By Chris Wright

The following is copy-and-pasted verbatim from a Chelsea forum, in which former former youth Chelsea player Sam Tillen who now plays his football in Iceland writes candidly about his experiences as having John Terry as his club captain during his formative years.

Patrice Evra will be on the receiving end of some abuse today but I'd like to think it won't be racist abuse. Maybe I'm naive and I'm probably giving the vermin too much credit but I genuinely hope that Liverpool fans don't turn their dislike of Evra, having been lead to believe that he's a liar by the ridiculous propaganda from their club, in to something far more sinister.

Chelsea players have had a request to wear t-shirts in support of their club skipper John Terry refused by the club.

Liverpool players were criticised after their t-shirts worn during the warm-up in their last game had slogans in support of Luis Suarez who has been banned (pending appeal) for eight games for alleged racism.

One of the ploys David Stern has liked to use during the NBA lockout is blaming the agents. Stern knows that nobody likes agent. If the NBA commissioner blames the agents, the public won't have any problem with that. It's a smart idea.

"By some combination of mendacity and greed," explains Stern, "the agents who are looking out for themselves rather than their clients are trying to scuttle the deal.

So, Silent Stan is silent no more. We awake this morning to an exclusive interview in the Telegraph and fair play to them for getting it.

I suspect it's something every newspaper in the land was trying to set up but they've managed it. You might ask why it was that it didn't go out via the official site but I can see why it didn't.

It feels like the season's about to start again. We had the early season, that time when the players weren't any good and the matches were dull. Now we have a sort of unspoken season two, in which we have new and exciting players and midweek games against teams we've never seen before. It's like a second life: "okay, sorry about the first few weeks.

The English Premier League.
The greatest spectacle on this earth. Even more spectacular than Rihanna in a pair of hot pants.
It is hyped up so much you would think it was on Amphetamines.
The English media love to portray the English Premier League as the number one venue for football in the whole wide world.

Great propaganda picture from Diskin's Timbers Propoganda

Barcelona have now gone two matches without winning and according to Julián Ruiz, Barcelona are a team in crisis.

Ruiz writes in El Mundo today:

"In the second half, Barcelona were a team without spark or fluidity, a toy without batteries the team was like a deflated doll.

Barcelona have now gone two matches without winning and according to Julián Ruiz, Barcelona are a team in crisis.

Ruiz writes in El Mundo today:

"In the second half, Barcelona were a team without spark or fluidity, a toy without batteries the team was like a deflated doll.

MLSSoccer.com's video series profiling the three Cascadia teams in the runup to and execution of the 2011 SuperDraft has hit part 3. You can watch it here. It covers the first round, including the top 2 picks by VAN and POR as well as the sequence of trades for the Sounders' 11th pick.

There's one thing in particular that I think deserves highlighting.

Oh, someone took up the call I made last week - last week? I need to post more often, it was only three posts ago - about mixing sports with politics.
The Egypt Friendly and Why Politics Matter in Sports. Sounds promising. Think I'll go read it.
*three minutes later*
.