I very much like what Arsene Wenger said about the mystery of stoppage time. Briefly, he's complaining that no one knows exactly how the referees calculate the time to be added on at the end of a game. He says that everyone should know and that there should be a clear set of guidelines explaining the matter.

There are some games that get on to television and you wish that they hadn't. They present the sport at its worst -- dull, formless, boring -- and you hope that no one at all is watching. That last requirement seemed to have been achieved at the recent Concacaf Champions League game when D.C. United played at San Juan Jabloteh.

We're not going to solve this mystery of exactly what it is that referees see when they do or not give penalty kicks. Well, not this week, anyhow. Two prime examples of mystifying calls happened over the weekend -- one penalty that wasn't given (that should have been), and one that was given (that should not have been). The comments in brackets represent my opinions, of course.

I see that goal celebrations are in trouble. Emmanuel Adebayor's performance in front of the Arsenal fans -- after he had scored against Arsenal, his old team -- has been deemed provocative and inflammatory and maybe even seditious. It so upset the Arsenal fans that they started throwing things, including a bottle that knocked out one of the security personnel.

I'm not sure how long the various MLS coaches and clubs expect their fans to put up with this. I'm talking of the decidedly scrappy soccer that the league served up over the weekend. That's an impression, of course -- my impression -- but I'll go with it.

Alongside the much-to-be-regretted rise in the status of goalkeepers, there has been an even more lamentable development in the sport of soccer. To wit: the parallel downplaying of the importance of forwards and goalscorers.

Turning on my television to watch the Dallas vs. D.C.United game on Saturday, I was immediately surprised -- shocked, even -- to see that Josh Wicks was on the field, the starting goalkeeper for D.C.

Back to the courts we go -- not the real courts, not the legal bodies, but these special quasi-legal, pseudo-legal bodies, these disciplinary bodies that the professions set up keep their own members in order.

I write in shame. My own shame, for a start -- for not being aware of a horrifying soccer story, of a dreadful murder that happened a year ago.