Question: What are the top two takeaways from this year's world cup?
Answer:
1: Paul - the psychic Octopus
2: Vuvuzela - the celebrated trumpet of Africa
Now what else is common between the two other than being the Stars of FIFA?
I would have to say "Both of them are as annoying as they could get".
The Vuvuzelas -
I don't really need to explain why they are annoying. The deafening ultra-high decibel noise coming out of the blaring trumpets (actually sounds more like a huge swarm (maybe zillions) of bees) is enough to make the healthiest of people tone deaf. The first time I heard this noise in the background during a match, I thought something was faulty with my cable connection and actually had a long argument with the poor cable guy on the bad quality of audio! I felt quite embarrassed when the truth came to light.
The Psychic Octopus and the Psycho followers -
Everyone, everywhere is talking of Paul, the psychic Octopus these days, and about how accurately 'he' predicted the outcomes of all eight matches - the ones that Germany played and the Finals in FIFA 2010, correctly. Paul is in fact front page news on most leading newspapers, if you notice. Spanish businessmen have offered 30 grand Euros for the Octopus, whereas Italians have claimed that the Octopus is in fact an Italian catch, named Paolo! So much fuss over a silly sea creature. And the Germans, who presently are the legal owners of Paul, had put absolute faith in his predictions during the World Cup (and they say that we Indians are superstitious).
But it is surely strange, that the creature turned out right 13 out of 14 times that it has been used for such purposes, although observations do reveal certain patterns:
1: The Octopus usually tends to go for the country whose flag has more designs or is brighter. Think of it - Spain and Serbia, both have flags with three rectangles, with a prominent design in-between. On the other hand England, Argentina, Uruguay and Ghana have flags that are quite dull when compared to the German one. The outlier here is Australia whose flag is far more attractive than Germany's, and yet Paul picked Deutschland. Note: Wikipedia's article on 'Octopus' supports this theory. Apparently, Octopuses have a keen eyesight and can distinguish between different colors.
2: The second theory is that, Paul usually picks up the box kept on the right side. Again, this has been true for all the FIFA predictions, with the exception of England, whose box was on the right side, while Paul picked Germany again.
Whatever be the truth, Paul's predictions work. And that's what has made him a celebrity, and that's what has even brought him several death threats (I fully support this). Talk about two sides of a coin! Now, I personally found Paul much more annoying than the Vuvuzelas purely because the damn mollusk bet against my fav Die Mannschaft.
So that's the end of the story of the Octopus and the Vuvuzela.
Oh yeah, there is one more Star that I almost forgot to mention here. Ms. Larissa Riquelme - the kind lady who volunteered to run naked through the streets if her home country Paraguay won the world cup. Unfortunately, they got eliminated in the quarters itself. But wait, there is more to this story. The lovely damsel was extremely disappointed at the defeat, even more than the Paraguayan team themselves. It is a different matter that it wasn't exactly because her home country lost, but because she lost an opportunity to run naked!! In a bid to make up for the colossal loss, she still declared that she would keep up her promise as 'a present to all the players, and for all the people in Paraguay to enjoy". Whoa! Dramas galore in FIFA 2010. But I am sure glad Argentina lost; after all who in their right mind would want to watch Diego Maradona do what Ms. Larissa proposed to do (Oh well, that's a different story).
FIFA -
Actually, this is the first time ever I have watched any Football match from the beginning to end. I never understood why FIFA was such a rage among the denizens of the Earth. I still remember the time in 2006, when me and my roommates decided to try and watch a soccer match, just to understand what the big fuss is all about Football. If I remember right, it was Germany playing Italy. All of us were rooting for the German team all through the match, and cheered with much enthusiasm whenever there was a shot on the goal...It was only in the end when the commentator announced that Germany lost the match, that we realized that we were supporting the wrong team all along!!! Of course, unlike Cricket, the players' jerseys do not tell you the name of team they are playing for, so we hadn't a clue as to which colored shirt represented which country. So much for our knowledge of Soccer.
Anyway, a lot has changed since then, coming into the 2010 World Cup and much to my own surprise, I actually enjoyed the football matches to the core. It was quite a refreshing change from the useless, controversial, fixed matches of Cricket that we Indian audiences are mostly subject to.
So to conclude - Heil FIFA! Heil Deutschland! Und Koche die Krake fur mittagessen. Waka Waka.
