04/26/24
June 11, 2010
Sound the Vuvuzelas!: The World Cup begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern in South Africa, the first time the world's most-watched sporting event has ever been played in the continent of Africa. Mexico and South Africa will be met with the deafening buzz of vuvuzelas, the ubiquitous horns that sound like a swarm of bees.
speech speech speech [pause] BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ [pause] speech speech [pause] BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
posted by kokaku at 09:55 AM on June 11, 2010
Imagine how they're going to sound if South Africa score.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:22 AM on June 11, 2010
Google's cache for Wikipedia's vuvuleza entry currently defines it as a "a fucking annoying blowing horn."
posted by rcade at 10:31 AM on June 11, 2010
I think that is the correct definition, and they locked it to prevent displaying the correct definition. Those wikipedians are fascists.
posted by apoch at 10:45 AM on June 11, 2010
Always nice to see commentators who don't know the offside rule.
"There was a defender on the line! How can he be offside?"
And they bring these English guys over because they're supposed to be "experts."
posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:00 AM on June 11, 2010
Hey Bis, everyone in IRC was confused about why it was offsides, mind expanding on why it was the correct call?
posted by apoch at 11:03 AM on June 11, 2010
There has to be two players between you and the goal when the ball is played - normally you only look for the "last defender" because the goalkeeper is almost always between the forward and the goal.
This time the goalie was ahead of the striker, so although there was a defender on the line, that's still only one player and not two.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:15 AM on June 11, 2010
GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
And a nice line dance afterwards.
(I wish I could make the chat)
posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:17 AM on June 11, 2010
I like how the goal cameras are inside the net. Is that new?
posted by rcade at 11:38 AM on June 11, 2010
It is strange watching Sportscenter without the constant BZZZZZZZZ
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:02 PM on June 11, 2010
I'll forgive the commentators on this one because the place I was watching the match was evenly split until we saw the replays as to whether the SA keeper's mad flappy dash inadvertently put the Mexican offside.
I like how the goal cameras are inside the net. Is that new?
Not at all. It's just that you don't get as many cameras deployed outside big tournaments. But that goal looked better and better from every angle.
posted by etagloh at 12:26 PM on June 11, 2010
And let's not forget Tshabalala's cracking opener. That was a rocket.
posted by trox at 12:48 PM on June 11, 2010
I'll forgive the commentators on this one because the place I was watching the match was evenly split until we saw the replays as to whether the SA keeper's mad flappy dash inadvertently put the Mexican offside.
I'd forgive them if they were questioning if the forward was in line with the goalie and therefore onside, but instead it was "there's a defender on the line *how* can he be offside."
To quote Morbo, WINDMILLS OFFSIDE DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY.
Also Tshabalala is a fantastic name.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:59 PM on June 11, 2010
I hope to god the vuvuzelas are confined to the RSA matches. We'll find out in about an hour when France/Uruguay kicks off. Another point, hooray to ESPN for taking out their usual scrolling "Bottom Line" annoyance during the opening game - hoping that continues for the entire tournament.
posted by sbacharach at 01:23 PM on June 11, 2010
And let's not forget Tshabalala's cracking opener.
Yeah it was a beauty. Plus, I prefer to watch games in Spanish, and the Univision announcer was having a blast over-enunciating Tshabalala's name for the entire rest of the match.
posted by Ufez Jones at 02:13 PM on June 11, 2010
I still have fond memories of the Univision guys lovingly massaging the names of the French side in the 1998 final.
Yaaaaourrrri Djooooorkaeefffff-eh!
Sometimes an entire country gets the full salon treatment:
Tooourkeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa!
So sorry to inform the royal subjects on SpoFi: they read off "Inglaterra" more or less as though they were calling in an order for a grilled cheese sandwich. Not much flourish to be found there.
posted by beaverboard at 02:37 PM on June 11, 2010
I hope to god the vuvuzelas are confined to the RSA matches. We'll find out in about an hour when France/Uruguay kicks off.
That would be a no, then.
posted by etagloh at 02:40 PM on June 11, 2010
Maybe they'll all get winded by day 3 or 4 and the tournament can continue less buzzy
posted by kokaku at 03:04 PM on June 11, 2010
This noise is ruining the World Cup experience if you are a really big fan of the sport.
Constantly blowing those horns for no rhyme or reason (even at halftime) means these people are not paying attention to what's happening on the pitch.
