Gerrard is a hypocrite, he says hates divers but he takes every oppurtinity to dive as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I

After a night of nachos, corndogs, white zinfandel and Jim Beam, a few of the words might be wrong, but this is how ED heard it:

This football season has had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. One thing that is on Early Doors's mind this morning is a man who plies his trade at Anfield.

He's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to argue with a referee except for one thing - Steven George Gerrard is a massive, shameless diver.

He was born just a generation after Spurs' last championship, at a time when there were bubble perms and tight, shiny shorts, when Manchester United couldn't win the league for two reasons - because Dave Sexton was their manager and because they were mostly pissed.

And this morning, I think about all that he's seen during his time in the Liverpool midfield - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times he was told that he couldn't be quite so blatant, and when he pressed on undeterred and won a dodgy penalty: Yes he can.

At a time when diving was seen as the preserve of the foreigners and English players were meant to be honest, he tumbled over, yelled out, and simulated contact. Yes he can.

When there was despair on the terraces and the Champions League final was slipping away, he saw an opportunity to throw himself to the ground in front of a bemused Gattuso, giving his team a new sense of common purpose. Yes he can.

When Liverpool struggled at Bramall Lane, when they were kicked and harrassed by Sheffield United, he somehow turned a scuffed shot into a match-winning penalty and Rafa Benitez's bacon was saved. Yes he can.

Warnock exploded, and yet he stood firm. He faced up to danger and dived again in the return fixture at Anfield. He converted the spot-kick and the Blades went down. Yes he can.

When the goals flew past our national team goalkeeper and tyranny threatened our Euro 2008 hopes, he was there to fling himself to the ground against Hungary and Andorra, and McClaren was saved. Yes he can.

He was there for the conning of Friedel at Blackburn, the mugging of Bolton. When he himself preached to the people that diving was "ruining the game". Yes he can.

Hibbert barely touched him, Clattenburg sent the Evertonian off, and Merseyside was connected by a sense of disbelief. And last night, against Atletico Madrid, he leapt into Mariano Pernia and rolled on the floor, because after 10 years in professional football, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, he knows how skulduggery can change a game's outcome. Yes he can.

Readers, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to come. So this morning, let us ask ourselves - if Cristiano Ronaldo should live to see the next century; if Emmanuel Adebayor should be so lucky to get away with it as long as Steven George Gerrard, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our referees' whistles back to work and open doors of opportunity for our divers; to restore parity when we are trailing and promote the cause of cheating; to honour the legacy of Klinsmann, Maradona and Franny Lee and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that if we are shameless enough, we might just get a decision; that while we clutch our shins in mock agony, we hope, and where our cynicism is met with doubt, and people tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of modern sport:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless Stevie G, and may God Bless the gullible referees of the world.

I don't think that's something a referee can say to be honest, quick free-kicks are part of the game.

Gerrard is a hypocrite, he says hates divers but he takes every oppurtinity to dive as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I

Wow. We have a new president, and Chelsea get cored by Roma. I'd say it was a good day in the neighborhood. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

What? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

(IMG:http://tinypic.info/files/x0xwb7kn3h7tnnz6gkq5.gif) Fishdoll alert: psst, zd. Rosetti is refereeing the Arsenal game.

Am looking at the lineups now. Couple of odd choices in the Real-Juve game. Heinze as CB is one (I know Pepe failed a late fitness test but surely they've got someone better than Heinze) and Tiago on for Juve is another (Tiago apparently gave an interview a few days ago in which he said that if he wasn't given more starts, he'd leave Juve).

(Acid, Fishdoll could tell you where he got the smiley from. But then he'd have to kill you.)