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Bend it Like Beckham! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr_qwkmWukI

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was greeted by a crowd of thousands Friday with something he doesn't usually hear - a booming chorus of boos. The icy reception came as Villaraigosa took part in a welcoming ceremony for the newest member of the Los Angeles Galaxy - soccer superstar David Beckham. But when the mayor was introduced, the crowd estimated at 5,000 turned on him with jeers and howls as if he was a member of an opposing team, while the moment was recorded by a vast array of international media. It might have been payback. At a 2005 match...

Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexei Lalas has just taken the podium at the event "to welcome David Beckham to the Galaxy family." If anyone has anything noteworthy to say, we'll post it right here. MLS Commissioner Don Garber says the arrival of Beckham will make soccer "popular and vibrant" in America. We shall see. And Garber may have just stepped into a political land mine. When he officially welcomed Beckham, he did it in Spanish, and the crowd began to boo. I've got mixed feelings about this -- yes, Spanish-speaking immigrants are the most loyal soccer fans America has, but...

With cannons of confetti exploding around him, David Beckham officially arrived in Los Angeles today with the difficult mission of raising soccer's profile in this country to a new, higher level. Looking cool in a gray suit and tie while those around him wilted in the heat, Beckham stood at a podium set up on the field at the Home Depot Center in Carson and met his public with waves and smiles. His wife, pop star Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham, sat in a folding chair and gazed adoringly at her husband, also impervious to the heat in a bright fuchsia...

David and Victoria Beckham have revealed that they "like to lock the doors at night and wander around naked" in an intimate interview with America's risque W magazine. The couple also posed for an extraordinary set of sexually charged photographs, giving US audiences their first taste of what to expect ahead of their fanfare move to Los Angeles. "I think people are really going to see me for the first time. I think they have this impression that I'm the miserable cow who doesn't smile," Victoria says. "But I'm actually quite the opposite. I'm going to try and smile more...

Scientology's chief cheerleader Tom Cruise helped tempt David Beckham to L.A., fueling speculation the soccer ace and his wife may become the church’s next celebrity converts. Beckham said yesterday a late-night phone chat with the “Mission: Impossible” star helped seal his decision to move stateside. The soccer great and his wife, Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham, are close buddies with Cruise and his spouse, Katie Holmes. “I talked with [Cruise] for about an hour last night and an hour the night before,” Beckham said at a news conference held yesterday to discuss his five-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles...

David Beckham has admitted that he is stunned by Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello's decision to call time on his career at the Spanish giants. Capello is adamant that the former England skipper has played his last match in a Madrid shirt after the 31-year-old decided to sign a 250-million-dollar deal to play for Los Angeles Galaxy in the United States...

WHO knew it would take a world-famous soccer superstar to finally get the passions for professional football roiling through Los Angeles once again? Of course, we're talking "futbol," as soccer is known in much of the world, and not the National Football League. Within hours of the announcement that David Beckham - the English soccer superstar known for his singular sartorial style as well as his Spice Girl wife - was joining the L.A. Galaxy, the buzz of excitement across Tinseltown was greater than anything the NFL could have inspired. This is the biggest sports news to hit Los Angeles...

Why are we writing him off? By Iain Macintosh 02 December 2006 THE English are a strange nation for celebrity culture. We're morbidly obsessed with anyone who appears on television for more than 20 minutes. We relentlessly gorge ourselves on trash media, inciting them to repeatedly hunt down their bronzed quarry - and all so that we may judge them on anything from hip size to complexion. Inevitably, footballers were dragged into this voyeuristic melting pot and none more so than England's iconic former captain, David Beckham. Now, let's not beat around the bush here; Becks is a phenomenally good...

David Beckham will leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy at the end of the season. The 31-year-old former England captain will sign a five-year deal, reportedly worth £128m. Beckham said: "This week Real asked me to make a decision regarding their offer to extend my contract. "After considering several options to stay in Madrid or join other major British and European teams, I have decided to join LA Galaxy." In a statement, Beckham continued: "I would like to thank the supporters and people of Madrid who have made my family and I feel so welcome...

