If this were an journalistic enterprise, and believe it or not I do have a few standards, I'm not sure I could get away with posting this bit of "news."


Luckily, this is just a blog, so I'm going to post it anyway while making sure to frame it with serious amounts of skepticism.


There are suggestions floating around that Ronaldinho might still sign for the Galaxy. In return, Milan would receive Landon Donovan.


The bar has been raised on the MLS transfer window silliness to heights never seen before.


I honestly don't what to make of this. I don't know if it has to be complete nonsense, or if it makes some sense on a weird level. If Donovan wants to go and the Galaxy want Ronaldinho to replace him, it's almost somehow conceivable. Except for the nagging problem that Milan have never once mentioned any interest in Donovan.


One of the "sources" says the price is 24 million euros and Donovan in return for Ronaldinho. That's insane. Ronaldinho's price tage was 10 million euros just recently.


The mentions of this deal are posted in languages I don't speak. I'm relying on Google Translate here, so if I'm missing some nuance, please let me know.


Meanwhile, I'm glad it's Friday.


A thanks for the heads up on this go to @jguesman. Follow him on Twitter and visit his Galaxy blog Section 108.

Landon Donovan, American soccer's poster boy, is on a whirlwind media tour. His name hit new heights for Internet buzz in the past week, and if ever an American soccer star has tickled household name status, it's now and it's Donovan.


This is new territory; the idea that an American soccer player might be fodder for talk shows and tabloids is foreign enough to be noteworthy. Donovan's star is brightest now because of the World Cup, and will likely fade over the course of the next few months. Nevertheless he's as close to the Jeters and LeBrons of the world in terms of notoriety as a footballer has ever been in the U.S.


What does this mean? Not much, probably, and those of us concerned only with how Donovan plays on the field might not care at all. Still, a cultural milestone has been reached, one that indicates that soccer may not be stuck in the blind spot of the gossip machine much longer. Freddy Adu merited a similar level of attention based purely on hype; Donovan has "earned" it mostly due to his play.


It appears, at least from my comfortable place inside the American soccer whateversphere, that everyone is taking the news that Landon Donovan might have a British baby momma in stride. Donovan's image, one of All-American athlete, hasn't suffered in the short term. There are no scathing rebukes of his behavior (which may not be rebuke-able in modern terms), and no one is bemoaning that American soccer could be hurt by the existence of a Donovan love-child.


Perhaps we've simply reached the point where, American or not, these things don't surprise us anymore. Donovan's indiscretion, if it can be labeled as such, pales in comparison to the major gaffs by his English contemporaries. Donovan is no John Terry.


The reasons why Donovan has made the gossip "big time" at Page Six and Perez Hilton may not meet the criteria of a "good thing" for American soccer, but the fact that his name is mentioned there is a sure sign that the game is reaching the masses in new ways.