I was at BigSoccer.com yesterday, reading the only thing worthwhile on the site, Dan Loney's blog.

By chance I happened to see another blog by Bill Archer who happened to have the Euro 2008 commercials that ESPN is using to promote the tournament. I'm pretty much stealing his links and posting them in my own blog for your viewing pleasure.

I'm really impressed with these commercials. For the first time, it seems like ESPN is catering to soccer fans, and not Joe Football fan or Bob Baseball fan.

Greece

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In the past week, this commercial for Nike has made its debut. Guy Ritchie directed it, and it's brilliant.

In honor of the brilliance, here are my other favorite soccer commercials of all time.

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After Landon completed his hat trick for LA on Saturday, the Chivas bench was greeted by this.

If you don’t like me jumping to celebrate, then don’t let me score--Landon Donovan

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There's only one team in LA! We beat the scum 5-2 last night. It was a good game, and while it was 2-2 with 15 minutes left, all the fans knew more Galaxy goals were coming. Not only was the match significant because we whipped the Goats, but it was the first time in a long time the team looked so good. We have a system, confidence on the ball, and heart. A lot of Galaxy fans can't remember the last time we had all that at once. This combined with an epic Riot Squad performance made last night one of the most memorable in a long time.

LA's goals....This is the Landon Donovan we've wanted for the last 3 seasons. He's gotten mean and accurate.

In the world of sport there is the rivalry, where two competitors and fans with much dislike of each other compete for bragging rights. A step above the rivalry is the derby. The term isn't used that much in the USA, but in the rest of the world, the derby is as intense as sport gets.

What makes a derby different than a rivalry is proximity to opponent. Typically two teams in a derby are from the same city, and often the same neighborhood of a city. In England, you might have the North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal. Their stadiums are only a few miles apart, which seems quite far compared to the Avelleneda Derby in Buenos Aires. Racing Club and Independiente have stadiums separated by a parking lot. A Racing supporter once told me his stadium, the Juan Domingo Peron, was perfect except for one flaw. The toilet, referring to Libertadores Stadium of America, is half a mile away.

In MLS, the only true derby is between the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA, who call the same stadium home. The Galaxy owners actually own the stadium, and Chivas rents from them. There are a few other derby's in the USA. Houston and Dallas have the Texas derby. Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids have the Rocky Mountain Derby. While not exactly neighbors, their geography makes the two teams and fans really dislike each other.

As much as I despise Chivas USA and wish for them to move away and disappear, I do feel lucky that I get this special derby match a few times a year. The atmosphere in the stadium in electric. There's this buzz in the air that is unexplainable and it really gets the heart beating fast. The fans yell louder and experience higher highs and lower lows than a typical match. The players feel it, and the product on the field is very passionate and great to watch. When the derby match is played, current form and expert opinions don't matter. The result is almost never certain before the match starts. I can't wait for the Galaxy to get some revenge for last seasons results this weekend.

The match was Sunday, but I'm only getting over it now. Somehow the G's lost to the worst, most pathetic, team in the league, Toronto FC. The hardest thing about this loss was that the Galaxy played really well. For the first time since Cienfuegos retired (2003), LA was able to actually combine up the middle, down the wings, and from one side to the other. This was the LA team that I'd been missing the last four seasons.

Unfortunately, Landon Donovan blew a couple of easy, early chances that would have sealed the game by the 30th minute. Toronto scored on all three of their legit chances thanks to some lame defending. It was nice to see LA fight back and make the final score 3-2, but at the same time it was tough to watch our best looking performance in a long time end in a loss. I hope coach Ruud gets the team's head up after this one. Defending champion Houston is very beatable right now, so we can take advantage of that this weekend.

Between the time Beckham scored, and when Landon scored, I lost my voice. I'm definitely in pre-season form.

Last night was a pretty good win for the Galaxy. My hopes still aren't too high for the season, because the Earthquakes are awful and it's too early to tell if we've turned the corner. Landon Donovan played outside himself last night. For the first time in a while, he looked like he was trying. Maybe he's scared to perform poorly in front of Becks. If Landon can play like he did last night against good teams, it'll be a good season.

Here's a summary of the Galaxy roster by position.

Goalkeeper: Last year Joe Cannon saved the Galaxy's scalps so many times, that the fans became ungrateful. He is really good, and it's unfortunate that we lost him so San Jose. His backup, Steve Cronin makes me more uncomfortable than the hairy Europeans who stand to close to you in their Speedo at the beach. Cronin is simply not good. His backup, Josh Wicks, impressed me more during the pre-season.

Defense: If this was 2002, we'd be unbeatable. In 2008, our back line is a little bit slow, but experience should negate that. Chris Klein will line-up on the right. Abel Xavier and Greg Vanney will be in the middle. On the left, we'll have options from some young left-sided players. In the pre-season, it was easy to see the back line come together as a unit and improve each game. I hope every stays healthy because we're not deep in defense.

Midfield: Coach Ruud is putting Becks on the right side. That's where he's played for the last 10 years, so it must be a good spot for him. In the middle is still a bit of a mystery. It could be Landon, if we play a 4-3-3. It could be Alvaro Pires with Landon in a 4-4-2. It could be Pires and Tudela if Landon plays at forward. On the left, we again have a few choices of mostly untested young players. Our left side could really suck again this season. Or it could be a fresh change.

Forwards: Carlos Ruiz is back, and seems ready to score 20 goals. We all know he can, especially with Beckham and Landon feeding him. Whether he will get injured or slump is the issue that remains to be seen. I will consider his acquisition a failure if he doesn't bag 20 goals in all competitions this season. Alongside fish will be either Landon, Allen Gordon, Edson Buddle, Ely Allen or Bryan Jordan. The last two are young guys new to the league who really impressed me in pre-season. From glimpses of Ely's play, he has excellent technique and a legit soccer brain. Buddle and Gordon pretty much have this season to prove they're not worthless, or they'll be out of the team and possibly out of MLS.

Overall, we're lacking a bit in the midfield. Even with Beckham there, we still need a player to conduct the game with the ball at his feet. Pires didn't show much of that in pre-season. Vagenas is awful and could never do that. Landon is the only one I'd trust in that role.

I also don't like our lack of 1v1 dribblers. If passing is your only option to break down defenses for ninety minutes, it's easy to predict every move you'll make. We need someone who can beat a defender and force the other team's back line to adjust and make mistakes.

Our attacking players have a lot of potential to score many goals this season. For the most part, everyone is fast, skillful, and a handful for any defense. There shouldn't be a single match where we only muster 2 shots on goal, which was common over the last few seasons.