So, you want to be a football superstar...

Maybe it's not quite as desirable as some other, less glamorous jobsTake, for example, working the grill at a fine fast food establishment of international notoriety. No one threatens your physical well-being there if you perform poorly because the outcome is supposed to be terrible.

"Handsome Man" David Beckham has sold a lot of things in his day on either side of the Atlantic, watches, fancy-pants underwear, fast cars, but these new Burger King smoothies are something we might actually be able to afford.
Given his benching by Bruce Arena this weekend put money on Becks sipping on one of these on the sidelines if he's there again this week.

Man City's YouTube channel asks if this is the "worst shot ever?" But that isn't really a fair question considering the fact that Nigel De Jong blasted this ball into the trees as a tribute to Charlie Adam's effort against Cardiff in the Carling Cup final shootout. I mean, that had to be what he was doing, right?

TweetLA Galaxy midfielder and former England captain David Beckham is the star of the show in a new Burger King advert. Ok, so the acting is diabolical, but hey, on this cold Spring morning, Beckham's 31 seconds in front of the camera brought a wry smile on the lips of In The Stands' editor-in-chief AA [.

With so many Spanish clubs in massive amounts of debt, they're being forced to get creative in finding new streams of revenue. Sevilla have already proven to be innovators in sucking some extra cash away from their fans by allowing them to buy the placement of a tiny photo of themselves in the number on the back of their favorite player's shirt.

Every transfer window comes to an end and that end is usually a tremendous, over-analyzed, mess of boring idiocy. There's reporters stretching guesses and rumors into a hostage situation worthy of live coverage, Harry Redknapp giving interviews through his car window like he's struggling to order a Whopper at the Burger King drive-thru, roving bands of street urchins loitering outside stadiums and, above all, mass confusion over player movements that often don't even happen.

Joys of Tumblr: The Illustrated Ray Hudson

1. "Burger King boys Getafe say ‘I'll have fries with this' tonight."
2. "[Real Madrid has] a great recipe but it's got to bring the bun out of the oven. It's got to be a nice cake in the trophy room this year."

Anyone who has been following AFR long enough knows that we're Ray Hudsonites.

So finally we've gotten this game out of the way. After Madrid's Burger King Boys (Getafe) knocked the wind off the sails of Barcelona, opening up a SIX (6!) point lead between us and them, the trolling from Cule trash talkers seems to have gone on overdrive (check out the last few posts at RMFB) – pushing the pre-clasico fever a couple of days too early.

Earlier this week we discussed the ongoing efforts at the MLS ticket sales center. Today we would take our semi-regular look at ticket promotions around the league. We'll start in Columbus, where the Crew are offering a contest promotion in conjunction with car rental giant Thrifty. Thrifty is the official airport parking partner of the team and they are offering a sweepstakes type promotion that provides fans the chance to win 12 tickets and a suite to a future Crew event.

In January, we reviewed a Turnkey Sports poll about MLS' fans loyalty to league and team sponsors. In short, the poll found that fans of MLS were more cognizant of the brands that invest in the league when compared to the other major sports. Yet later that we week, we also said the following: A close look at the SBJ/Turnkey poll reveals some glaring absences in the universe of MLS Sponsors.

The big weekend story for MLS fans was the combine in Fort Lauderdale. The most notable sponsor name at the combine is adidas, the league Players, coaches, league personnel and other descended on the city for a couple of days of scouting, mingling and more. Perhaps most notable are the waves of soccer agents who attend the games, stake out the hotels and approach players with an eye towards securing unaffiliated athletes for their roster.