LITTLE ROCK — German mussel wins out
The Germans have a ringer on their side for the World Cup - octopus oracle Paul.
Paul, who has correctly predicted all four of Germany’s games in this year’s tournament, has chosen the Germans again, this time over Argentina in their quarterfinal matchup Saturday.
However, Paul indicated the game will be a tough battle and that it may even end in a penalty shootout.
While English-born Paul made a snappy decision to pick Germany over his native country, this time it took the octopus about an hour to approach a water glass containing a mussel marked with a German flag, said Tanja Munzig, a spokesman for Sea Life Aquarium in the western city of Oberhausen, Germany.
Paul ignored a similar glass with Argentina’s flag, but he also did not reach inside the German glass with his tentacles to grab the seafood goodie.
“Paul kept staring at the German glass and only when we wanted to take out both glasses, he finally jumped inside the German one and gulped down the mussel,” Munzig said. “All of his behavior indicates that Saturday’s game will be very tough and it may even go into extra time and penalty shootout, but in the end Germany will win.”
Two-year-old Paul has proven to be a reliable oracle in the past. In addition to predicting Germany’s victory over England, he also foretold the victories over Australia and Ghana and the country’s loss to Serbia. During the 2008 European Championship, he predicted 80 percent of all German games right, Munzig said.
Despite being a naturalized German, Munzig said, Paul is not a biased octopus and “he may even have some relatives in Argentina, who emigrated there many generations ago.” Play ball!
John Isner’s 11-hour, 5-minute record match with Nicolas Mahut of France last week earned ESPN2 its biggest audience (814,000 homes) for a Wimbledon telecast since July 4, 2008 (971,000). It also earned Isner the opportunity Tuesday to throw out the first pitch at the host New York Yankees’ game against Seattle.
Len Berman of ThatsSports.
com believes Isner needed to provide the major leaguers with a little more inspiration than that.
“By the way, tied at 58 games, Mahut dove full out for a ball crashing to the ground,” Berman wrote. “Contrast that with baseball players who don’t even bother hustling out of the batter’s box.”
Becoming Brazilian
If you’ve marveled at the play of Kaka, Juan and the rest of the Brazilians in the World Cup, you can join in the fun.
One website is offering the opportunity to become part of the one-name ranks by combining your first and last names to form your Brazilian moniker. (Not all names come out as one name, though.)
For instance, go to minimalsworld.net/ BrazilName/brazilian.shtml and type in Brett Favre and he becomes a semiretired soccer player named Brildo. But Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports editor Wally Hall becomes Felix Heca.
You can also pick your jersey number and print out a copy of your jersey.
Quote of the day “If I have to be honest, no.” Tsvetana Pironkova when asked if she believed it was possible for her to beat Venus Williams, whom she defeated Tuesday at Wimbledon
Sports, Pages 20 on 06/30/2010