11/05/24
June 14, 2010
Vuvuzelas: Post-July 11: Guests of the World Cup are being encouraged to bring the vuvuzelas back to their home leagues, and the Premier League has said it would "welcome" them in England, not just simply allow them.
posted by boredom_08 to soccer at 04:50 PM - 30 comments
Of course they're gonna say that. It's good pr. They know and everyone knows those things will not be welcome by the other fans. No one would dare bring those things to a Premiership match.
posted by JButton at 07:28 PM on June 14, 2010
From the link: The vuvuzelas are used to express the feelings about the game itself.
Not in this World Cup they aren't.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 07:33 PM on June 14, 2010
Where in all of this is the future of the human vuvuzela, Buck Martinez?
posted by beaverboard at 07:47 PM on June 14, 2010
Where in all of this is the future of the human vuvuzela, Buck Martinez?
I'm sorry, are you bad-mouthing Buck Martinez?
The best announcing duo I've ever heard in sports was Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez doing Blue Jays broadcasts many years ago.
No one says anything bad about Buck Martinez!
*drops gloves*
*pulls beaverboard's shirt over his head*
posted by grum@work at 10:00 PM on June 14, 2010
Piling on: the Twitter feed for "thevuvuzelahorn" covers things pretty well, too.
posted by TheQatarian at 11:03 PM on June 14, 2010
Buck Martinez is a knowledgeable, dedicated, insightful announcer.
I'm referring to the sound quality of his broadcast voice, which is problematic, to say the least.
Vuvuesque, in fact.
posted by beaverboard at 11:24 PM on June 14, 2010
I'm a fan of the vulvazelas.
posted by bobfoot at 01:06 AM on June 15, 2010
Those things are more annoying than post nasal drip.
posted by irunfromclones at 01:50 AM on June 15, 2010
Ditto bobfoot. I actually like the things.
posted by boredom_08 at 01:58 AM on June 15, 2010
Jemele Hill likes them too.
posted by boredom_08 at 03:43 AM on June 15, 2010
No one would dare bring those things to a Premiership match.
Yes, indeedy. Heaven forbid we interrupt such Premiership magic as:
My old man said be a Arsenal fan,
I said "fuck off, bollocks you're a c*nt"
We took the North Bank in half a minute,
We took the the Shed with the Chelsea in it,
We Hammered the Hammers,
With carving knifes and spanners,
We taught the Millwall how to fight,
o I'll never be a Gunner,
Cos every c*nts a runner,
That's what I told my old man.
or
There's only one Arsene Wenger,
Only one Arsene Wenger,
With a packet of sweets and a cheeky smile,
Wenger is a f*cking peadophile.
posted by rodgerd at 05:07 AM on June 15, 2010
Maybe if the Vuvuzela's made a "WWWwwwwaaaaaaaaannnnnnnkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!" noise instead.
posted by apoch at 09:23 AM on June 15, 2010
Jon Stewart Takes On the World Cup, Vuvuzelas and England-USA
posted by tommybiden at 11:09 AM on June 15, 2010
No one would dare bring those things to a Premiership match.
Yes, indeed. Heaven forbid we interrupt such Premiership magic as:
My old man said be a Arsenal fan,
Here's the difference: Those Arsenal people are fans of a team and they are selectively singing at certain points during the match. And they are also cheering or booing when somethings happens on the pitch that warrants those reactions. And they even "mock cheer" when the opposition sails a shot over the crossbar. That's all fun and part of the great atmosphere and it actually adds to the spectacle of the match.
These imbeciles in South Africa with the horns are just blowing them constantly for no rhyme or reason-- like retards-- without any idea of what's happening on the field of play.
posted by JButton at 03:17 PM on June 15, 2010
These imbeciles in South Africa with the horns are just blowing them constantly for no rhyme or reason-- like retards-- without any idea of what's happening on the field of play.
(Bold emphasis mine) These comments are 1000 times more offensive than any horn blowing any spectator has or will make at any soccer game in the tournament.
I believe there is rhyme & reason behind their blowing.
It's part of their culture, and they're expressing themselves.
It's fine if it's not quite your cup of tea, but that is no reason to make ignorant and arrogant statements like the ones you expressed above.
posted by tommybiden at 03:56 PM on June 15, 2010
I believe there is rhyme & reason behind their blowing.
If there is any rhyme and reason behind the incessant drone of the vuvuzela please clue me in because I have yet to figure it out. It is as much of a cultural icon as the thunderstick.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:41 PM on June 15, 2010
Yes, I am totally willing to concede the point that I'm not clued in. Absolutely, I have no idea what the overall traditions, rituals and songs the vuvuzelas are being used in/on/for. I got NOTHING.
