Glen Johnson's Evra Claim Illustrates the Danger of Fanaticism

Fans are fanatics. Glen Johnson is a fan, a fan of Liverpool, not just a player there. Only a fan can claim what he does in his recent interview with Daily Mail.

According to Johnson, Patrice Evra stayed up all night before the Manchester-Liverpool rematch at Old Trafford, plotting how he'd get Luis Suarez in trouble during the handshake ceremony.

As he tells it, Evra kept his hand by his side, making it difficult thereby for Suarez to reach it. "What else is Luis supposed to do?" asks Johnson incredulously.

He explains to Daily Mail:

"

I’m not being funny - but if I wanted to shake your hand I would stick it right out in front of me like that. But if my hand is down here, almost by my side, then it’s because I really don’t want to shake your hand.

Luis didn’t shake his hand because Evra’s hand was down there. What else is Luis supposed to do? Would you go to shake someone’s hand if their hand is way down there by their side? Course not. But then, because Luis didn’t do it, Evra has pulled him back by his arm as he walked on, as if to say to everybody: “Look, I wanted to shake his hand and he didn’t…”

He’s following Luis with his eyes as if to say: “Right he’s gone, he’s gone (past me) so I’ll pull him back now…” Evra probably stayed up all night thinking about how to do that. The whole thing was ridiculous.

"

The dictionary tells us that "fan" means "an ardent devotee; an enthusiast," and that it is the short form of fanatic.

It then defines "fanatic" as "a person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause."

In other words, it may be defined as incurable delusion. It's what this whole shenanigan about Luis being a puto and Patrice a devil tells us.

At least, Johnson shows signs of delusion, or more appropriately of being fanatical, the adjective—as the dictionary informs us—of fanatic.