The normal crowd noise adds to the spectacle, becuase they people singing are actually following the match.
This is just making noise for the sake of making noise and it is spoiling this event.
posted by JButton at 04:02 PM on June 11, 2010
the Univision announcer was having a blast over-enunciating Tshabalala's name
Well, you missed Andy Gray suggesting it was a name to inspire any number of songs, then going "Tshabalala-bala-bala-bala!" like a maniac. Which I enjoyed. The FRA/ URU commentators did a nice job as well.
This noise is ruining the World Cup experience if you are a really big fan of the sport.
Yeah, no. I think of myself as a middling fan of the sport and if someone were to punch me in the balls twice during each game it wouldn't ruin the World Cup for me.
posted by yerfatma at 05:27 PM on June 11, 2010
Just when I think I'm getting to tune out the sound of those goddamned things, they strike back into my consciousness and I find myself aggravated again. I can't understand why they aren't banned.
posted by insomnyuk at 07:19 PM on June 11, 2010
Tell the truth, I didn't notice the horns too much in either game. Maybe SBS down here has a patented filtering device.
A couple of positive, enterprising matches to start off the tournament. But it wouldn't be Uruguay without a red card or two. France are struggling - Anelka is too isolated up front. I don't think Mexico can play 4-3-3 against a better organised side - they'll get murdered on the counter. Well done Bafana - if that single defender had played the offside trap better you'd have finished with a win.
posted by owlhouse at 07:56 PM on June 11, 2010
Well, you missed Andy Gray suggesting it was a name to inspire any number of songs, then going "Tshabalala-bala-bala-bala!" like a maniac.
Well, no offense to Gray (okay, maybe a little bit of offense), but the announcer on Univision has this brilliant way of kind of calling plays and then any time he touched the ball he'd interrupt his sentence to interject TSHA-BA-LA-LA and continue with what he was going on about. It has this really odd sing-song TSHA-BA-LA-LA almost playground taunt aspect to it. If I ever kept my phone on anything but vibrate, I'd be temp TSHA-BA-LA-LA -ted to record it and set it as my text message alert.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:04 PM on June 11, 2010
Meanwhile in America, we tell the crowd to "MAKE NOISE!!!!" If it was England, we'd probably get singing ad nauseum; if it was South America, the drums would be pounding all game long. I'll take the horns.
BTW: England 3, USA 1.
posted by jjzucal at 11:51 PM on June 11, 2010
I think of myself as a middling fan of the sport and if someone were to punch me in the balls twice during each game it wouldn't ruin the World Cup for me.
That's classic, yerfatma. Beautiful.
posted by Hugh Janus at 09:30 AM on June 12, 2010
Perhaps a new way to judge one's passion for a sport.
posted by yerfatma at 01:14 PM on June 12, 2010
The sound of the horns just has no impact upon me. Of course, more than 2 years on an aircraft carrier, sleeping just above the main air conditioning machinery room, and working just below the point at which landing aircraft come to a stop with engines at full military power, has made me somewhat immune to noise.
Having worked around aircraft and in high noise areas for over 40 years has left me with a noticeable hearing loss, but that has nothing to do with it. Did you say something?
posted by Howard_T at 03:39 PM on June 12, 2010
I'm also experiencing the horns to be like white noise -- we've been watching at work using the big projector in the conference room on our breaks only, using the net feed of the Mexican restaurant next door rather than company bandwidth, honest, and it's minor background noise, like a/c hum or something. I imagine it's very different in the stadium.
Maybe we should start a pool on when/if the first break in the vuvuzela action will come?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 04:24 PM on June 12, 2010
I was more bothered by the vuvuzelas in the matches I didn't follow closely. They didn't bother me at all in U.S.-England.
posted by rcade at 04:49 PM on June 12, 2010
@jjzucal:BTW: England 31, USA 1 (see how I fixed that for ya?)
posted by billsaysthis at 05:03 PM on June 12, 2010
I imagine it's very different in the stadium.
According to The Guardian's podcast, it's actually really enjoyable in the stadium. Believe it when I hear it though.
posted by yerfatma at 05:30 PM on June 12, 2010
OMFG, the first game hasn't kicked off and those fucking horns are pissing me off. Hope it goes down some once the football starts.
apoch and I are on both of the chat channels! Cisse!