I am not a Football Fan..still though..

yeah people have been acting surprised on my g-talk status off late regarding FIFA-2010 updates or my reactions to the matches I watched. I think have no qualms in accepting that am not a sports person and don't know much about most of the games!!! But still I would maintain that yeah I do enjoy Football world cup for more than the love for the game. The sheer history, passion, scale involved in it makes it the biggest event on this planet. The most watched event on all the mediums put together. But equally fascinating are the anecdotes I have gathered off late which makes it kinda more intriguing for a non-sports guy like me.

Vuvuzelas- for starters. I mean i was wondering what the hell that noise was. The guy has a patent for it and has launched the new version with ear plugs fr self!!!!
I mean this is true innovation.

Jabulani- Official match ball of of South Africa 2010. It shares the name with a town where apartheid regime built hostels to house unwed black males in 1970!! They are now converted into low cost family units since 2002. Adidas has attributed the word's origin to Zulu Language- meaning "To Celebrate".

Death Match- In WW II Kiev was one of the first Russian cities to fall when Hitler marched towards Soviet Union. In his zeal to establish the true Moral victory over the Allied POWs a Football match was played between Aliied POWs famous football team and the best players from the NAzi army on commands of Hitler. It was kind of first instance of match fixing as well as the directive to the POWs was either "To lose or Die"!! By first half the scoreboard read Nazi-3 & POW-0 and by the end of the game it read Nazi-3 & POWs-5. In front of 50000 odd Ukrainian population the players upheld their heads and stood against the Nazi oppression leading the crowd to raise slogans of "Victoire". Their fate was pre decided and the team was executed in concentration camps eventually. But they chose to Live before they died. The players have become legends in the town of Kiev and the stadium still stands testimony to one the greatest match ever played in the History of the game. The movie "Escape to Victory"-1981 is based on the incident.

Paul- How can anyone miss the Psychic Octopus- the Star of SA-2010. Only if he could solve my dilemmas of life.

Yeah so all these put tghtr and ofcourse the love of the game during World Cup has got me following the game somehow guys!!!! Enjoy the Finals to see Paul getting right or wrong but am sure Punters would be the ones laughing all the way to the banks..My prediction is Netherlands- this is the world cup of the underdogs!!