The Octopus, the World Cup and this Filipino
July 18, 2010
I guess every German and every Football World Cup fan passing by Dubai Mall's Underwater Aquarium would grin on seeing this signage.
I speak about Paul the Octopus, the mollusk who sent shivers to the less superstitious because he correctly "predicted" the winners of Germany's seven matches, as well as Spain's win in the finals during the recently concluded 2010 World Cup =)
For those who knows nothing about Paul yet, here he is in this Inquirer.net article :
And from Wikipedia:
Paul (purportedly hatched January 2008) is a common octopus living in a tank at a Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany. Paul became internationally famous for correctly "predicting" the winner of Germany's seven matches at the 2010 World Cup, as well as the final, with no errors.
During the divinations, Paul was presented with two boxes containing food in the form of a mussel, each box marked with the flag of a national football team in an upcoming match. He chose the box with the flag of the winning team in four of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches, and in all seven of their matches in the 2010 World Cup. He correctly predicted a win for Spain against the Netherlands in the World Cup final on 11 July by eating the mussel in the box with the Spanish flag on it. His predictions were 100% (8/8) correct for the 2010 World Cup and 86% (12/14) correct overall. Paul was retired after the 2010 FIFA World Cup
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More than the hype on Paul the Octopus, I'm putting this post through to speak about my hope to see the Philippines as part of the next World Cup. Having been around football-crazy fans of different nationalities, I have seen how it built and strengthened friendships. It's one event where the world is united.
Next World Cup, I'll make sure I'll be one of the crowd, very unlike this year's event where I was the odd-one-out, like in this experience:
We were on a lunch when everybody on the table was speaking of football. The Swiss visitor sensed I was quiet (since I know nothing to share). He asked my country of origin. The British man, instead butted in: “Somebody told me that the national sport of the Philippines is cock-fighting!” Of course he is only kidding just to force me in the loop (he frequents the Philippines for leisure in our pristine beaches, so he must know more).
So yeah, next season, nobody's gonna force a joke because this Filipino will be one among the world of football fans =)
7 COMMENTS
we were just at an aquarium and we saw an octopus similar to the one on your picture.
ReplyDeletecockfighting as national sport? that's kind of funny.
hahahahahaha :P
ReplyDeletedid read about paul that time :D
we should have a World Cock Fighting Competition then :P
I was able to watch a live football match when we were still living in KSA. It was fun! Hope there are more supporters of this sport in the Philippines. Kung hindi, maybe we can look for a replacement for Paul now that he is retired - tutal ang dami namang octopus sa mga dagat natin di ba?
ReplyDeleteI wish I learned about paul the octopus earlier, we used to have a contest in our office to predict who will be the next winner in the FIFA 2010. I'm the winner sana :)
ReplyDeleteWala rin akong idea about Paul the Octupos until narinig ko lang ang ibang kasama ko sa hospital na pinag-uusapan nila ang World Cup.
ReplyDeleteParang kung ako yung nasa harap ng mga visitor taps sinabing yung cock-fighting ang national sport sa atin baka iba ang ma-perceive ko and baka iba maging reaction ko.
I have never been a fan of football. But if Philippines will be on the world cup, I sure would be cheering for the team. =)
ReplyDeleteI also can't relate with the 'others'. I am so not into football. I'd rather watch sepak takraw or cock fighting for that matter. But cock fighting is bad I suppose. Hehe.
ReplyDeleteLots of love,