From the Guardian online

The legal battle over the Carlos Tevez affair will stretch into the new year after West Ham lodged an appeal against a high court ruling in Sheffield United's favour.

Sheffield United earlier today appeared to have gained the advantage in the saga, after Mr Justice Teare granted a temporary order stopping the Hammers appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over a ruling that they had breached Premier League rules in hiring the Argentine.

But the London club have lodged an appeal against the judge's decision to allow Sheffield United to go ahead with their arbitration claim for damages over their relegation from the Premier League last season, and the matter will return to the high court for a full trial next year when Sheffield United will seek a permanent injunction to prevent West Ham appealing to the CAS.

As an attorney, I find the process fascinating.
As a West Ham fan, I find it excruciating.
As a sports fan, I find it ludicrous it has come to this: decisions made in court rooms that should be made on the field of play.

I fail to see how this can be helpful in finding a new buyer. Who wants to spend the money when there is so much uncertainty? Of course, there would probably be a provision in the sale agreement providing for an adjustment depending upon the outcome of the Sheffield matter so it may not be as big as impediment as it seems.

As for now, I linger between excitment and dread. woopee.

Ironhead

Well, that was fantastic. A win, a clean sheet, and the emergence of some real defense. No matter how hard he tried, Samuel Cisse Jackson could not get his head quite aligned to score. Reid kept knocking it in there, but James Ironhead Collins kept knocking it back out. I watched at the house with the kids crawling all over me. I wonder if they could feel how tense my body was as the clock ticked away. After an awful day of college football on Saturday, West Ham provided a great start to my Sunday. The middle of the table is crowded and the hammers have two tough ones in a row. Maybe they can make up for those losses earlier to relegation fodder and make their own case to move into the top half.

Where are they now?

From ESPN Online

A voracious appetite for birds, booze and drugs rarely complements a fruitful footballing career but Frank McAvennie, a striker who once scored goals as freely as he partied, made a genuine effort to marry the two.

. . .

West Ham fans will never forget the season of 1985-86 and he was the name on everyone's lips that season, where the Hammers achieved their best league position in a 113-year history. McAvennie scored 26 goals while part of a wonderful partnership with Tony Cottee. Yet the season he came back to East London - 1988-89 - the Irons were relegated. It was during this latter period that his love affair with the mirror and the razor blade developed.

I need cheers to awake me from this Winter slumber

The time change and early onset of darkness always gets me down for a few weeks. Add in three goals in six minutes by Everton after some beautiful football by West Ham only adds to it. I sat at the Cock n' Bull waiting on the match to start while fans of some other two teams were packed in watching their tine little match. Who is this Arsenal and Manchester United these people speak of anyway?

The pub was open at 7:30 a.m. for the early match and I headed down to get a good breakfast and watch with Buddy Tim. The Arsenal fans left happy and I have to say I felt a little better with them winning rather than Man U. I am an underdog supporter and while it is hard to consider either of those teams an underdog, Arsenal did have fewer fans in the building during the match. Most of the crowd of 45 or so left during the first half of the West Ham match and I was left alone with the bartendress and manager by the time the Hammers scored. I was on the edge of my seat for the next twenty minutes trying to will the clock to move faster. Alas, I am no Hiro and Everton scored and scored and scored again. I tabbed out after the second goal as the staff was looking to close up as soon as the match was over so they could get to the South Carolina game, but they assured me they had no problem with me sitting there until the end. After the third goal, the manager slid a Guinness in front of me and said, "This one's on me." Mighty nice for a Newcastle fan.

As for Portsmouth, there was no coverage of it anywhere in my neck of the woods. I did catch the highlights on the wrap-up show and it looked to be typically full of missed opportunities. Does a clean sheet rate as a win right now? A point is a point is a point I guess.

I don't recall any particularly pithy comments from the Everton match, but the announcers were a bit harsh about Green. There was something along the lines of "And he thinks he should be the goalie for England." It reminded me of Jerry's comment to George, "And you want to be my latex salesman?"

It appears this week's match will be on Fox which means I'll have no problem watching. Maybe the two other West Ham fans and I will get together and watch.