Has anyone been following the world cup? Am I the only one who wants to take those stupid plastic horns (Vuvuzela) and shove them up everyone's ass who blows them?

I guess I don't understand how on earth England didn't roll over the US in short order, but instead battled to a draw. The English goalie, Green, fumbled a pretty easy strike, and it dribbled past him into the net. Now, I coached pee wee soccer, and I don't recall any of my SIX year old's making an error like that.

Question: why does the English team use the cross of St. George rather than the union jack for its symbol?

Brother Yabor will be pleased to know that the Netherlands defeated the Danes, 2-0 today.

Normally I find soccer crushingly boring, but it's not really the fault of the players, it's the fault of the camera work.

My theory about world politics is this: if people want foreign countries to love us, all we really need to do is have a halfway decent soccer team that could make it into at least the semi finals of the world cup.

I guess the US' next match is Friday with Slovenia. England will be with Algeria... Netherlands play Japan on Saturday.

Germany crushed the Aussies 4 zip. Yeah brother smithz!

Oh man those horns are annoying. The games are unwatchable with the sound on.

Soccer was my sport growing up. I played on a traveling team that went to Germany the summer I graduated from High School. We kicked ass too. The Germans were shocked. We had an aggressive play they were not used too. Not physically against the other players but an aggressive pursuit of the ball. We won like six games and lost 2. One was against the veterans of the club that sponsored us from Moosburg.

Way to go, Rico. I didn't know that about you. Impressive.

There is a big controversy about the horns (Vuvuzelas as they call them), even in the News here. They are fucking loud when thousands of viewer use them. I think the officials realized that and they think about banning them.
Some people also want to use audio-filtering to lower the volume of the horns.

Yes, they're fucking annoying.
Article

I read that article...and waited for. And waited for it. And it finally came:

quote:

But others feel the discussion about the plastic trumpets has wider implications, stressing that acceptance of the vuvuzela is also an issue of Germany's, and Europe's, tolerance of other cultures.

These are the real fucking idiots, the ones who say (as the subhead of the article stated) that it is "a sign of deeper cultural issues at play." Yes, he's right in a sense. It's the issue of nitwit "sensitive" multiculturalist PC leftist retards who are afraid to tell someone to lay aside their stupid horns because they're ruining enjoyment of the game, and we don't care what color you are or what country you are from. Would they allow Prussians to come in all armed with bass drums? Would it be okay if the French fans all had those compressed air horns? Yell and cheer all you want, but the real issue is one of artificial noise. The deeper issue is one of leftist Marxist-socialist PC multiculturalist cowardice.

It's the FIFA who delivered all the horns, it's pure business, but they fucked it up. Well...

needs to be checked.

That is really funny smithz. FIFA shot themselves in the foot.

I read that article.

Holy craptacular what the hell are they talking about. It is complete nonsense.

Correct me if I am wrong but the shape of that horn has it's origins in Europe. I don't think it is a horn but more of a trumpet.

The thing is 1 meter long too. That is ridiculously large to be giving to 80,000 fans. The decibel levels are so loud it can cause hearing damage.

The nitwit German broadcasters that rejectedt the idea of putting the commentators in sealed rooms to avoid the noise well dummies it it would at least allow you to isolate the commentators voices from the Vuvuzela noise so you can lower it beneath their voices.

This was the best quote of all:

quote:

The leftist Die Tageszeitung writes:

"Critics are far overestimating the affects of this concerto on the game. No team will lose just because 80,000 fans are making a lot of noise. If the television audience feels violated, they can just turn the sound down."

Two things are obvious here...

a. the person making that comment never played an athletic sport in their life.

b. the sole purpose the south africans use of the Vuvuzela is to defeat the opposing teams.

The viewers can also turn off the World Cup all together. Viewer ship of the World Cup will be the worst it has ever been world wide because of the Vuvuzela.

Humans have been making horns out of all kinds of shit since time began. Animal horns, conch shells, bamboo, wood. You can make one out of a friggin' paper towel tube. Horns are great for sounding the alarm, playing a tune or fanfare. But holy crap it gets tired real fast.

Let them bring Vuvuzela to Wimbeldon for the tennis matches and see what happens. I personally would like to stand behind Tiger Woods with a Vuvuzela when he tries to sink a putt. People tout soccer as the kind of game that's all about strategy and communication... and yet it's much more about the idiots in the stands creating a wall of sound to try to feel like they're a part of some giant New Year's Eve party.

And believe me, I get it. Soccer is so boring, that you kind of have to be drunk and make noise to add a little excitement to it. But hey, what do I know. It's the world's sport.

And it's hard not to appreciate the athleticism and physical toughness of footballers. Ball handling and control is poetry to watch when it's masterful. But holy crap there is a lot of eye rolling pussy patrol shenanigans too. People too quick to take a dive, and all sorts of drama queen behavior and pretend injuries.

