What's the best indicator of the health of the league? For non-fans, the Beckham signing earlier this month was a huge deal. But, there are actually many reasons to be optimistic about the state of Major League Soccer and its future.\

****While the recent signing of Beckham represents the highest-profile announcement to date from the 11-year-old Major League Soccer (MLS), several other recent and important developments will also impact positively on MLS and the future of US football.****

MLS headquarters has done a lot to strengthen the foundation of the league by, first, bringing in new owners, and getting stadiums built for teams. Diversifying the ownership stakes help spread risk but more importantly makes teams, like Colorado and DC United, the primary focus for the owner-operator. Stadiums help to cut costs and bring in more game-day revenue compared to leasing big stadiums, and that can only help the financial situation. With the announcement of television rights and a tournament against Mexican league teams, the league is now taking the next step to increasing its exposure and solidifying its place in the North American soccer landscape.\

For MLS die hards, these developments are re-assuring, considering its only been a few years since the league had to fold its two Florida teams. Hat tip: Sports Law Blog (Potential for good comments over there)

News to make any Firefox fan sleep a little easier at night. While Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is being installed more widely, its replacing installations of IE6.  That in and of itself shouldn't be that surprising. However, the forced upgrade to IE7 hasn't eaten into the Firefox share at all. In the US, that share is estimated at 14% by WebSideStory.

Johnston wasn't confident that Microsoft would ever be able to make inroads on Firefox's growing share. "Once someone gets used to Firefox, especially its extensions, and unless they think IE 7 or IE 8 or whatever comes in the future is so much better, they're going to stay with Firefox," says Johnston.

A new community site for soccer players and fans launched last week - Ziga-Zoga. I just registered to check it out. They have some crazy Terms of Service, I'm sure everyone will read all the legalese and abide by it. I'm not the most astute networker out there, so I'm lost on any of these "tell-us-about-your-life-and-we'll-connect-you-with-people" sites.   It doesn't look like a lot of people have joined, so I won't judge it yet. I'm a little lost of what I can do with the site. The classifieds look interesting, and you can post pictures and link to media. If you're a soccer player/parent/coach/fan, it might not hurt to join.\

We believe that our soccer family, when united, can be a powerful force for change and it is our mission to help grow and develop our community with you. Being a people-powered and bottom-up organization -- listening to our community's interests and needs above all else -- we'll be able to build an amazing support sytem for all our needs. In order to develop Ziga-Zoga from what it is today to what it will be tomorrow we'll need help from the extended soccer community. With your collective Heart, Hunger, Humility and Mind we can achieve the unthinkable together.