Everybody and their mother seem to be speculating about David Robert Joseph Beckham’s loan to AC Milan in January. Is he betraying Galaxy fans? Is he leaving Major League Soccer for good? Is Posh Spice pulling strings behind the scenes?

There are plenty of assumptions about what the midfielder’s motives are without looking at the big picture: This move is great for the MLS.

When he leaves in January, the team, the league and Beckham are going to get a healthy dose of needed exposure during the MLS off-season, and the best part is that the Galaxy are getting paid for it.

Throwing Becks in the middle of the AC Milan roster will make him relevant again, suiting up next to the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho and Maldini. Instead of falling into obscurity for the next six months he’ll be back in the papers, on the screen and, maybe if he’s lucky, on the pitch.

The worry among many commentators is that Beckham’s would betray Galaxy fans by playing for a different team. However fans here in the United States see it differently.

A few years ago I was on the set of what was Fox Football Friday talking to Keith Costigan and he was perplexed at how I could be a fan of Liverpool and wear a Thierry Henry Arsenal jersey. He commented that in England I couldn’t get away with that. 

That’s fundamental difference between sports fans in the United States and fans in abroad. As much as we love our favorite team and as passionate as we might be, it’s perfectly normal for us back other players and other clubs on the side.

Beckham’s loan to AC Milan will have little effect on Galaxy fans. Hell, you could probably sell the red and black Rossoneri jerseys at the Home Depot Center next season.

The other fear, that he's going leave the MLS and never comeback, is unfounded. Beckham has played-out every contract he’s signed and it’s highly unlikely that he would decide to spurn his gigantic performance-based contract with the Galaxy.

In fact "performance" is probably the main force that will drive Beckham back to the MLS next spring; in his career he has won the league title with every team he has been under contract with and, last-time I checked, he still has some work to do with the Galaxy.

Soccer commentators seem to have short memories. It was a little over year ago that, after being told he wouldn’t be re-signed at Real Madrid and then subsequently benched. Beckham refused to stop training. Eventually he worked his way back on the field and helped push Real to the La Liga title. That doesn’t sound like someone who would cash-out after an unsuccessful season and a half in LA.

I’m no Beckham fan, but the relentless bashing he takes in the press is pretty ridiculous. His track record, passion and contract all point to him returning to the Galaxy, but all you hear are the arguments about him wanting to sell jerseys and pursue his wife’s fashion interests.

Luckily for all the naysayers, come next year when a fit and in-form Beckham returns to the Galaxy, all the attention will be on the MLS.

I love watching Thierry Henry play as much as the next fan. Hell, I still have an old Arsenal jersey with his number on the back (even though I think Arsenal are pants). But the rumor that Henry is headed to the US – now to Miami??? – is off-the-charts bullshit.

The Rumor: Someone at Bleacher Report is convinced that the French striker is "on his way out" and is headed to some imaginary Miami-based MLS team (that doesn't exists yet) because someone at Barcelona is in preliminary talks with Major League Soccer over an expansion franchise that at the earliest would begin in 2011.

The article then backs this up with an ambiguous quote from Henry that ran in the New York Times in 2007.

First, the idea that Miami will get one of the two remaining MLS expansion franchises is highly unlikely. Miami isn't on the short-list of cities the MLS is interested in expanding to, which include Atlanta, Las Vegas, Montreal, a second team for New York, Ottawa, Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia. This is also compounded by the fact that the city already failed with an MLS franchise, the Miami Fusion, who folded in 2002 due to dwindling attendance.

So hypothetically, if this "Miami Barcelona Deportivo" team actual became an MLS franchise in 2011 – and here's the tricky part – to get Henry from Barcelona they would need to build a time-machine to go back to 2008 and transfer Henry, who by the article's own admission, is on his way out of Barcelona.

The Truth: Yes, he's probably leaving Barca in January, and someday Henry may come play in the US, but it's a small chance that will happen anytime soon and practically a zero percent chance it will happen in Miami. Henry is rumored to be headed to a handful of teams, the most likely of which are New Castle, Manchester City or somewhere in London. If he leaves Barca he's probably headed to the Premiership because his wife (pictured right) and daughter live in England.

Then again I could be wrong. Maybe Thierry Henry wants to move an entire ocean away from his hot, English, model wife and play for an imaginary team in hurricane-prone Florida.