Happy Wednesday Spursland! Welcome to the mid-point of the week. Welcome to the final days before the Season starts. Welcome to The Final Countdown.

And now the "news"

Defoe Warns AVB He Won't Sit On The Bench-Sky Sports

That is the sign of someone with high self-confidence. The only player at your position on the team who isn't a teenager and you feel the need to demand more playing time. Oh JD, I liked your off the pitch actions more when you were dating women who I had reason to believe couldn't and/or refused to read.

Fredericks Eyeing First-Team Run While On Loan-Ealing Gazette

You go get 'em little buddy.

What's happening around SB Nation after the jump

NHL.com Burying CBA Coverage Under Old Old Old Injury News-SB Nation

If the Player want to break the owners' iron will all they really need to do is go dig up Eddie Shore's body. That guy has been dead for 27 years and is still terrifying enough that the owners will cave at the idea of him coming for them.

"The Only One" Jose Mourinho Gives Himself And Upgrade-SB Nation Soccer

Sigh, really?

A Discussion On "Due Process" And Re-Directing Your Ire-Black Shoe Diaries

Just a reminder that while cable news has moved on to covering that Paul Ryan once drove the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile, here where I am in small town Pennsylvania the ripple effects of the Jerry Sandusky scandal are still being felt very strongly. Just because CNN stops covering it doesn't mean that the story is over, that it stops changing lives, or that people are done being hurt by it.

Benzema and Ribery To Be Charged For Sleeping With 16 Year-Old Prostitute-SB Nation Soccer

Is anyone really shocked that Ribery has to pay for it?