The World Cup won't banthe bane of soccer viewers—the vuvuzela.
ESPN/ABC may tweak the sound mix to filter out some of the noise from the ubiquitous South African horns, and the BBC may try to nix the blowhard audio altogether.
USA Today reports that complaints about vuvuzelashave reached such a fever pitch that one person on Twitter wrote, "Which was bigger? The campaign against vuvuzelas or the campaign against apartheid? Safrica needs better PR."
They also make you sick.
My biggest fear, however, is that irritating sports fans everywhere will move the vuvuzela beyond South Africa to, say, Game 7 of the Lakers and Celtics. Or Tea Party rallies. Or Springsteen concerts. I half expected some to show up outside the Oval Office last night during the President's address.
In a sick way, I wish I had the money and manufacturing capacity to produce a bunch of them pronto. I'd be showing up outside every major event this summer hawking them and making a killing. Plus, I could even sell the complicated instructions on how to use the vuvuzela. See here.
Now there's even a Vuvuzela game.
I lasted five seconds. Multiply that by 1,080 to get the feel of a full 90-minute soccer match.
Vuvuzelas aside, the play on the field in this World Cup continues to surprise (Spain lost!). For Americans, however, we continue to savor the draw against mighty England last weekend. For a different look at how that match went down, watch what may be the best recreation of any sporting event...ever.
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