WAGs are apparently wreaking havoc upon the football landscape in England.

Anyone read Day of the Locust? Anyone?

What the hell are "WAGS" anyway? It's a term used by the British tabloid press to describe the wives and girlfriends (but not restricted to) of the England national football team.

I sympathize with Roy Keane. I thought - and evidently he does too - that it was about football and not about the needs of a bunch of wives and girlfriends.

Roy Keane was a highly spirited, combative, controversial, competitive, talented and respected Irish soccer player. He was able to transfer those values and attributes to his managerial stint with Sunderland in England. He took a down and out club to the top of the table - ultimately earning Sunderland a prestigious promotion to the Premier League.

As a manager of Sunderland, despite its impressive recent triumph over Tottenham, it seems he's having trouble attracting players to Sunderland. Now, I'm North American so I really can't comment since I've never been, but from what I read it's like Edmonton but without the Mall.

The story surrounds around how the wives and girlfriends of players would prefer to have their men playing London - and not Sunderland - where the shopping is better.

"They don't want to come to Sunderland because their wife wants to go shopping in London," Keane told the London Daily Mail."

Sunderland, for those who were too lazy to check (as I was), is 443 kilometres north of London. England is that big?

Keane continues, 'Unfortunately, that is what is influencing a lot of footballers' decisions. Priorities have changed and they are being dictated to by their wives and girlfriends. I could name three of four big players now and clearly their wives and girlfriends are running their lives because they are doing these photo shoots and all that kind of stuff."

That sounds about right. In my circle of friends, three of four of my friends have lost their pants too.

This has a familiar ring to this as we're beginning to hear this in North America. While I am sure that wives of athletes have always had their say in where their better half earns his bacon, it's the first we hear about players deliberately avoiding teams for considerations outside the football (and sports) realm.