Weird things happen to people who cross Alex Ferguson. Rafa Benitez lost his damn mind just last week, and now Ramon Calderon (who Ferguson apparently “wouldn’t sell a virus to”) is out as President of Real Madrid after being forced to resign thanks to a vote-fixing scandal. While I know that we’re all shocked, shocked to see someone at Real Madrid try to subvert democracy, it’s hilarious that Calderon had to sink to the level of ballot box-stuffing to get his way over a vote on the budget, instead of his normal tack of promising extravagant signings and league championships by the bushel (then again, it seems like it’s fairly normal in Spain for club president candidates to center their campaigns around buying a specific player or players). Calderon has also been accused of using club credit cards to fund his personal lifestyle, bribing voters in a previous elections with season tickets (In all fairness, this is nothing more than Silvo Berlusconi would do in an actual election.). It makes me wonder what would happen if the concept of voting for club executives spread to, say, football. Could Detroit recall the Fords? Would Warriors fans revolt, form a breakaway team and slay Chris Mullin?

Regular readers, both of you, might have noticed that I am not Calderon’s biggest fan, thought I hardly need another reason to despise Real. It’s not just that he ran one of my least-favorite clubs, it’s not just that he comes off as an arrogant, know-nothing, blowhard (can’t fault him for that if you write a blog!), it’s that he treats the world, outside of Madrid and Barcelona as Real’s feeder team. Obviously those sorts of dynamics are different across Europe (Bayern seems to be able to sign any Bundesliga player they want, no questions asked), but it’s irritating as hell to listen to him all summer and all throughout January publicly write up a transfer list and treat it as if he’s going to buy eggs at the Safeway down the street. Good riddance.