David Beckham has announced he will be retiring from soccer after his current season with French team Paris Saint-Germain wraps.

The 38-year-old soccer star told The Guardian that he is thankful to PSG for giving him the opportunity to continue, adding “now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level.” Beckham also mentioned he is honoured to represent England both “on and off the pitch.”

“I want to thank all my teammates, the great managers that I had the pleasure of learning from,” he said. “I also want to thank the fans who have all supported me and given me the strength to succeed.”

If we can’t admire him as he runs up and down the pitch, here’s to hoping Beckham chooses to dedicates his time to his underwear modelling career.

A lot of little boys picture themselves scoring a touchdown in a huge stadium with the roar of a cheering crowd in the background. And with the help of the Nebraska Huskers, 7-year-old Jack Hoffman got to live that dream.

Hoffman is a cancer patient who has been close to the team’s running back, Rex Burkhead, since last season, and he scored a 69-yard touchdown for his heroes in their annual Red-White spring game yesterday.

This is such a touching gesture by the team and an amazing opportunity for Jack and his family.  Watch the video of his big moment and try to hold back the flood of tears that will inevitably build up behind your eyes:

In The Big Bang Theory Leonard tries to impress Penny one time by showing off his football knowledge at her Super Bowl party. Unfortunately, his late night readings of Wikipedia didn’t pay off and he ended up sounding a little too forced. What he really needed was Hank (weirdly known as Hand Egg) from vlogbrothers to explain the importance of the game to him.

In his newest vlog, Hank goes into why an 11-minute game is popular enough for us to sit in front of the television for hours. He shares some pretty fascinating statistics, including this doozy: The average American spends 511 hours in front of the television annually which adds up to 12 full time works weeks, per adult, per year. Yikes!!

Comedians Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd were called in to pitch their ideas for Samsung’s Big Game ad for The Next Big Thing, but ran into some hurdles. Namely, the commercial will be airing during The Super Bowl but they’re not actually allowed to say Super Bowl on television (trademarking and stuff).

The guys came up with some creative solutions but I’m not sure anyone will understand them.

Jimmy Kimmel — he of the “I Bought My Kids Horrible Back to School Outfits” and “I Sprayed My Dad With a Hose” challenges — asked viewers to submit videos of them hugging their TV during the big football game.

Kimmel asked them to hug the screen during a crucial moment of the game and not let go until everyone was screaming. Unfortunately there were no crucial moments of the game because Alabama had it wrapped up in the first three minutes, but he still got about 1000 submissions of people flipping out.

I’d like to see him issue the same challenge but during some horrible finale like The Bachelor to see if the reaction is any different. How would you react?

Watch it here

Minnesota reporter Lee Valsvik took one for the team on live television when she was pummelled by a dude with a football. She was interviewing a restaurant mixologist for the KARE 11 Saturday show and asked him about playing football on the rooftap patio. He threw the football to a nearby friend who charged the reporter and accidentally (we’re hoping accidentally) tackled her. The last thing you hear? The reassuring ”I’M OKAY!”

Here’s one from the archives: A fan dressed as a referee ran onto the field and stopped a football game between the UCLA Bruins and the Arizona Wildcats. Once the supposed “ref” strips off his shirt, madness ensues and a whole bunch of the players behind the stands come out and brawl with each other. The funny thing is, the cameras won’t show the streaker — but it doesn’t really matter because he’s just the catalyst to the madness.

Kansas City Chiefs’ safety Eric Berry is absolutely terrified of horses. The poor guy flipped out when Warpaint, the team’s horse mascot trotted out during a recent game.

“I’ll wait ’til the horse pass,” Berry says in the clip below upon seeing the mascot. ”I don’t mess with horses, bro. He might come over here and throw a tantrum.”

Turns out, an irrational fear of horses is a real condition called equinophobia, which draws anxiety, nausea and crying when confronted with the animal.

He’s not the only one. Kristen Stewart discussed her fear of horses while filming Snow White and the Huntsman. According to Huffington Post, the fear stemmed from a riding injury she sustained as a kid.

