1. “It was only when the man sat near him in a restaurant in Berlin, three hundred miles east, that he was sure he was being followed. The rest of the Spiegel team believed that their e-mails and movements were being tracked, too. “They knew more than we would like,” Wulzinger said. When Buschmann travelled to Las Vegas to investigate the rape allegation, he saw the man again, watching from a parked Volvo…”

An enthralling New Yorker Magazine piece by Sam Knight on the man fuelling Football Leaks.

2. “I heard someone screaming my name and climbing the stairs, stamping their feet,” Pinet told French media. “It was Rocky Elsom, in a black rage, who had forced past my secretary. He was accompanied by (Tongan player) Lei Tomiki, who stayed at the door. Once in my office, Elsom looked at me, face to face and yelled, ‘My cheque! My cheque!’ I thought he was going to hit me.”

Gavin Cummiskey pulls together an array of threads to try to figure out Leinster’s 2009 hero Rocky Elsom, for the Irish Times.

3. “Özil is a vessel. Look at him before each Arsenal game and you’ll see him perform the dua, the Muslim prayer, head bowed, palms turned upward to the sky in a gesture of openness. Even as a player, he is more of a conduit — patiently channelling his inspiration in the service of others rather than seizing the platform for himself. He doesn’t play football in a German way, summoning the forces of Sturm und Drang. Instead, he lets the game flow through him like a prayer.

“That partly explains why the German public’s attitude to Özil the player was always more ambiguous than to others.”

For the Times, James Gheerbrant tries to make sense out of the enigmatic Mesut Ozil.

4. “You hear echoes of old-line British trade unionism in embargoes, said former Independent sports editor Ed Malyon. Sometimes, you just hear the sound of hackery. “Around October or November time in the football season,” said Liew, “somebody, generally at one of the tabloids, will get a particularly productive interview or a particularly productive set of interviews from the mixed zone and will suggest … holding it for Boxing Day.”

Over on The Ringer, Bryan Curtis takes a wide-eyed open-mouthed journey through the embargo systems journalists impose on themselves on this side of the Atlantic.

5. “It’s not the first time a pundit has reduced a player’s standing because of his MVP finals count. A popular narrative of the three-peat Lakers of 2000-2002 was that it was Shaquille O’Neal’s team, with the younger Kobe Bryant very much the Scottie Pippen to Shaq’s Jordan, as evidenced by O’Neal winning all three finals MVPs during that stretch.

“But a closer look back at those championship campaigns will show it was no such Batman-and-Robin double act.”

With the NBA Finals under way, the Examiner’s Kieran Shannon makes the casey for Steph Curry’s greatness.

6. “Anyone who’s shepherded a daughter through youth soccer is familiar with the evolution. At first girls run wildly, clumping around the ball, giggling and taking careful note of any passing dogs. (Or maybe that’s just my kids.) For the most part, dads or moms do the coaching. Dandelions and Bumblebees are popular team names, and the postgame snack is of utmost importance. Cartwheels are rampant.

“Next: The game takes shape. Passes connect. Faster and bigger kids start to dominate. Wow, it actually looks like soccer out there…” 

13-year-old and already a professional, Olivia Moultrie is a football phenom. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard looks in to her journey.