This week in Everton news

Even though I hate this team with the fire of a thousand suns, they're worth a post every once in a while simply because UF is a blog that believes in equal-opportunity piss-taking.

In Tim Cahill, they have their own version of Joey Barton, and David Moyes has already begun the limp mindgames that will surely plague the final 10 games of the season.

After the jump, a few paragraphs of stuff about a team that I wish didn't exist.

Tim Cahill scored a goal this weekend, and a decent one at that. In amongst his usual goal celebrations of punching out a corner flag, perhaps the best, even match for his pugilism, he showed off a neat bit of mime and crossed his arms in front of his waist, as if he were wearing handcuffs [we can all dream, can't we?]. It was a heartfelt, although perhaps ill-conceived, show of support for his brother Sean, who was jailed in January for Grievous Bodily Harm and sentences to 6 years behind bars.

According to the BBC, Cahill's brother attacked a man leaving him partially blinded, as CCTV controllers spotted him kicking the victim twice in the head as he lay on the floor in a semi-conscious state.

Tim's struggled for form since the new year and his goal on Sunday was his first since the end of December, thus giving him the opportunity to break out his show of solidarity.

The referee saw nothing wrong with it, and the FA generally only step in if it's deemed that an abusive gesture was used.

Everton defended him, and rightly so, stating that his celebration is a personal matter.

I can't blame Cahill for showing his support, a la Nelly and his magic bandage under the eye. Heck, it's not even the worst goal celebration on Merseyside after Robbie Fowler's attempt to snort the goalline a couple of years ago, and Bellamy's golf swing last season that referenced the time just the previous week that he'd attacked teammate John Arne Riise with a golf club.

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Meanwhile, David Moyes has decided to kick-off the turgid shit-talking campaign with an interview on Monday with the BBC, and his remarks that local rivals Liverpool should finish fourth in the league.

Quoth the psychological one:

"We are doing everything we can to make a fight of it but Liverpool have to be favourites, still. We have been consistent but for them fourth would be expected. The bookies are right to make them favourites."

It's simple, it's to the point, and it's quite tame.

The underdog tag is thrown around by everyone in sports, providing great drama for the media and great annoyance to the rest of us. These days, teams are dying to be at the short end of the stick in order to exceed the low expectations they deliberately set themselves. It happens all the time in the NBA and NFL, and it's generally irritating, so the fact that it's Everton doing it just amplifies the irritation factor.

I begrudgingly respect Moyes as a manager, considering the superb job he's done in bringing in a host of castoffs and rejects from far afield and molded them into a tight, efficient team. I'm not buying his underdog bollocks though. They're fourth, they're three points ahead of us, and they're not fooling anyone.

However, I will give him credit for stoking the fires early for the big derby on March 30 at Anfield, when I will surely be three sheets to the wind and cursing everything in sight whether we win, lose or draw.

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See? I can even write about Everton. It's not exciting [much like their style of play], it's not particularly fun, but it's good to know that I'm capable of doing so if it has to be done.

Now to go wash my hands.