After the Giants World Series victory turned rowdy in San Francisco, rioters on McAllister and Larkin jumped on a couple stalled buses, trashing the inside and hitting the sides. But there was one dude who just WASN’T FEELING IT. He sat in the back of the bus, completely unimpressed with the shenanigans  probably texting his friend about his miserable night: “and now these dumbass rioters are monkeying around on my bus because of some football game.”

Apparently everyone outside noticed his lack of celebratory and destructive spirit so they started taking photos until the lights went out.

revelers celebrating the Giants World Series victory turned rowdy. Poor guy! He’s the most mature guy out there.

Watch it here

Talk about Football gymnastics!  While a lot of people are arguing over whether this is staged or not, it’s still pretty impressive to see a football player pulling some theatrics just to get that touchdown.

Think your parents are bad? This guy takes soccer WAY to seriously. He takes his best shot while his toddler stands in net. Am I a terrible person for watching this over and over again? lol! Yep, I’m going to hell…

I don’t watch basketball but this play was creative enough to get my attention. The guys from the Pride of Iowa weren’t sure if they were playing football or basketball for a second at their senior all star game, but it all worked out in their favour by the end.

See, this is something I might do by accident, but at least it was all planned out in their case.

Looks to me, this might just be the song of the summer…or not.

Remember Friday? That annoying yet catchy song that turned Rebecca Black into an internet phenom for all the wrong reasons?

Well, there may just be just another song that will make you forget all about it.

The Stack Boys, a young rap group of prepubescent boys, has released a song and music video called “Snapbacks”, dedicated to…you guessed it, snapback caps.

With poor auto-tuning, a ton of “woos”, and some really bad video effects from the Photobooth option on a Mac, music fans will be shaking their heads once they hear this “rap” song.

With lyrics like, “I’m listening to people sounding stupid talking about stuff like drugs and acting like a thug/and I’m thinking “Stop!” you don’t make sense/”, all I can think is: How old are these kids?!

Maybe they should go outside and play. Because this “dope” music video might be something they’ll regret in the future.

Leave it to an actor to break a story before a journalist. “Parks & Recreation’s” Rob Lowe just tweeted that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will retire this year.

How Rob Lowe discovered this story, we don’t know. But we love him for trying to keep up-to-date with all things sports.

Rob is friends with Colts owner Jim Irsay. USA Today also adds that Rob’s is the first person Irsay followed on Twitter, before the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell. So perhaps Rob just leaked some insider info without realizing it!

The Manning family, however, is claiming Rob’s tweets are incorrect. Peyton’s father Archie Manning told ESPN “he ain’t retiring. I think he would’ve told me!”

Since landing the role of Finn on the hit show Glee, everyone wants a piece of Cory Monteith, even football players.

CTV explains the Chairman of the Safeway Grey Cup Festival Parade has appointed Cory as the Grand Marshall taking place around the end of November in his home province of British Columbia.

What exactly is a Grand Marshall, you ask? Well, we don’t really know! We do know it’s the highest honorary postion at a parade. Maybe Cory will be donning a football uniform while holding a baton?

Cory released a statement saying: “I love any excuse to come home and this is a thrilling one.”

It looks like Entourage producer Mark Wahlberg stopped talking to animals long enough to make a new comedy pilot!

The project, called Home Game, was purchased by mega network CBS and should launch into production soon. The show is loosely based on the life of the show’s co-producter, Superbowl vet and NFL pro Mark Schlereth.

Sports! Comedy! Together! Very inventive Mr. Wahlberg. Say hi to your mother for me, ok?

Any thoughts on the new pilot? Is this a money grab on Wahlberg’s part or do you think the show actually stands a chance?

The pig skin never looked so good

I’ve never been a huge fan of football (American football for those reading overseas). I never enjoyed playing it in the real world, I never enjoyed watching it. But playing it digitally was always a blast. My first Madden experience was on my original Gameboy in 1996, and would you believe it spoke? Like real audible words!

Now, before I dive into the game, I wanted to point something out. Madden 10 is not for someone who doesn’t understand the finer details of football. You can get by with basic knowledge, and with the help of the Madden quiz, practice, and the virtual trainer included in the title, you can pick it up very quickly. Just don’t expect to buy the game, read the manual and kick ass online. Read more…

David Beckham’s success in Milan will not last much longer. According to perezhilton.com, Beckham will be returning to Los Angeles on March 9.

