Because of a foot injury suffered a couple of months ago, soccer star David Beckham has been relegated to the sidelines as the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament gets underway this month in South Africa. Becks has already begun his duties as the official athletic supporter for Team England (as you can see below) and has also signed on to be the official brand spokesman for Yahoo! Here are a few photos of Becks cheering on England at Moruleng Stadium in Lesetlheng North West Province, South Africa yesterday during a friendly match between Platinum Stars and England (with a really cute little boy on his lap) and the deets of his new deal with Yahoo!

Yahoo Inc said it signed British soccer star David Beckham as a brand ambassador ahead of the World Cup tournament in a move to draw more users to the online media company’s products. Under the deal announced on Tuesday, Beckham will be featured on Yahoo websites and products exclusively before and after the World Cup, which begins in South Africa on Friday, as well as in company marketing. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal runs through the end of September to take advantage of the start of 2010-2011 European soccer seasons, and the first print and outdoor ads featuring the English soccer star will appear in Britain later this week, said Andrew Cocker, head of Yahoo marketing in Britain. “Yahoo will allow me to interact one on one with as many football fans as possible talking about the game I love,” Beckham said in a statement. However, due to commitments with the English soccer team, Beckham will not comment on the 2010 World Cup during the tournament, Cocker said. “It’s not just a World Cup deal for us,” he said in a telephone interview. “This is a partnership with David going through into the course of next season.” The Beckham deal is another step in Yahoo’s push to boost its sports offerings … As part of the deal, Beckham, who is not playing in the World Cup due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, will be featured in a multimillion-dollar global marketing campaign in select markets throughout and beyond the World Cup. Beckham played in the previous three World Cups. The campaign, which focuses on highlighting specific products, services and experiences on Yahoo, is meant to drive more people to search, use and talk about Yahoo, the company said. Fans will have access to exclusive content from Beckham in addition to Yahoo’s existing microsites, mobile experiences, fantasy games and search tools for more than 20 countries. Three main components to the deal include a David Beckham page within Yahoo Sport’s coverage of the World Cup, where Beckham will share his thoughts on playing in three consecutive tournaments; the opportunity for soccer fans to ask Beckham questions through various Yahoo channels; and Beckham’s participation in the marketing campaign.

Man … even when the man is sitting on his butt watching soccer he is making oodles of money. I have to admit, tho, that it’s pretty smart on Yahoo!‘s part to team up with David Beckham. I’m very curious to see what sort of exclusive Beckham content Yahoo! plans to offer … even tho I’m not a huge sports fan, I’d be more apt to check in with Yahoo! on the off chance that I get to see some fun Becks stuff. But … that is still a bit of a ways away … right now, we should be focusing on the World Cup. Team USA faces Team England in competitive play on June 12. I ain’t gonna lie … I’m excited. I’ll be cheering for a major US upset of England … who will YOU be cheering for?

[Photo credit: INFdaily; Source]

We are just 5 days away from the third season premiere of True Blood on HBO and today, courtesy of Popwrap, we get to know a little better the actor who will bring the werewolf character Alcide to life on the show. Feast your eyes on this amazingly hawt photo of actor Joe Manganiello and read about how he got his body in to sick shape to faithfully portray Alcide on the show:

