One of the truly amazing things about sport is that it can make people who would not usually take even the slightest interest in a subject suddenly become an expert in an unlikely field.
Cricket followers are all amateur climatologists, expert in every variable of temperature, air pressure and moisture that can affect the flight of a ball. Your average darts fan possesses mental arithmetic skills bordering on full-blown Rain Man from years of quickly calculating check-outs. And, while most football supporters would struggle to grasp the concept of Nectar Points, let alone the Alternative Vote system, they all suddenly morph into economic experts whenever a big club is the subject of a takeover.
Well, expect a sharp upturn in the number of red braces being yanked over those funny striped shirts with white collars this morning, because American sports impresario Stan Kroenke has finally launched his bid to take control of Arsenal.
The Missouri-born real estate entrepreneur owns franchises in the NFL, NBA, NHL and the MLS as well as a lacrosse team, and he has now added an EPL team to that stable following his agreement to buy the shares of directors Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Mind you, after holding shares in the club for over four years, hopefully he has learned not to refer to the Premier League by that awful abbreviation.
Without the absurd wealth of an oil-rich sheikh to dive in and buy the club in one fell swoop, we have been inflicted with a drip feed of stories over the past few years as far as Arsenal's ownership has been concerned, featuring lots of minor decimal percentages and sums of money which seem simultaneously impossibly large and surprisingly small.
Since first grabbing a stake in the club, Kroenke, 63, has accrued shares at a staggeringly incremental rate, with 2009 seeing over half a dozen stories of him buying up the odd 0.02 per cent here and the one share there.
But now, with Arsenal once again seeing silverware evaporate right before their very eyes, Kroenke has been convinced to make the move - although in truth the catalyst was the ill health of Fiszman.
Kroenke now owns 62.89 per cent of the club, with Uzbek steel magnate Alisher Usmanov retaining his 27 per cent share. In all, this deal values the club at around £730 million.
So, can Arsenal fans expect to finally see big money spent on players and a few trophies roll into the Emirates? Well, not exactly. Kroenke is very much a businessman, focused on taking more control of his franchises' destinies off the pitch in terms of outright asset ownership and steady development. In that way, he chimes in perfectly with Gunners manager Arsene Wenger, who reacted to the news by saying: "I have worked with Stan Kroenke at board meetings over the past couple of years and I believe he has the best interests of Arsenal at heart. He understands the club's heritage and traditions and our ambition to run the club in a way which protects our long-term future."
As for silverware, Arsenal fans can perhaps relate to his team's records. Three of them - the NFL's St Louis Rams, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and the MLS's Colorado Rapids - have each won their sport's major honour once, while between them the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the Mammoth lacrosse side have scooped a handful of divisional titles which are little more than a ticket to the end-of-season play-offs.
So, in a total of 47 full years of ownership across his five US franchises, Kroenke's teams have won three major trophies and a further six divisional ones.
Cesc Fabregas has already begun dropping hints as to who he would like big money spent on, tweeting last night to extol the virtues of Sergio Aguero, but he might be waiting a while.
The most important thing for Arsenal is that Kroenke's takeover could lead to the payment for their stadium being accelerated, finally releasing the funds for Wenger to spend on established players to complement his young talents.
This deal is based around patient pragmatism rather than a brash blitz of big spending. All in all, a very Arsenal takeover.
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One of the stranger factors of the Kroenke deal is that it has happened at a time when things are not exactly at their best on the pitch.
With hope of winning the league all but gone, the Gunners are currently struggling to put out a full matchday squad.
If any other club were to field a keeper who was in retirement a month ago it would have been deemed a crisis, but not with Arsenal as they fielded Jens Lehmann against Blackpool.
Ever since Lehmann re-signed for Arsenal last month to ease the Gunners' goalkeeping injury woes, Early Doors just knew that the German would find his way back into the first team sooner or later.
By hook or by crook, Lehmann was always going to don the gloves once again. He is just the kind of player that makes things happen when he is around.
The 41-year-old made his return in Sunday's 3-1 win at Bloomfield Road after Manuel Almunia withdrew during the warm-up.
There were initially conflicting reports about what ruled Almunia of the match. Some said he had injured his knee, while Arsenal's official website claimed he had been taken ill, but ED knows the truth; the Spaniard just felt the hand of destiny.
Almost three years after his 199th appearance for the Gunners, Lehmann's 200th easily eclipsed club captain Cesc Fabregas reaching his own 300-game milestone as the eccentric shot-stopper put in an erratic, eye-catching display.
There was laughter as he joked with the referee in the tunnel about helping pensioners. There were gasps as he came charging out of his area to clear the ball. There was blessed relief as he escaped a red card in the build-up to Blackpool's goal, as a sending-off would have meant Robin van Persie going in goal.
Wenger is hopeful that Wojciech Szczesny will be back for Arsenal's next match but, after that showing, we can only hope this isn't the last we have seen of Mad Jens.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I can't ever see us getting Rio now. I was interested. Last year, I tried. I tried at the start of the season." - Harry Redknapp reveals he looked into signing Rio Ferdinand, presumably because Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate had run out of conversation on the treatment table.
FOREIGN VIEW: "There are 27 travelling Almeria fans. Smallest away following all season. It's a nine hour trek (even longer on a scooter), but 27..." Our very own Spanish football blogger Andy Mitten is not impressed by the away contingent at the Camp Nou on Saturday.
COMING UP: In what feels like the first Monday night Premier League fixture in an age, you can follow live coverage of Liverpool v Manchester City tonight from 20:00.
Before that, there are video highlights of all the weekend's action, plus round-ups of the top five goals and top five saves to get your teeth into, plus Paul Parker's latest blog too.