For the second time since joining the ranks of the LA Galaxy, David Beckham and his Galaxy teammates traveled to Washington DC to battle DC United only to return home in defeat. While the score was much closer last year (DC 1, LA 0), the Galaxy were handily defeated this time around with a final score of 4-1. Overall, David Beckham did his best to try and pull out a win … he kicked some balls, he ran around the field, etc. but couldn’t quite pull it together. He did find the time to grab his biz and strip off his shirt at the end of the game, tho, so it wasn’t a total wash. Here are a couple pics of Becks’s arrival in DC early this weekend:

An adoring fan gave Becks that lovely yellow rose in his hand and he was very kind enough to oblige various fans with photos and autographs. Here are a few pics of Becks in action on the field this weekend despite his team’s loss … I do love how “in action” included grabbin’ his junk:

Once again, D.C. United stole the spotlight from the Los Angeles Galaxy. Last year in RFK Stadium, United held on for a 1-0 win when David Beckham made his long-awaited Major League Soccer debut. This year, as part of a national broadcast doubleheader with the Euro 2008 final, the Galaxy wilted in the heat as United’s stars – Marcelo Gallardo, Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno – made the ABC showcase their own with a 4-1 win. For United’s Clyde Simms, the TV time was a means to an end for a team that has few league games next month. “It helps send a message to the other teams that we’re playing better soccer,” Simms said. Beckham and fellow Galaxy star Landon Donovan created good chances at times and combined on the game’s best sequence, with Donovan one-timing the ball in the net on an incisive near-post pass from Beckham. But in a clear sign that this day would not be the Galaxy’s, the goal was nullified on a close offside call. The crowd of 35,979 heckled Beckham and Donovan, saving the loudest roar of the game for the late appearance of Ben Olsen, the United captain who has been battling career-threatening ankle injuries. The Barra Brava supporters group held several banners in tribute to Olsen at kickoff. Both teams’ offenses have been much better than their defenses this year, and a defensive blunder helped United take an early lead. Galaxy defender Ante Jazic clumsily barged into former teammate Santino Quaranta from behind in the penalty box. Moreno, MLS’ all-time leading scorer, calmly slotted home the penalty kick. United continued to press the game. A few minutes later, goalkeeper Steve Cronin came up big as Emilio timed a run to perfection and had a clean shot at the Galaxy goal. Beckham objected to a Moreno foul early in the half, drawing profane chants from the D.C. supporter groups. He put several dangerous passes forward in search of Edson Buddle, but the United defense cleared the danger … As they did last year, D.C. United fans took advantage of the spotlight to rev up the enthusiasm for their own team. A couple of signs were playful jabs at Beckham, including a “Shouldn’t you be in Austria?” banner, referring to the Euro 2008 tournament for which England did not qualify. An English flag in the upper level had “D.C. United” written across the middle. On United’s bench was Quavas Kirk. Last year, when Kirk was with the Galaxy, he was the player Beckham replaced as the crowd erupted for the megastar’s MLS debut.

Whoa! Who knew that we had bona fide soccer hooligans here in the US? It’s about time that American soccer fans started taking the sport seriously … now if only Becks and the Galaxy boys would start taking the sport seriously as well, they’d be all set ;) After the jump, a few photos of shirtless Becks walking off the field in defeat …

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While hotties like Hugh Jackman and Cristiano Ronaldo are gettin’ wet and wild in St. Tropez and Sardinia (respectively), Jesse Metcalfe is happy staying closer to home opting, instead, to enjoy the beaches of Southern California … Malibu, CA to be exact. Here are a few pics of the beefy Jesse rockin’ the ‘do rag at the beach this weekend:

Jesse has kept a pretty low profile for much of this year thus far … ever since he got dumped by his on-again-off-again girlfriend Nadine Coyle of Girls Aloud back in January, Jesse has stayed pretty much out of the spotlight. When last we heard from him he had just posted new photos to his official My Space profile showing off his hairy, manly chest (which he has apparently waxed since) and before that there was the nasty little incident where he got knocked the eff out by British rapper Mims back in February. HMMM … considering the year the lad’s had thus far, I guess I can understand his desire to lay low. He still looks reallly good, ‘do rag notwithstanding … I hope the second half of the year turns out much better for him.

[Photo credit: X17]

John Barrowman, the out and proud star of Torchwood (the closest thing we have right now to Buffy the Vampire Slayer), has been spending some time in Canada hanging out at Niagra Falls, working on a project called How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and participating in the 2008 Toronto Pride Parade which took place yesterday … here are a couple pictures of John whooping it up on his float:

I love Torchwood and I love John Barrowman. Darion is the one who got me hooked on the amazing TV show and I can’t even tell you how much I love John’s outspoken pride. I am not surprised in the least that he would choose to participate in Toronto’s Pride Parade whose theme this year was Unified! (possibly taking a cue from the Democrats here in the US?) Folks in LA might want to take note that John will be making a personal appearance at Book Soup on Sunset Blvd. to sign copies of his autobiography Anything Goes on July 23. Unfortch, I will not be able to attend (I’ll be traveling) but I know there are gads of Torchwood fans out there who might not want to miss this opportunity.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

In a show of unity and togetherness (or perhaps just because they were merely hungry) celeb couples and BFFs Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck and Matt Damon & Luciana Barroso stepped out for a double date dinner at Nobu in Malibu, CA over the weekend. Last week, a new rumor started going around that Ben and Jen are having trubs in their marriage (sound familiar?) which the couple have already denied (100%) so maybe this public outing was a way of showing the world that they are still happily together cuz, you know, they like eating together. More likely, the couples got together for a little pre-anniversary celebration for Bennifer 2.0 — their 3 year wedding anniversary was yesterday. Here are a few pics of the happy couples making their way out of Nobu this past Saturday night:

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck met up with Matt Damon and his heavily pregnant wife, Luciana Barroso, at Nobu Malibu on Saturday night for a two-hour dinner on the patio that included cooked fish and sushi rolls. “Ben and Matt were entertaining the girls with stories, and they were all laughing a lot,” says an observer of the couples. When dessert came, the celebratory group toasted – after all, Garner and Affleck’s third wedding anniversary was the following day. “Jen and Ben were in a great mood, and they left Nobu hand in hand,” says the observer.