Today marks the day we can finally say, there is less than one week until the premiere of “True Blood” season three! It’s an event that’s long in the making and one I plan to celebrate by bringing you exclusive cast interviews throughout the week, so stayed tuned for that. But for now, I’ll give you a taste of my interview with new castmember Joe Manganiello, who plays werewolf Alcide. The actor went all Taylor Lautner for the role, seriously bulking up in order to convincingly bring his character to life … as you can plainly see in the brand new still above “Vampires can get away with having very slight builds and the audience will still believe that they’re super powerful,” Joe tells PopWrap. “Werewolves are animals and in my mind they should be very muscular. Not an extra ounce of fat on them. Really ripped. I wanted people to look at Alcide and think, ‘wow, he’s a super strong animal.’” Another difference between playing claws vs. fangs? “It was important for me to get a tan,” Joe says. “Because, well, I can and it would offset my character in relation to the vampires.” Joe was also determined to make his incarnation of Alcide live up to the version author Charlaine Harris had created in “The Southern Vampire Mysteries” series. “Charlaine went into a lot of detail in the books about Alcide being giant. About having arms that look like boulders, like Sookie could do pull-ups on them,” Joe says. Luckily the actor had a good head start. “My mom is half Austrian and comes from a long line of giant athletes. I remember my mom doing double bicep flexes and her arms were just ripped. She had like Madonna arms. She would flex and say, “that’s where you get it kid.” So I have my mother to thank.” As do we all Joe. “True Blood” kicks off its third season Sunday June 13 at 9pm on HBO

HMMMM … I’ve got me a problem, y’all. I have been very clear about how much I love the pasty white and lithe vampires on True Blood but now that they had to go and throw a tanned and beefy werewolf into the mix, I might have to switch my alleigence. To be honest, I never thought anyone would be able to take my eye off of hottie Alexander Skarsgård … but then comes along this Joe Manganiello fellow and I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m stymied, y’all. It looks like I’ll just have to share my lust love betwixt both Alexander and Joe … which, to be honest, doesn’t sound like a bad place to be ;) Oh and let’s not forget the hotness known as Ryan Kwanten … I dunno … am I just being too fickle? Is it wrong to spread my admiration between so many supernatural men?

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In early March we learned the shocking news that actor Andy Whitfield, star of the Starz dramatic series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and would immediately undergo cancer treatment. I am very happy to update his condition today by passing along the happy news that not only is Whitfiled cancer-free but he is ready and rearin’ to go back to work on Spartacus! Deadline Hollywood has all the deets:

Spartacus star Andy Whitfield has been given a clean bill of health and is already training for his return to the set of the Starz drama series. “I’m raring to go,” Whitfiled said in a phone interview from New Zealand. Fans will be able to meet the actor at next month’s Comic Con where Whitfield will make an appearance along with other actors and producers from Starz’s breakout series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Welsh-born Whitfield was diagnosed with treatable Stage 1 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in early March during a routine checkup just as the show was about to start shooting Season 2. He began treatment immediately while production was put on hold. About five weeks ago, tests revealed that Whitfield was clear of cancer and three weeks ago, he completed his treatment. Whitfield, who thanked Starz executives for sticking with him and supporting him through his ordeal, has already started his own training for what is a very physically demanding role and will start vigorous boot camp training at the end of July. While Whitfield was undergoing treatment, Starz announced a six-episode Spartacus prequel focused on two other characters from the series, played by Lucy Lawless and John Hannah. Whitfield will appear in two of the episodes and is expected to get in front of the camera sometime in October, giving him plenty of time to get in shape. (He notes that for the first season, he only had a month to prepare.) Upon wrapping the prequel, the cast and crew are expected to segue directly into filming Season 2 of the original series. Whitfield shaved his head after starting to lose his hear during chemo but it is already growing back and he will have his trademark Spartacus hairdo shortly. For 35-year-old Whitfield, the news of his cancer diagnosis came out of the blue just as the first season of Spartacus was breaking ratings records for Starz week after week and production on Season 2 was about to begin. “After the initial shock – I was a healthy young man and had no idea that this could happen — it was frustrating that the first season was ending on such a high note and we could’ve been rolling into season 2.” But after that initial shock came “time to heal, figure things out and spend time with my family,” he said. And the experience has thought him some important lessons, like: “Stay in the now and enjoy every moment.”

Awww … this is amazing news. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine what it must be like to be told that you have cancer in your body but it sounds very much like Whitfield decided to battle the disease head-on in order to get it OUT of his system. You may note that Whitfield‘s cancer battle sounds very similar to that of Dexter star Michael C. Hall. He, too, was diagnosed with the disease and immediately went into treatment and is now also cancer-free and is already back to work. I am just so happy and pleased to know that both men are doing well. Here’s hoping they both remain happy, healthy and totally cancer-free! Isn’t this the best news ever?

