While Los Angeles Laker Ron Artest is filling the "pro athlete" spot on the male side of the 'Dancing With the Stars' roster, Hope Solo is representing the athletic ladies during Season 13.

Solo, the 30-year-old star goalkeeper from the U.S. women's national soccer team, made headlines this summer when she made several stellar plays during the Women's World Cup. She's played on the national team for more than a decade, but it was a save in the nail-biting shootout against Brazil that clinched the U.S.'s bid in the semifinals and brought Solo into the national spotlight.

This summer brings the biggest event in football -- or soccer as we call it on this side of the pond. It's the Super Bowl for the international set and the best soccer teams from around the globe are gearing up to stake their claim on the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The 2010 World Cup Television Schedule will play on several different stations including ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and games will stream online at ESPN360.com.

Do you still doubt that soccer is the world's game?

Then you haven't seen the new Nike World Cup-themed ad, a globe-spanning spectacle of action and reaction featuring players Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney and Americans Tim Howard and Landon Donovan along with celebs and fellow athletes Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and Homer Simpson.

I get YouTube videos emailed to me five or six times a day. It's gotten to the point where I've just created a canned response that says, "LOL! You were right, that was hilarious!" It makes the senders happy and keeps me sane.

It's not that I don't love my friends and relatives, I'm just tired of being burned by subpar 'AFV' clips masquerading as the new hotness of internet memes. As I get older and my time becomes more precious, I really don't want suggestions from friends - what I want is qualified editors making decisions for me.

The problem is that as media further fractures and democratizes, it gets harder and harder to find the good stuff. Thus, the more a company helps me find the good stuff, the more I'm inclined to stay with that company.

To that end, I've got an idea that'll be win all around for everybody: the Big Four Networks should adopt a league system, just like soccer.

You're about to become a soccer fan.

I know you don't believe me. Hell, I'm not sure I believe me. After all, America has resisted soccer for going on 150 years. Crapping on soccer ranks right up there with eating horrible chain-restaurant food and producing slobs-versus-snobs camp movies as a quality that define us as Americans.

Further, you've heard this claim before: the "Grab your shin guards, soccer is about to be a hit in the US of A!" column has been written approximately 2.8 million times since the early '70s. Every time a new soccer league starts in this country, everyone rushes to be the first to write that America is about to become Uruguay North.

And yet, those leagues invariably crash and burn, WNBA-style. So what makes this time any different? Why will we finally care about something that we've gone out of our way to not care about for so long? What force is powerful enough to make that happen?

The most powerful force in the universe: ESPN.

Possible spoiler follows, though I don't think so. But I'll still use the word "they" instead of "he" or "she."

It must be hard to go on a reality show. Besides the insults you're bound to get from viewers, critics, family, and friends (unless you win a bunch of money, of course), you have to leave your job for quite some time. Then again, if you're going on a reality show to live on an island or in a house or whatever, you're probably looking for another life for yourself anyway.

One of the contestants from Survivor has been let go from their job. But they don't seem to care.

(S05E02) "I'll kill you in your sleep...I can do it and not leave any forensic evidence." - Nicole, to Paul

Uh...wow. That's one of the more provocative statements made in the history of The Mole. Of course, if this show was on CBS Nicole would have said, "...I can do it and not leave any forensic evidence and even the CSI: Miami team wouldn't be able to prove I did it." The funny thing is, Nicole wasn't totally out of line in saying it. Just when you think Nicole was the "evil" one on this reality show, another strong contender shows up: Paul. I don't know which one I'd rather talk to less, though Paul pulled ahead of Nicole tonight in many ways.

(S04E02) The Office is a lot like the New England Patriots. I know that sounds strained, but hear me out: like The Office, the Pats are a cut above the competition. They have a great collection of role-players that excel at usually thankless positions, and they have a few break-out stars who are smart enough to realize that their success hinges very much on those role players. The coaching staff, like the producers of The Office, are second-to-none, never settling and always striving to do better.

They're both so good at what they do, it makes their missteps all the more glaring. We all know what the Pats did wrong. To find out where tonight's Office went awry, you'll have to follow me after the jump...