They’re fine, I’m convinced of it. No smoke, no fire — just some friends having a nice dinner out … and if some photogs happen to snap them all holding hands, well, all the better. Happy Anni, Bennifer 2.0.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

Amid rumors that his marriage to Madonna is about to come to a final end (yet again), Guy Ritchie was spotted making his way to London’s Heathrow airport supposedly bound for NYC where his wife Maddy (who is furiously working on rehearsals for her upcoming Sticky & Sweet Tour) and his their children have been staying for the past week or so. The Sun is reporting that Guy is winging his way to the States in order to make a last ditch effort to save his marriage … tho, it’s entirely plausible that these rumors are totally unfounded and he is merely making his way to NY to visit with his family (if he’s even headed to NY at all). Here are a few pics of Guy in London, supposedly making his way to the US:

GUY RITCHIE is flying to New York this weekend in a last-ditch bid to save his marriage to MADONNA. The couple hope to get their relationship back on track for the sake of their children. A source close to them said: “It is make or break time for Guy and Madonna. She is completely focused on rehearsals for her tour in America and can’t come back to London. They want to make the marriage work, but they are at a stalemate. Divorce is something they have thought about.” The Sun first revealed in March that the seven-year marriage was in trouble. The couple have not been photographed together since June 2 and had looked strained and ill-at-ease in each other’s company. Over the last six months both film director Guy, 39, and 49-year-old Madonna have consulted lawyers in case of a permanent split. The singer — referred to as Em by her close pals — has taken informal advice from top divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who handled SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY’s divorce from HEATHER MILLS. The source added: “Em went to Fiona so that if they do split up, it will be easier to handle all the publicity if everything is in place legally. But at the moment they are both trying to rescue the situation. Em has shown a willingness to patch things up. But because almost all rehearsals for the tour are in New York rather than in London Guy thinks she’s not sacrificing much. He has now decided to fly out there this weekend to try to sort things out.” If the couple cannot patch up their differences, the split will NOT be a court circus like that of Macca and Mucca. The Ritchies are determined to remain civil. And, despite some reports, friends say they DO have a watertight pre-nuptial deal that will make any split more amicable. The key issue is Madonna’s desire to live in New York with her children Lourdes, 11, Rocco, seven, and adopted David, two. She has spent a fortune renovating her Manhattan apartment, installing a gym and a giant rehearsal room … Madonna’s world tour will not end until next year, while Guy is working on commercials and two movies.

Thus far, there hasn’t been any real substantive proof that the couple are breaking up … it’s more of the same — “the couple never look happy together”, “Guy doesn’t want more kids”, “Madonna wants to move to NY” — these are the same reports that have plagued their entire 7-year marriage. I really like Madonna and Guy together as a couple. I think they compliment each other very well and they have a really beautiful family. No matter what is going on in their personal lives, I hope they are able to successfully contend with the rumors and come out on top as a happy couple.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

The luminous Courtney Love found herself in a bit of a pickle this weekend when she suffered an injury (a broken toe, apparently) over the weekend and had to be helped home by a friend. Fortunately for C. Love and her knight in shining armor, a nearby shopping cart was employed to aid in locomotion — the operative word being “loco”. Naturally, the first thing that Court did upon arriving home from her painful (yet off kilter) experience was try to explain her actions on her official My Space blog … which then turned into a meandering, rambling post about how all of her money has been (is being?) stolen from her by people who have access to her computer (and randomly, Ryan Adams gets a mention) … at least, I think that’s what she’s trying to say. Here are a few photos of Courtney being pushed around in her shopping cart and a portion of her latest My Space blog post which she posted last night at 11:58pm — all grammar and typos are her own:

i got Shopping Toe

Courtney

Um. Yeah. It sounds like Courtney is really working thru something here. The middle portion, pertaining to her finances (or the pilfering of her finances, as it were) is intriguing … like, you can kinda see how her mind works by reading it. There are some hard facts (whether they be true or not) embedded in her rambling thought process (which seems really out of context, sandwiched between the news about her broken toe), she just appears to have difficulty explaining them properly … to whom is she explaining all of this to is a mystery. Courtney Love is insanely fascinating character … uh, with the operative word being “insanely”.

[Photo credit: X17; Source]

Here are a few photos of Manchester United soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo to start the day off right. Mr. Ronaldo continued his Sardinian holiday with friends this weekend and spent a bit of time washing off his mostly nekkid body in a public, poolside shower … take a look:

While the absence of a pair of certain neon orange swim trunks might’ve made these photos a wee bit more interesting, I ain’t complaining by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, there ain’t really all that much that one can say about photos like these. Yummo! comes to mind, tho. I kinda love it when Cristiano Ronaldo goes on vacay … he should deffo do much more of it.

[Photo credit: Splash News]