The Germans and Italians meet in Dortmund on Tuesday (2:55 p.m. ET, ESPN) to play for the right to go to the World Cup Final on Sunday. The loser will play in the third-place game Saturday against the losing team of the other semifinal to be held Wednesday.

Captain David Beckham has spoken for the entire England squad when he says how devastated he is to be out of the World Cup. Snip But just like back in Euro 2004, history was to repeat itself when Portugal broke the hearts of the England players and went through following a dreaded penalty shoot-out. Snip Beckham said: "You always feel bad when you go out of a competition. I thought we played well and passed the ball around well. I don't feel we deserved to come away with nothing and you always feel bad after a result like that. Snip...

The quarterfinal round concludes with a pair of enticing match-ups. The day's first match pits England against Portugal (10:30 a.m. ET, ABC) in Gelsenkirchen, while a rematch of the 1998 final between Brazil and France (3:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) will wrap the Round of 8.

The first cycle of group play in the FIFA World Cup comes to a close on Wednesday with all four Group H teams in action, Spain taking on Ukraine at 8:55 a.m. ET (ESPN2) and Saudi Arabia facing Tunisia three hours later (also on ESPN2). Then Cup hosts Germany start the second series of matches in the groups when they face neighbors Poland in Dortmund. Spain finally get a chance to get the ball rolling in Leipzig, facing a Ukraine team looking for a result in its first-ever World Cup match. But just because the Eastern Europeans are new on...

World Cup favorite Brazil will kick off its World Cup campaign on Tuesday as the opening round of the tournament continues in Germany. The defending champions will face Croatia at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN2) in Berlin in the second Group F match, following Australia's come-from-behind victory over Japan Monday. The match will feature the highly-anticipated debut of FC Barcelona great Ronaldinho as he looks to lead the South Americans to a record sixth championship. But the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year is hardly the only weapon in coach Carlos Alberto Parreira's arsenal. Also at his disposal are Ronaldo,...

David Beckham has hinted that he may be prepared to play in the United States before he ends his career as signs of his growing popularity in that part of the world were evident ahead of England's friendly international with Colombia. Beckham was greeted with the kind of media frenzy and flashing light bulbs that have probably not greeted a soccer player in America since the days of Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer in the mid 1970s as he gave his pre-match press conference. In the immediate term the 30-year-old sees his playing career at Real Madrid and he...

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team will face England for the first time since 1994 in a Memorial Weekend match-up at Chicago’s Soldier Field on May 28 at 2 p.m. CT, in a match being broadcast live on ESPN2. The meeting between the two quarterfinalists at the 2002 FIFA World Cup comes amidst the qualifying schedules for both nations as they aim for a spot in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The controversial waxwork Nativity scene depicting David and Victoria Beckham as Joseph and Mary has been wrecked in an attack. Wax models of the stars, worth £50,000 each, suffered "extensive damage" when a young man attacked the display at Madame Tussauds. The exhibit, which caused uproar after church leaders called it blasphemous, has now been removed only days after it was unveiled. The attacker waited until other visitors had left the area and charged at the figures, kicking and punching them in a frenzied attack. The face on the Victoria model was damaged most but her husband's was also severely...

I searched but am a poor searcher. Just saw this Nativity Scene abomination on TV witb Dave Beckham as Jesus and Posh Spice as the Virgin Mary. Madame Tussaud's should be ashamed of itself.

LONDON (AFP) - British mathematician Stephen Hawking is more of a role model to teenage boys than soccer star David Beckham and comes a close second to rugby hero Jonny Wilkinson. Hawking came second in a poll to find the men whom boys aged 16 to 18 look up to the most. He was just beaten by Wilkinson, England's Rugby World Cup hero, in the survey of 500 teenage boys for Good Housekeeping magazine. Hawking, author of "A Brief History of Time," was quoted in the magazine saying: "Over the years I've been voted the second-most intelligent person in Britain...