I really didn't want to like Victoria Beckham. In photos, she never smiles. She is always impeccably dressed and frighteningly skinny. She was Posh Spice, but she's more famous for marrying David Beckham. She always seemed like a bitch, quite frankly. But, I am embarrassed to say that I found her adorable after watching last night's special, Victoria Beckham: Coming to America.

Victoria Beckham and her soccer player husband, David, are currently filming separate reality shows about their move to Los Angeles. Posh is all over Los Angeles this week, filming her series, which will air on NBC or Bravo. She's doing things like throwing out the first pitch at a Dodgers game and "accidentally" bumping into Perez Hilton at a coffee shop.

And David Beckham is making his own reality show for British network, ITV. Producers say it's not so much about his wife and three sons, but about soccer. There's a great quote in the article about the driving force of this reality show, "David's move to LA Galaxy is an historic event... Viewers will get an amazing insight into his thoughts about the story that shook the world of football."

Not too long ago, Anna told you that former Spice Girl and wife of soccer star David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, would be starring in a reality series on NBC that would follow her and her husband as they make their move to the United States.

Well, the series is still happening, except it won't be a series, it'll be a primetime special. All of this is merely speculation at this point, and NBC hasn't made any comment one way or the other. However, like Anna, I haven't quite figured out what it is about this series/special that's supposed to attract people, especially Americans. I think whatever mainstream infatuation we had with Posh Spice has long since gone away, and while David Beckham is no doubt a superstar in his own right, soccer just isn't that popular here. That's not a slight against the sport itself, I'm merely pointing out that it's unclear exactly who this series/special is trying to attract.

Of course, surprises are always nice, so maybe after this hits TV screens I'll be coming back on this blog and telling everyone how great it is.

I thought I had seen everything Mr. T has done, but this commercial is completely new to me. You should skip to the bottom of this post and watch it, then come back here for my analyzation. Okay, then.

So, the commercial starts off with a soccer game, and one player overplaying his injury a little too much. We cut to a scene of Mr. T driving a tank toward the soccer field. He smashes two cars along the way: did those cars have people in them? Mr. T does not care. Mr. T has bigger things on his mind: big, nutty chocolaty things.

Viacom was just the beginning. Sure, the parent company of MTV and Comedy Central sued the bejesus out of YouTube for $1 billion in copyright infringement. But did you really think other entities would stay out of the action?

The Football Association Premier League is threatening legal action, as is the country of Thailand.

The Premiere League is ticked off at YouTube for the usual copyright infringing stuff. They say the video-sharing site is violating the league's distribution rights of soccer matches, and have set up a website to encourage other copyright holders to join their suit against YouTube's parent company Google.

As for Thailand, they're upset about video clips that made fun of the country's king. Thailand banned access to YouTube, and the site eventually agreed to block pages with the offensive videos from Thai users. While it seemed like that would be the end of the story, a Thai official now says the country plans to file a suit against Google.

Maybe this wasn't the best time for Google to start paying independent video producers. They might need to save the money.

(S18E16)I was sick, that's why this review is late. Onward:

I may be a Simpsons apologist, but that doesn't mean I don't understand where people are coming from when they say the show isn't what it used to be. Even those like myself who defend the series for still being one of the smartest and funniest shows on television can still recognize a lesser episode, and this episode was certainly not the best one of the season.

According to a press release from the BBC, this coming Saturday's episode of Doctor Who could end up being postponed because of live coverage of the FA Cup football (soccer) semi-final encounter between Watford and Manchester United on BBC One.

The match is scheduled to finish in regulation time just before Doctor Who is scheduled to start on BBC One, but if extra-time and penalties (aka over-time and a penalty-kick shoot-out) ensue, the third episode of the new series will be held over for a week, throwing out the BBC's schedules for BBC One and BBC Three.

However, based on Man United's 7-1 thrashing of AS Roma in the Champions League last night at Old Trafford (8-3 on aggregate), and the fact that Watford have only won a single match from their last four, it's highly unlikely that The Doctor and Martha will be replaced by Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo.