The Hollywood paparazzi are going to have a little less fodder on the sidelines at Los Angeles Lakers games come January. Italian giants AC Milan have officially confirmed the long-rumored second loan of English midfielder David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy.
While the official details of the loan haven't been released, this much seems to be known. Beckham will join Milan in January and finish out the 2009-10 Serie A season, before he hopes to join England's team at next June's World Cup. This means, as he did this season, Beckham would parachute back to the Galaxy in either late June, or more likely, early July.
In a very unsurprising development, AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani declared that the club is "95 percent" finished on bringing back David Beckham to the club in January on loan. Galliani went as far as to call it a "done deal."
Unlike last year when there was a lot of alarm and acrimony when Beckham announced his intentions to play somewhere else during the break in the MLS season, this time there doesn't seem to be too much problem that he'll be away from the Los Angeles Galaxy for a period of time after the 2009 season wraps in November.
CARSON, Calif. (AP) - David Beckham was ejected for a studs-up challenge in the 17th minute, and the Los Angeles Galaxy finished with nine men in a 2-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night.
Beckham slid into Sounders midfielder Peter Vagenas trying to reach a ball, hooking his right ankle and bringing the former Galaxy midfielder down to the pitch. Referee Ricardo Salazar immediately issued the red card, and Beckham did not offer much of an argument before leaving the field.
Version 3.0 of David Beckham's American odyssey isn't exactly off to the best start in the world. After being heckled in his first home game at the Home Depot Center, the Englishmen was involved in another incident with a fan Saturday night when the Los Angeles Galaxy played the Kansas City Wizards at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
Unlike the ugly incident in Los Angles where a visibly agitated Beckham went over the signage barrier to confront a fan from the L.A. Riot Squad, what happened in Kansas City was just plain weird, with the audio clearly picked up by ESPN's microphones.
The other day, driving to a Fourth of July barbecue, I saw a pair of young kids riding their bikes. Obviously that's not all that unusual, except these two weren't wearing jerseys for LeBron James or Eli Manning. Rather, one was in a Liverpool FC top, the other a Los Angeles Galaxy shirt with the No. 23 and the name of a certain famous English midfielder printed across the back.
I wasn't sure whether I should shake my head or smile.
Ah, David Beckham. Two words that can elicit reactions from people everywhere from Athens to Zanzibar and, yes, America too -- or at least on Madison Avenue. Beckham, the man with the misreported $250 million salary -- is back in America with the Los Angeles Galaxy this month after his much ballyhooed loan stint at AC Milan.
Freddie Ljungberg, who made his MLS debut this past weekend, was interviewed by Dave Hollander recently.
Now that Beckham won't be playing in the MLS anytime soon, who will replace the sex symbol as the Google object of female soccer fans? Can you say "Freddie Ljungberg?" Well, maybe you can't, but the former captain of the Swedish national team signed a multimillion dollar deal with the Seattle Sounders FC of the MLS. Voted Swedish player of the year (2002, 2006) and Swedish midfielder of the year (2004), he has also graced the covers of numerous magazines and is an underwear model for Calvin Klein. So who needs Beckham, right?
Before an adidas commercial shoot this summer, Kevin Garnett and David Beckham battled it out in a game that combined elements of soccer and basketball. The object of the game, you ask? To kick a soccer ball into a regulation basketball hoop. Take a look at the results below:
Ouch. I feel Martinez's pain, man. When I was 13, I ran up to block a corner kick and took a shot right to the crotch, which left me incapacitated for the next half-hour or so. But did anyone think to squirt water down my shorts? No. We didn't have any magic spray back then, either. Horrible.
Tiger Woods isn't just the best golfer in the world. He's the world's second most powerful celebrity -- second only to Oprah Winfrey.
At least, he's the No. 2 celebrity according to the Forbes Celebrity 100, which ranks celebrities using a formula that incorporates earnings over the last year, Internet presence, magazine covers and how often the celebrity is mentioned in newspapers and on TV and radio. Woods actually ranked first among all celebrities in the world in terms of his number of press clippings.
American soccer doesn't draw much in the way of TV eyeballs, but when there's a highlight like this one, it becomes a sensation on YouTube:
That was David Beckham from about 70 yards out against the Kansas City Wizards Saturday. That clip is the most-viewed video on YouTube in the last 24 hours, and the goal has been viewed about 2 million times.
.jpg)
The Hollywood paparazzi are going to have a little less fodder on the sidelines at Los Angeles Lakers games come January. Italian giants AC Milan have officially confirmed the long-rumored second loan of English midfielder David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy. .jpg)
In a very unsurprising development, AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani declared that the club is "95 percent" finished on bringing back 
CARSON, Calif. (AP) - .jpg)
Version 3.0 of 
.jpg)
The other day, driving to a Fourth of July barbecue, I saw a pair of young kids riding their bikes. Obviously that's not all that unusual, except these two weren't wearing jerseys for LeBron James or Eli Manning. Rather, one was in a Liverpool FC top, the other a Los Angeles Galaxy shirt with the No. 23 and the name of a certain famous English midfielder printed across the back. 
Freddie Ljungberg
In 