Following a highly publicized trade from the LA Galaxy to the AC Milan, perezhilton.ca reports that 33-year-old Beckham will be returning to Los Angeles once his loan deal expires in March. Beckham has been performing exceptionally well in Milan, scoring twice in five games for the Italian team. He signed a five-year contract with LA Galaxy in 2007, but had earlier expressed interest in staying on with Milan if they would offer the MLS side substantial money for the trade. The AC Milan was given until Friday to offer the money that Los Angeles specified, but no offer was made.

Tim Leiweke, chief executive of Galaxy owners AEG told the LA times: “We received an offer. It was rejected. We need to end the circus and the zoo.”

In the crazy, testosterone — driven world of sports — shit happens. And just as often as shit happens, boneheaded broadcasters will spend eternity demonizing and chastising incidents which, for the players involved, were in the heat of the moment? and for the broadcasters, in the heat of their cushy seats in the press box.

Case and point: Sunday?s World Cup finale.

Why the random leap into the deep end of World Cup madness? I can?t stand by as Zinedine Zidane?s good name is sullied from one headbutt that was, although ill-advised, in the heat of the moment.

This happens all the time. Many great players, including Michael Jordan, have lost their cool in crucial games due to trash-talking defenders. If you talk trash (yes, I?m looking at you, Gary Payton), you have to understand there is a chance that you?re going to get a fresh fist across the noggin — or in the case of soccer players, a headbutt in your chest.

The difference between the sports? If a guy gets cheeky with you in basketball, hockey or American football, you fight back when that first punch is thrown — and the referees get involved to defuse the situation. In soccer, however, the slightest gust of air from an opposing team member?s flailing limb sends these poor gentlemen flying to the ground like sacks of grass-loving potatoes. Not to say Zidane?s headbutt wasn?t vicious, but that poor Italian defender (Materazzi) looked as if he?d just been run over by the Juggernaut.

It?s also important to establish this isn?t speculation. It?s clear upon reviewing the incident that there was indeed a heated conversation between the two players, and if you look closely enough, it appears as if Materazzi actually gives Zidane a ?purple nurple? before the headbutt counter-offensive.

It has also been reported by FOXSports.com, that Materazzi may have used a racial slur which provoked the headbutt. Even with this news surfacing, the headlines across the globe are filled with words like ?regrettable? and ?stupid? smeared across bolded headlines. If Materazzi did indeed racially offend and nipple-twist Zidane — I?d say the headbutt was almost justifiable. He?d be lucky that?s all that happened! Just try twisting Charles Oakley?s nipple and see what happens!

I also have to vent about how annoying it was to watch Italy pack it in on defense. From halftime on, the ball was on Italy?s side the majority of the time. France was really working hard on offense, and it?s no wonder? Italy had almost every fielded player playing defense! Every time France would make a move, that one white shirt would be flanked by three or four blue shirts. The strategy became clear: Italy wanted no part of this being an exciting game with goals and the like. It was unlikely there would be a single goal coming out of half time. All of Italy?s players were defending, so France couldn?t score. And as such, Italy wouldn?t be able to score as they had but one player on offense! Doesn?t that bother anyone other than me? Sure it?s perfectly legal, but Italy might as well have jumped on each other?s backs and constructed a human wall in front of the goal.

It?s like that annoying kid you used to play Mortal Kombat with. He?d habitually choose Sub-Zero, and his move repertoire would consist of two things: freeze then uppercut, freeze then uppercut, freeze then uppercut. Sure it?s perfectly legal, but it?s cheap as hell and pretty damn annoying. I commend those of you, like France, who took the Johnny Cage approach and wielded a more balanced attack.

The fact is France outplayed Italy in the second half of that game. And just think of all the energy the French team expended on offense trying to crack Italy?s Sub-Zero defense. It?s no wonder studs like Thierry Henri weren?t available for the final shootout.

Italy has two things to thank for their World Cup final victory: Firstly, their cheap tactics on defense (to which I don?t accept the excuse ?that?s the way they play, they play tough defense.? France also played superior defense and picked at the ball all game. The difference, however, is they also put effort into their offense. And the second and most prevalent factor in Italy?s ?victory?? Luck. And when the Vatican is in your country, it should come as no surprise that luck would be on your side.