Paul The Psychic Octopus

1. The World Cup is cool: Soccer’s problem is overkill. It’s hard enough following our own A-League, let alone the European leagues and their endless cups within leagues and leagues for cup winners. Yawn. Tune out. But when the World Cup is on, you shiver in the darkness watching Paraguay vs Japan. It’s like the Olympics where obscure pursuits like pole vault and equestrian actually matter. Problem is, we’re all now waking automatically at 4.30. What brand were those Ben Cousins sleeping pills again?

2. Psychic cephalopods are even cooler: All World Cups have a standout team, but only occasionally does an individual stamp himself as clearly superior to the rest, a la Maradona at the 1986 Cup. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will forever belong to Paul the Octopus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Octopus), who is head, shoulders and tentacles above any single player or pundit.. Story of the year, hands down. All eight of them.

3. A World Cup here would be even cooler still: Did you hear those vuvuzelas? Did you see those crowds? A World Cup here would be like the Sydney Olympics writ large across six or eight cities. And hey, how great would it be if we all blew didgeridoos instead of vuvuzelas? It’d be as Australian as the buzz of blowflies. Yes, we should worry about the capital cost and future viability of new stadiums. No, that should not stop us hoping we trump Qatar’s excellent bid in December.

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