One thing I never got was the off side rule. Seems to me, a guy should be able to beat and ESCAPE enemy defenders, outrun them. I don't understand the logic of that rule at all. It makes no earthly sense to me. It's like telling a boxer not to hit a guy in the face, or telling a basketball player not to take an easy layup when he's in the clear.

Now they're complaining about the friggin' BALL. Like it couldn't have been the English goalkeeper made a mistake. It has to be this screwy ball that's unpredictably bouncy or something. Jesus. I'd like to remind the soccer world that Brazilian street kids play with wadded up newspaper wrapped with masking tape. That's their ball.

quote:

One thing I never got was the off side rule. Seems to me, a guy should be able to beat and ESCAPE enemy defenders, outrun them. I don't understand the logic of that rule at all. It makes no earthly sense to me. It's like telling a boxer not to hit a guy in the face, or telling a basketball player not to take an easy layup when he's in the clear.

In ice hockey, the offsides and icing rules help promote play-making and avoid the two sides just standing at opposite ends of the ice slamming the puck back and forth. But even then, hockey was bolloxed up for a long time because of restrictive and anal offsides rules. The NHL through the years has made a number of smart changes including eliminating the center red line for determining two-line passes which opened things up a bit. But I don't think soccer has evolved and it often looks quite silly when the defenders intentionally try to put the offensive player offside by running in towards him. What they need to do is simply implement some kind of "blue line" where, once you bring the ball over that onside, you're good to go. The offside rules in soccer remains one of the dumbest rules in all of sports. It needs to be amended.

Oh, Jesus. (Heh-zeus, in this case.) Those horns make the world cup unwatchable. Bye bye. Soccer didn't need much to lose my interest. Dancing naked girls on the sideline probably would have me watching a few games. But those horns are just crazy.

THAT'S THE SOUND!!! Oh, if I go a lifetime without hearing that again, it would be too soon. Soccer is a noble sport to play. But there's something about the fans in the stands, particularly in Europe, that is ominous. It's less a sporting event and more a Nuremberg rally. And I do concur with the idea that it's so boring to watch that what else is there to do but get drunk, riot and blow silly horns.

quote:

...and yet it's much more about the idiots in the stands creating a wall of sound to try to feel like they're a part of some giant New Year's Eve party.

That's when we remember the word "fan" is short for "fanatic." I'm pretty sure they long ago banned air horns and Venezuelans (Vuvuzelas...whatever) at Safeco Field although I'm not sure about what they allow in the Seahawk's stadium. I wonder what the crowds sounded like in the Coliseum when gladiators were fighting or they were executing people. I can't imagine it was much different from that ugly sound I tuned into for a brief moment last night. Yes, you can turn the sound off, but crowd noise is an integral part of such events. I wouldn't ban chanting and the singing of club songs and such. It adds a certain ambiance. But the horns have to go. What a silly people.

Normally during the World Cup people around the world would be watching as many matches as they can of countries other than their home country. This year people will only watch when their country is playing because of the Vuvuselas. This will result in the worse TV ratings in World Cup history.

It really is unwatchable.

I love how they are trying to make it like this is some grand South African historical tradition blowing the horns. That is total bullshit. They only started doing this in the 1990's.

A throwaway match this morning had a great goal in the final 3 minutes of suspended time... New Zealand tied Slovakia 1-1. With everyone saying how the Kiwis didn't deserve to be there. Score one for the "Flight of the Conchords" guys.

The other great thing was the stands were friggin' EMPTY, so the stupid plastic horn noise was less. Still pervasive (I mean people just do not stop)... but lower volume.

OK, back to my Armageddon theory: more evidence that it's the end of the world. The sea has turned to blood, and now we have this trumpet noise, which is also foretold as a precursor to DOOM.

quote:

OK, back to my Armageddon theory: more evidence that it's the end of the world. The sea has turned to blood, and now we have this trumpet noise, which is also foretold as a precursor to DOOM.

LMAO. My question is, with every one else blowing on those trumpets, what the hell is in it for you? Your contribution isn't noticed. Your attempt to stand out amplifies the fact that your life (at least at the moment) is meaningless. Your one horn is lost in a sea of horns. Blow as hard as you want, you won't be noticed unless, of course, your real goal is to amplify yourself by associating with the mob, which is an ancient and very Nuremberg-like thing to do.

And this isn't about rooting for your team. Such a thing would produce highs and lulls in even the trumpet blowing, but all I've ever heard is that steady drone unmoved and unaffected by what is happening on the field.

It is the South Africans trying to disrupt every game to give their team a better chance. They are hoping the incessant horn blowing will help the better teams get defeated to give the South African team a better chance to play worse teams.

In the article smithz linked to the one idiot made the comment that no team will loose because of the horn blowing uh no the whole reason they are blowing the horns is to cause teams to loose.

Go Dutch beer company!

That is such a non-wuss thing to do. Where can I buy their beer?

Agreed. Holland rocks.