Answer:
1: Paul - the psychic Octopus
2: Vuvuzela - the celebrated trumpet of Africa
Now what else is common between the two other than being the Stars of FIFA?
I would have to say "Both of them are as annoying as they could get".
The Vuvuzelas -
I don't really need to explain why they are annoying. The deafening ultra-high decibel noise coming out of the blaring trumpets (actually sounds more like a huge swarm (maybe zillions) of bees) is enough to make the healthiest of people tone deaf. The first time I heard this noise in the background during a match, I thought something was faulty with my cable connection and actually had a long argument with the poor cable guy on the bad quality of audio! I felt quite embarrassed when the truth came to light.
The Psychic Octopus and the Psycho followers -
Everyone, everywhere is talking of Paul, the psychic Octopus these days, and about how accurately 'he' predicted the outcomes of all eight matches - the ones that Germany played and the Finals in FIFA 2010, correctly. Paul is in fact front page news on most leading newspapers, if you notice. Spanish businessmen have offered 30 grand Euros for the Octopus, whereas Italians have claimed that the Octopus is in fact an Italian catch, named Paolo! So much fuss over a silly sea creature. And the Germans, who presently are the legal owners of Paul, had put absolute faith in his predictions during the World Cup (and they say that we Indians are superstitious).
But it is surely strange, that the creature turned out right 13 out of 14 times that it has been used for such purposes, although observations do reveal certain patterns:
1: The Octopus usually tends to go for the country whose flag has more designs or is brighter. Think of it - Spain and Serbia, both have flags with three rectangles, with a prominent design in-between. On the other hand England, Argentina, Uruguay and Ghana have flags that are quite dull when compared to the German one. The outlier here is Australia whose flag is far more attractive than Germany's, and yet Paul picked Deutschland. Note: Wikipedia's article on 'Octopus' supports this theory. Apparently, Octopuses have a keen eyesight and can distinguish between different colors.
2: The second theory is that, Paul usually picks up the box kept on the right side. Again, this has been true for all the FIFA predictions, with the exception of England, whose box was on the right side, while Paul picked Germany again.
Whatever be the truth, Paul's predictions work. And that's what has made him a celebrity, and that's what has even brought him several death threats (I fully support this). Talk about two sides of a coin! Now, I personally found Paul much more annoying than the Vuvuzelas purely because the damn mollusk bet against my fav Die Mannschaft.
So that's the end of the story of the Octopus and the Vuvuzela.
Oh yeah, there is one more Star that I almost forgot to mention here. Ms. Larissa Riquelme - the kind lady who volunteered to run naked through the streets if her home country Paraguay won the world cup. Unfortunately, they got eliminated in the quarters itself. But wait, there is more to this story. The lovely damsel was extremely disappointed at the defeat, even more than the Paraguayan team themselves. It is a different matter that it wasn't exactly because her home country lost, but because she lost an opportunity to run naked!! In a bid to make up for the colossal loss, she still declared that she would keep up her promise as 'a present to all the players, and for all the people in Paraguay to enjoy". Whoa! Dramas galore in FIFA 2010. But I am sure glad Argentina lost; after all who in their right mind would want to watch Diego Maradona do what Ms. Larissa proposed to do (Oh well, that's a different story).
FIFA -
Actually, this is the first time ever I have watched any Football match from the beginning to end. I never understood why FIFA was such a rage among the denizens of the Earth. I still remember the time in 2006, when me and my roommates decided to try and watch a soccer match, just to understand what the big fuss is all about Football. If I remember right, it was Germany playing Italy. All of us were rooting for the German team all through the match, and cheered with much enthusiasm whenever there was a shot on the goal...It was only in the end when the commentator announced that Germany lost the match, that we realized that we were supporting the wrong team all along!!! Of course, unlike Cricket, the players' jerseys do not tell you the name of team they are playing for, so we hadn't a clue as to which colored shirt represented which country. So much for our knowledge of Soccer.
Anyway, a lot has changed since then, coming into the 2010 World Cup and much to my own surprise, I actually enjoyed the football matches to the core. It was quite a refreshing change from the useless, controversial, fixed matches of Cricket that we Indian audiences are mostly subject to.
So to conclude - Heil FIFA! Heil Deutschland! Und Koche die Krake fur mittagessen. Waka Waka.
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