David and Victoria Beckham to Los Angeles, superstar duos Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith hosted a gala private party Sunday night for their British pals at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Geffen Contemporary in downtown L.A.
Forget Les Deux and Teddy's: Hollywood's hottest celeb hangout Saturday night was the Home Depot Center in nearby Carson, Calif., as Katie Holmes, Eva Longoria, Mary-Kate Olsen and others showed up to watch David Beckham's American soccer debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
CARSON, Calif. -- Phil Anschutz, the reclusive billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy, hasn't given an interview in more than 30 years. But when I asked his top lieutenant, Tim Leiweke, last month if Anschutz had said anything to him lately about his soon-to-arrive superstar, David Beckham, the three-word response came instantly:
David and Victoria Beckham have already caused quite a stir in the states. But this weekend the British imports are going to be treated like Hollywood royalty.
CARSON, Calif. -- The circus is starting to take its toll on the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Despite the frenzy that greeted their arrival from Britain on Thursday, the weekend was anything but quiet for David and Victoria Beckham as they and their brood settled into their new Beverly Hills home.
The morning after their ballyhooed arrival in Los Angeles, the Beckhams kicked off their U.S. press assault with a photo op for him and a self-deprecating radio interview for her.
The Beckham family said goodbye to Britain and arrived in Los Angeles late Thursday - but there was no day of rest for David or Victoria before they launched their stateside charm offensive.
International soccer star David Beckham said Friday that he was taking on the biggest challenge of his career, after being introduced as the newest member of the Los Angeles Galaxy.
CARSON, Calif. -- As he begins his New World Adventure in U.S. soccer, David Beckham can't help but smile when the childhood memories of his first American sojourn come tumbling back into his consciousness. But here's an unexpected twist: Beckham's initial taste of the U.S. had a distinctly Mexican-American flavor.
The Los Angeles Galaxy hopes the blond superstar will help rebrand soccer as a glamour game. But will his team measure up on the field?
Victoria Beckham's shooting schedule for her NBC reality has been thrown into disarray now that husband David has been recalled to play for the English national soccer team.
MADRID, Spain -- A funny thing happened here on David Beckham's path to European soccer irrelevance.
Eva Longoria is hands on when it comes to planning her wedding with fiancé Tony Parker. While Parker is busy with the NBA Playoffs, Longoria has been busy working on every detail imaginable for their July 7 ceremony, right down to how the couple will consummate the marriage.
In terms of international star power, it's been a dark few years in Major League Soccer. Thank you, Lothar Matthäus.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Guillermo Barros Schelotto is on his way to Major League Soccer. The Argentine superstar will join the Columbus Crew on a one-year deal with an option for a second year that will be announced this week, according to his representative Gustavo Goñi.
MLS clubs, take note.
Paris Hilton is looking for her bunnies. It's really not as crazy at it sounds. Saturday night just turned into Easter Sunday morning and she's walking around her Tuscan-style home in the Hollywood Hills looking for her furry friends. "Where are they?" she asks her sister, Nicky, whose lounging by the pool and talking to their friend Brandon Davis. "They're not in the cage."
What's ahead for Major League Soccer as the league enters a 12th season chock full of new superstars? Here are my predictions.
A superstar Mexican with diminished yet first-rate skills, beloved for his national team accomplishments. A large city with a burgeoning Mexican population. A league trying desperately to lure Mexican eyes onto its Americanized product.
If Major League Soccer were to pinpoint the moment it hit its target audience, it would be around 12:45 a.m. EST on Jan. 17.
Things haven't exactly been going David Beckham's way since he signed his lucrative contract to join the Los Angeles Galaxy in January. First he suffered a serious knee injury that will sideline him until the end of April and possibly May and now he's having a difficult time finding a new home in Los Angeles. While many outlets had soccer's royal family all but moving into the former mansion of Meg Ryan in Bel-Air last week, the asking price for the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom house is apparently too high for the Beckhams.
Ernie Kent's eyes widened as he heard the question being asked.
Reggie Bush's role in Ciara's new music video Like A Boy have intensified rumors that the duo are an item. In the video, which was shot in Los Angeles, Bush is quietly sitting in a chair while Ciara seductively moves around him; whispering in his ear, hitting him on the head, laying between his legs and kissing him on the cheek.
It's been two weeks, and David Beckham's move to a Galaxy far, far away is still the talk of the town in England. But which town?
David Beckham is a very fine soccer player, but with apologies to Macbeth, "Nothing in his life (becomes) him like the leaving."
It has been almost a week since the Los Angeles Galaxy drew the biggest headlines in Major League Soccer history by signing David Beckham to a blockbuster five-year contract.
1. The sports world is still reacting to David Beckham's blockbuster signing with the MLS's Los Angeles Galaxy. Landing such a superstar will surely make soccer a major American pro sport. Personally, I can't wait 'til Beckham and the Galaxy come to New York to play the Cosmos.
LOS ANGELES -- His phone began ringing well before the sun rose above the Home Depot Center. Before "the news" began trickling over sports wires. Before Major League Soccer officially started living up to the first two words of its name. It rang and rang and rang. It never stopped.
Very few people have heard of the Most Serene Republic of Excelsior, but those familiar with South American island nations may know that its annual governmental budget is $950,000. Next season David Beckham will earn that every week.
British soccer star David Beckham says he wants to become a part of American history. The 31-year-old former captain of the English soccer team has signed a five-year, reported $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
Mark it down: Jan. 11, 2007 will forever be known as the day that Major League Soccer truly arrived on the world stage.
The biggest sports story in the world was basically ignored on U.S. sports pages this week, even though an American was the central player.
It would have been easy for me to confuse where I was during a recent trip to London, England.
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