As a consciously learning fan of fitba/soccer, one thing drives me mental which is being illustrated by the case of Patrick Vieira, captain of my favorite EPL team, Arsenal. They are my favorite team because I went to a game there in February 1980 and my theory of fan loyalty is based on personal experience - either you have to be born or raised near a team or you saw them live preferrably before you got to ticket buying age. Success or failure, highs or lows, are not an issue in the fan relationship. I have recorded my affection here, here, here and here. I am reading this book right now on some of the rougher characters associated with the teams history. I buy Arsenal stuff on the internet. They are second in my affection only to The Morton.

So, as Arseblog has been covering, the captain of Arsenal has engaged in a dance of orchestrating his own transfer to Real Madrid, one of the hated teams in my pantheon - along with the Montreal Canadians, New York Yankees and St. Mirren of the SFA, Div. 1. Home to Beckham and other famous feet for hire. Reports on the dance can be found at the BBC, the Guardian and at any number of Arsenal related fan sites.

First, it drives me mental that a player can actually say things like I will have a better chance at glory elsewhere during their contract tenure with a team. In this case what really drives me mental is the guy is the captain! For now, his player page is still at Arsenal.com. If that link fails, you know it has happened. Perhaps for posterity's ironic eye, I note the following on his player page:

Vieira remains a class act. He drives the team forward from midfield and shoulders responsibility effortlessly. At the age of 28, he has already won over 60 caps for France.