If six months ago someone told me the Netherlands will finish as one of the final four in the upcoming World Cup, I'll be very pleased. Even just 32 days ago when the tournament started, and if someone told me the Netherlands would finished losing in the final again, I think I would be still happy to see that. It has been 32 years since the Oranje was in the final, and we don't have the strongest lineup this year, so going as far as possible seemed to be the goal. Now that it happened, we did lose again in the final, and it became a pretty darn hard pill to swallow! And there is absolutely no consolation! Better luck next time? Like I haven't heard that a million times already! And if it will take them another 32 years to be in the final again, well, the reality is, I might not live long enough to see that happen!
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And it seemed that Paul the Octopus became such a talk of the tournament. I know a lot of people didn't want to see Spain win in the final simply because of Paul. They think it doesn't make sense in the rule of probability! Well, things happen no matter how small the odds are. And people tend to think its a random pick, but I certainly don't think it was totally random. We don't know much about octopus, so we think he pick it in random. But there might be some pattern behind it that we don't know yet. Now, this is my attempt to explain it. Paul picked all 5 German winner, then Spain over German and the Dutch. Now, could that be Paul is more sensitive to the color yellow? German's flag has one third of yellow in there, so when compare to Australia, Argentina, England, Paul was more attracted to the German flag. And when Spain played Germany, Spain's flag has much more yellow. Then Spain and Netherlands, it's even more obvious, there is not a single dot of yellow on the Dutch flag. Now, this is just a quick observation, not a science study. My point is, there must be something behind this. I just don't think it was a total random pick. Anyway, I think people spent way too much time on that. Perhaps an indication that the actual tournament was not that interesting? Good bye Paul!
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I was really excited to see Nelson Mandela in the closing ceremony. Let's face it, this was his tournament. The sole reason South Africa got the host job in the first place. And he turned this country around in such a short period of time. I don't care who actually won the cup, but this is Mandela's triumph. When I heard his great grand daughter was killed in a car accident at the opening concert, I felt I was kicked in the gut! I mean, how many blows can one person take? It seemed as if someone just don't like Mandela and was doing everything to break this man. Give it up! Mandela is 92 years old already, he deserve some peace. May the force be always with Mandela and South Africa.
* * *
And it seemed that Paul the Octopus became such a talk of the tournament. I know a lot of people didn't want to see Spain win in the final simply because of Paul. They think it doesn't make sense in the rule of probability! Well, things happen no matter how small the odds are. And people tend to think its a random pick, but I certainly don't think it was totally random. We don't know much about octopus, so we think he pick it in random. But there might be some pattern behind it that we don't know yet. Now, this is my attempt to explain it. Paul picked all 5 German winner, then Spain over German and the Dutch. Now, could that be Paul is more sensitive to the color yellow? German's flag has one third of yellow in there, so when compare to Australia, Argentina, England, Paul was more attracted to the German flag. And when Spain played Germany, Spain's flag has much more yellow. Then Spain and Netherlands, it's even more obvious, there is not a single dot of yellow on the Dutch flag. Now, this is just a quick observation, not a science study. My point is, there must be something behind this. I just don't think it was a total random pick. Anyway, I think people spent way too much time on that. Perhaps an indication that the actual tournament was not that interesting? Good bye Paul!
* * *
I was really excited to see Nelson Mandela in the closing ceremony. Let's face it, this was his tournament. The sole reason South Africa got the host job in the first place. And he turned this country around in such a short period of time. I don't care who actually won the cup, but this is Mandela's triumph. When I heard his great grand daughter was killed in a car accident at the opening concert, I felt I was kicked in the gut! I mean, how many blows can one person take? It seemed as if someone just don't like Mandela and was doing everything to break this man. Give it up! Mandela is 92 years old already, he deserve some peace. May the force be always with Mandela and South Africa.
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