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Wooo, lawdy! We’ve got a lot of fun stuff to get into about the insanely tacky yet deliciously entertaining castmembers of Bravo TV‘s Real Housewives series. First, you may recall that last week we learned that it was reported that Teresa Giudice, who stars on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and her family are $11+ million dollars in debt despite the lavish lifestyle they purport to enjoy on the reality TV show. Today we learn that the Giudice family has been forced to file for bankruptcy because they are B-R-O-K-E:

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice is breaking her silence after it was discovered that she and her husband Joe filed for bankruptcy. “While this is a personal matter, I realize that certain aspects of my private life will always be subject to scrutiny and distortion,” Giudice says in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE. “What is true is that due to the economy, most of my husband’s real estate ventures failed despite his hard work and effort. As a result, we looked to the Bankruptcy Court for a ‘fresh start.’” Indeed court papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J., show that Giudice, 38, and her husband filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which requires liquidation of assets in order to pay creditors, in October of last year. Papers also show that the couple had to undergo credit counseling, and were awarded a temporary stay on payments for their Cadillac Escalade and mortgage payments for properties. In the documents filed, the pair declared their personal assets, which include real property and personal property, as $2,261,150. But their liabilities — $8,709,831.34 — far exceeded that number. In addition, the couple had to assess their monthly income. Combining Joe’s salary as owner of G&G Stucco and Stone Specialist in Clifton, N.J., with Teresa’s income from Bravo and “monthly assistance from family members,” that number totaled $16,583.33. Their expenditures, including their mortgage, food, clothing, dry cleaning, health insurance and other expenses, total $16,582. The couple owes more than $33,000 on various store credit cards, $85,000 for home repairs and $91,000 for materials used to build their new home. During the first season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Giudice, who famously flipped a table on the show, and her family moved into their $1.7 million mansion in Towaco, N.J. The reality star, who was often filmed treating her daughters to new clothing and expensive toys, was also depicted flashing stacks of cash while furnishing the house. And in a recent episode on the second season, she boasted of spending significant funds on her daughter Gia‘s spa birthday party. “When people fall, the way to success is to get up and learn from our mistakes,” Giudice says. “We are in that process.”

Dang … when hypocrites fall, they fall hard. If you watch the show (and you should, it’s a crazy freakfest each and every week) you had to know that this pitiful family was living way beyond their means. Considering how disgustingly flippant Guidice enjoys flaunting her “wealth” on the show, it just seems karmically right that she get slapped down hard in the real world for her outrageously irresponsible behavior. Guidice recently gave birth to her 4th child and never seemed to care about planning financially for her children’s future. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson.

In other Real Housewives of New Jersey news, castmember Danielle Staub is allegedly about to make her sex tape debut! Referred to as a “prostitution whore” by her fellow castmates, Staub (née Beverly Ann Merrill) is reportedly featured in a 75 minute sex tape that TMZ reports is about to be released by Hustler Inc.:

Another “celebrity” sex tape is about to hit the market — and this time, the people distributing the footage claim the star is Danielle Staub from “Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Hustler Inc. tells us it is all set to distribute a 75 minute tape, featuring Jersey’s most hated Housewife — and mother of two — in a naked romp with a mystery man. A rep from Hustler tells us the tape was shot last September — several months after 47-year old Staub first appeared on the Bravo reality show. The tape is set to be released on June 14. A rep for Staub had no comment on the story.

Yikes! I cannot think of a thing I’d MOST never, ever want to see in my life. Previews for next week’s ep of The Real Housewives of New Jersey hint of the discussion of Staub‘s sex tape so it sounds like — like it or not — the tape is on the way.

Oh and one last bit of Housewives goodness to share, the reunion episode of The Real Housewives of New York City is set to air on Bravo this Thursday night — after the jump, check out 2 preview videos from that much-anticipated reunion special (oh, you know you want to) …