Looking at Other Pro Soccer Leagues

I've been checking out the Internet a little to see how the American-based MLS professional soccer league stacks up against other professional leagues across the world.  I was surprised to find it up in the rankings...in 12th place on one site and even in 7th on another.  The top leagues are clearly Barclay's English Premier League, La Liga (in Spain), and the German Bundesliga.  Having experienced a string of exciting FIFA World Cup matches (most of which did NOT feature the U.S. team), I have joined a growing group of Americans more interested in watching soccer beyond the once-every-four-years scope of the World Cup.  I have seen Barclay's shown in the past on one of the sports networks, the MLS regular season is currently ongoing, and the Spanish-language Univision shows some other leagues at different times (usually on weekends).  I'd like to become more familiar with the various teams in the biggest leagues...as well as those in the MLS.  Just the other day, the MLS Houston and New York teams had a good, close game that went back and forth.  I'm looking forward to more...

It seems that the European pro soccer leagues run from around August to May.  Apparently, the Americans stage their play earlier in order to get a jump on the American football season, which still draws by far the greatest interest among U.S. sports fans...