David Beckham on his soccer career:

“If you had told me as a young boy I would have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club Manchester United, proudly captained and played for my country over one hundred times and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I would have told you it was a fantasy. I’m fortunate to have realized those dreams.”

“To this day, one of my proudest achievements is captaining my country. I knew every time I wore the Three Lions shirt, I was not only following in a long line of great players, I was also representing every fan that cared passionately about their country.”

“I’m honored to represent England both on and off the pitch. … I want to thank all my teammates, the great managers that I had the pleasure of learning from. I also want to thank the fans who have all supported me and given me the strength to succeed.”

Beckham made 115 appearances for England’s national team which is a record for a player other than a goal keeper. He has also played for the LA Galaxy and Real Madrid.

Best of luck to David in his retirement.

It’s our favorite day of the year! Besides our birthday because they give us presents then. (Photo by Steph Diorio.)

It’s 2013 now and another Puppy Bowl has come and gone. This year’s game was full of local pups doing good, girl power, and the runts coming out on top! We loved it, as usual. Here are some of the best highlights from tonight’s game:

• Sally’s run to the end zone just minutes into the game. (Her budding romance with pal Harry was charming, too!)
• This year was full of girl power, with at least four touchdowns coming from girls and little Marta winning MVP.
• Eli and Tuck, brothers who scored a touchdown together, are from the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro, New Jersey. We live in Bergen County, NJ, too! It was really exciting to see some local puppies doing so well for themselves!

The cheerleaders this year were hedgehogs. We’ve never seen hedgehogs before except for the strange blue one on the TV when our big sister Steph plays video games, so this was new and exciting for us!

Here’s a few more photos from our watch party:

Barnaby reporting the action live from our family room. (Photo by Steph Diorio.)

Louise taking in the game with her grandfather this year!

Barnaby and Louise Diorio are Steph Diorio’s beloved Old English Sheepdog puppies. They turn two years old on May 24th, 2013 and were thrilled to have the opportunity to write this article. You can find their big sister Steph writing about the Orioles, Red Sox and Stanford baseball when she’s not chasing them around.

The O’Neill Coldwater Classic is part of the ASP (Association of Pro Surfers) World Tour. This competition was one that will help decide the official world title scenarios.

If you need some motivation to get up after a long night of celebrating, I’m sure Hunter Pence could give you a “pump up” speech.  I hear they are pretty good.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WORLD CHAMPS!

NLCS MVP after the final out! BOOM!

MADNESS! CELEBRATE! PARTY! WINNING! CHAMPS! BOOM!

Welp, Theriot, who scored the game winning run in the 10th, looks like a little kid out there!

Three seasons at the Major League level.  Played one full season.  NL Rookie of the Year.  NL Comeback Player of the Year after missing majority of the 2011 season.  Likely NL MVP.  AND TWO WORLD SERIES TITLES. DANG!

 <3 Teammate love <3

PARTY!!!!!!!

Three new editions who helped bring ANOTHER title to San Francisco!

I wonder if champagne works like coffee, because I’ll need some energy after the lack of sleep.

 I mean, if Buster Posey can let it loose and have some fun, so can you!

Nick Swisher is acting creepy in the dugout.

Tim Lincecum’s pickoff attempt. Worst job ever.

(Image via Keith Allison.)

You can check out Mr. Votto live and in color Tuesday afternoon as the Reds take on the Giants at 4:30pm CT.  But until then, enjoy…

(Image via Keith Allison.)

(Image via Keith Allison.)