All good things come to an end, including the vastly watched 2010 FIFA World Cup. The action was held in South Africa from June 11- July 11 and Spain earned their first World Cup title. But look deeper into this situation without the Vuvuzela playing. Was it the supposedly ornate fashioned soccer ball that scored the goals for them? Or was it with the hypnotic powers of Paul, the psychic octopus?
No need to be caged in a whimsical moment here, it’s all about the game and what affected the roar of the crowd as well as the players. Try grabbing an ordinary soccer ball; it looks the same and feels the same as any other one you’ve held. Not this newly manufactured ball, called the Jabulani; it’s faster than ever and allows players to attempt strikes from 40 yards away. Conflict arose and a majority of players didn’t like the new style. It was so unpredictable in the way it moves causing the ‘knuckle effect’, yet it made goals more probable.
The only churning flaming ball you’ll see is in a photographic moment or in the wishful eyes of thousands watching the African setting sun today.
Stranger than fiction, the psychic octopus, Paul, seems to be a real showstopper. Whether his predictions are made with psychic abilities or merely by chance that is a multi handed fleet for the curious scientific community. Although, the octopus in general has recently received an increase on the level of intelligence on the evolutionary scale to super smart. Paul predicted correctly 12/14 games and became Spain’s national hero.
Another traditional controversy arose as soon as the new comers and previous fans from before showed up at the stadium. The loud and powerful horn sounds that were heard every bit of the game are called the Vuvuzelas. They measure up to 127 decibels, and to give an idea of how loud that is, a train is measured up to be 105 dB. Ear pain starts at 120 dB and an eardrum will immediately break at 160 dB. Tolerance slowly faded away, so fans had purchases over one million earplugs in the first week and BBC received more than 600+ complaints. Players were dissatisfied with the noise level and a minority of the audience seemed like there was nothing to enjoy more. The organizing community declined to ban it.
Just as this climatic showdown between two world-class teams dove into history, so did the wild and wondrous culture of African Jibe, traditional African artisans, and the spirit of the game fixed in all.