Beckham on Ellen Today at 4pm

Galaxy midfielder David Beckham will be on today season premier of the ellen degeneres show on NBC Channel 4 (LA at 4pm PT). Be sure to tune in.

Here's what Ellen's website has to say about it along with a preview clip...

"It's finally here! I'm so excited! Today is my Season 7 Premiere! I've spent all summer getting ready for it, and you won't be disappointed! Who better to join me for the big day then the sexy, the suave, the frequently shirtless DAVID BECKHAM?"

Enjoy.

This Week Inside the Galaxy

Join us as we look back at the SuperClasico triumph over Chivas USA, look ahead to the Galaxy Foundation's annual Day on the Links and catch up with the newest members of the LA Galaxy Youth Academy. All that and more, This Week Inside the Galaxy.

Rest for the Weary

Heading out of town, spending time with the family, hanging out at the beach, relaxing and catching up on some sleep.

These were the words that were echoing through the Galaxy locker room after this morning's quick training session at The Home Depot Center.

The players were all broken up into small groups of four or five and sent to different corners of the field where four different drills were taking place. There was a finishing drill, a possession drill, a passing drill and a fitness drill. Each group spent about 15 minutes at each drill before grabbing some water and moving onto the next station.

After one circuit, the session was over and the guys were able to start thinking about their first weekend off since the end of March. Since that last weekend off, following the season opener against D.C. United, the Galaxy have played 23 league games, three friendlies, an Open Cup Play-In Game and completed countless training sessions, leaving the club where it is currently; in second place in the Western Conference and in line for their first postseason berth since 2005.
It's been a lot of hard work from each and every player, coach and staff member, so we think it's safe to say that these guys truly deserve some time off. That is exactly what they will get, with the full squad being given Saturday, Sunday and Monday off before returning to training on Tuesday to begin preparations for FC Dallas in earnest.

A look at the standings show the top 11 teams are separated by just nine points with only eight playoff spots up for grabs. As you can see from Larry Morgan's article on MLSnet.com, guys are excited about the team's chances heading into the stretch run. But with everything so tight, every game counts, as a point gained and dropped here or there could have serious ramifications. Four of LA's final six games are against the teams that are in that group of 11 so every game will be a battle, meaning that a little bit of rest now could go a long way toward the team's success.

Finally, as you all already know, the blog staff goes everywhere and anywhere that the team does, so like them this is our first weekend off and we plan to take full advantage of it. We will still have a new episode of This Week Inside the Galaxy on Saturday, but outside of that, we will not be posting here until the team returns on Tuesday.

So enjoy your long weekend, check back on Saturday for This Week Inside the Galaxy and we will see you all on Tuesday.

Fantasy Focus

While things continued as usual on the field for the Galaxy today, training and continuing to prepare for next week's game against FC Dallas, the off the field banter has picked up significantly between the players, staff and some of the coaches.

What's the reason you ask.

Well, with the impending arrival of fall and the NFL season, fantasy football talk dominates the locker room...that is unless a former Galaxy player does something unimaginable in a Cup Final.

Most of the guys are involved in at least one league and everyone takes the game to different levels. Some are just casual fans who like to pick their favorite players, while others will pour through every mock draft, email questions to Matthew Berry at ESPN.com. Some leagues simply write out their draft results,while some order color-coded, pre-printed stickers for their draft boards.
(Editor's note, all draft board photos were cropped to protect the innocent on some truly terrible drafting...with the exception of members of the blog staff. We're going to win it all of course!)

With that said, just like on the field, all the guys are playing for just one thing.
A trophy (congratulations to former Galaxy trainer Ivan Pierra for having one of the trophies named in his honor) and the bragging rights that come along with it.

We know that there is at least one draft that still hasn't happened, so for all you fantasy football fans out there, what tips and sleepers do you have that we can pass along to some of the guys?

Or are we geeks for even asking?

Finally, for those of you who are craving some Galaxy on field news today, check on the latest from Larry Morgan at lagalaxy.com on Edson Buddle's road to recovery.

Working it out

Despite no games this weekend, the Galaxy were back out on the training field at The Home Depot Center on Wednesday. Most of the media in attendance focused Sean Franklin and Edson Buddle, who continue to work their way back to match fitness after being out for 13 weeks and seven weeks, respectively.

After working on tactical and defensive drills, the coaches finished the day with a couple of fitness drills. Some of the pairings were interesting, to say the least: A.J. DeLaGarza (5-foot-9, 145 pounds) with Omar González (6-foot-5, 210 pounds), Chris Klein (midfielder) with Tony Sanneh (defender) and Cobi Jones (Age 39) with Dave Sarachan (54). In one of the last races, Sarachan, to everyone's amazement and amusement, got an early jump on Jones and almost pulled off the upset.

Here are a few pictures from today's training session...

Special thanks to Walter Martinez of Telemundo 52 for sharing some of his photos from today's training session. To view more of his photos, visit their site.

Buddle and Franklin Take Part in Training

For the first time since their respective injuries, both Edson Buddle and Sean Franklin took part in training today. With many of the senior players who have played a lot of late given a day in the gym and with the training staff, Buddle and Franklin took the opportunity to take the next step on their road to full health and match fitness.

Both players came through the session without issue (though we're willing to bet that they'll be sore tomorrow) and will continue their rehab work in the coming days and weeks.

Larry Morgan at lagalaxy.com caught up with Franklin after training to see how the reigning Rookie of the Year felt after his first day back.

Click here to read the full story.

In other news today, Chris Birchall was removed from the Trinidad and Tobago squad for their upcoming qualifiers in Honduras and at home to the U.S. because of nagging hamstring injury that was exacerbated over the weekend. He has elected to remain in Los Angeles to get treatment from the Galaxy training staff in an attempt to be ready to play against FC Dallas on the 12th.

Honda SuperClasico Reaction

Some spoke in the locker room, others kept their comments to 140 characters or less on Twitter.

Here's a sampling of what players and some members of the media had to say about the Honda SuperClasico...

pecom_sports: Beckham's goal gives Galaxy 1-0 win over Chivas USA: David Beckham scored in the 80th minute to lead the LA Galaxy to a 1-0 win over Chivas USA on Saturday. http://tinyurl.com/lacgt3
Alecko Eskandarian: Helllllllllll yea!!! HUGE win for us. Chivas played really well, but I'm stoked we got the 3 pts and that Becks shut up some of his critics.
Bryan Jordan: Great win tonight!!! I think I missed a few fan autographs tho, sorry to those I missed, I'll try to get u next time!
ACBrigade: http://twitpic.com/ftnf7 - the cup is home and safe where it belongs... WITH DADDY!
LAsoccerblog: Dunivant on Padilla: "He came from behind and sent a message and I let him know I wasn't going to take it. Ultimately, we had the last laugh."
Grant Wahl: Huge game-winning goal by Beckham keeps Galaxy rolling. It’s all about the soccer right now in LA, which is a good thing.
Chris Jenkins: Just caught up on @LAGalaxy -Chivas on DVR. Nice Beckham goal = fan forgiveness?

Here's audio of Bruce's postgame press conference and what some of the players had to say inside the locker room after the match....

Bruce...
Stefani...
Todd...
Ricketts...
Birchall...
Klein...
Beckham...
Landon...