David Beckham's Big American Debut and ESPN

As a weekend warrior who still pulls on his boots and plays the beautiful game every Sunday, I can't wait to see David Beckham's Major League Soccer debut on Saturday night, June 21. Beckham, who left Real Madrid to play for the LA Galaxy (in a deal is worth more than $250 million in salary and commercial endorsements -- about $1 million a week -- and is "thought to be the biggest in sporting history") has never been one of my favorite players, nor do I think he'll do that much to raise the profile or quality of play in the MLS by himself, but having a player of his experience, caliber and international stature is certainly a step in the right direction. ESPN is plans to pull out all the stops for the former England captain when the Galaxy faces off against Chelsea F.C. of the English Premier League at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. From the Hollywood Reporter:

ESPN's coverage will kick off at 6 p.m. EDT with "SportsCenter" and an extra half-hour at 7 p.m. that will focus exclusively on Beckham. It will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by "David Beckham: New Beginnings," an hourlong documentary about the soccer star. A half-hour pregame show will be hosted by Rob Stone and analyst Julie Foudy.

The match begins at 9 p.m. on ESPN with play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien plus analysts Eric Wynalda and Tommy Smyth and sideline reporter Allen Hopkins. ESPN said there will be 19 cameras, including a skycam, robotic goal cams and super slo-mo shots. There also will be a camera isolating Beckham's actions during the match as well, which will be available on ESPN360.com.

In celebration of the match (and the upcoming Spice Girls reunion), here's Becks and Posh getting interviewed by none other than Ali G. Enjoy.