But I reserve the right to be fucking annoyed by it.
These imbeciles in South Africa with the horns are just blowing them constantly for no rhyme or reason-- like retards-- without any idea of what's happening on the field of play.
Oh, you're just lashing out. I know it's annoying and you have no clue what the deal is either.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 05:12 PM on June 15, 2010
please clue me in
They're entertaining themselves.
I said part of their culture, not an icon.
What I don't understand is how anyone is surprised at the blowing of the vuvuzelas. South African fans have been doing it for years.
To expect S.A.'cans not to do so, would be like expecting to go to Buffalo in February and not find it damn cold.
posted by tommybiden at 05:15 PM on June 15, 2010
But I reserve the right to be fucking annoyed by it.
And that is your right.
posted by tommybiden at 05:18 PM on June 15, 2010
Rick Reilly weighs in on this contriversial topic.
posted by Goyoucolts at 05:36 PM on June 15, 2010
Actually, the sound of the vuvuzela ebbs and flows as the match changes and progresses, as does any other measure of audience noise. For example, the horns were silent during the Brazilian national anthem today, but not during the Korea DPR's anthem.
posted by boredom_08 at 05:39 PM on June 15, 2010
You have a keener ear than me. The only time I ever notice an ebb in the vuvuzela noise is during the national anthem. Other than that it is just a constant drone.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 06:03 PM on June 15, 2010
A friend works for the BBC and was at the game tonight (Brazil vs North Korea). Apparently the deal with the vuvuzela noise when you're sitting in the stadium is that it's pretty cool. What you hear is the noise from the guys closest to you who are - albeit monotonally - knocking out rhythms and inserting clicks and grunts not unlike the player of a didgeridoo. These sounds are loud enough to make you only peripherally aware of the drone of the other 70,000 instruments in the stadium. But the cumulative effect, heard by TV audiences the world over, is diabolical. He likened it to conversation. In a crowded room, you can have a perfectly enjoyable conversation with someone next to you, but if you were, for the sake of his ridiculous example, suspended from the ceiling out of earshot of any one individual person, the cumulative effect would be of unintelligible murmur.
I quite like that. I like that the experience in the stadium is better than on TV. It speaks to the part of me that loves live sport and fears that someday we might all become convinced that it's a better experience to watch it on TV; that we might somehow collectively forget all the really great things about it that you can only see, hear, feel, smell and even taste by actually being there.
I'm having my TV-watching experience if not ruined then certainly marred by the vuvuzela and even said today that I hoped FIFA might ban them for the later stages of the World Cup, but actually, fuck me and my lazy ass for sitting 6,000 miles away and expecting the organisers to pander to my needs. Long may the priority be given to the guys and girls in the stands watching - and listening to - the entertainment.
posted by JJ at 06:34 PM on June 15, 2010
I woke my son this morning by impersonating a vuvuzela.
Look - when you have a World Cup in Europe, you get mass chanting. In South America, the field gets covered in confetti. In Africa - you get an African experience, and that includes the vuvuzela, the miners hats, the whole works. We'd be a lot poorer if our game day experience was the same all over the world.
As one wag said on The Fiver - when the US gets the World Cup in 2022, maybe the fans will express their culture by turning up late, leaving early and spending the whole game talking on their mobile phones.
Here's the difference: Those Arsenal people are fans of a team and they are selectively singing at certain points during the match.
Here's another difference. Check the lyrics - I suspect those fans might be from Tottenham.
posted by owlhouse at 06:58 PM on June 15, 2010
when the US gets the World Cup in 2022, maybe the fans will express their culture by turning up late, leaving early and spending the whole game talking on their mobile phones.
Guy doesn't know a thing about American culture. We completely ignore what's going on around us while fucking with our phones; nobody ever actually talks on them anymore, unless of course we're driving. You guys are so '03 down there.
posted by tahoemoj at 09:03 PM on June 15, 2010
We'd be a lot poorer if our game day experience was the same all over the world.
This. I'm not a huge fan of them, but you get over it and it just becomes background noise (they were part of the CONCACAF finals and I got my vaccination then). The people from the Guardian's podcast also back JJ's comments about it being really cool in person. I think American sports are suffering from a Chili's-ification, where it's more important to get a consistent experience than it is to get a good experience.
Death to multi-purpose stadiums with the same dimensions, to generic announcers who toe the party line and to domed roofs to keep the weather from interfering with some theoretical best experience. Just live your goddamn life. Buy a helmet if you can't stand a little rain here and there.
That said, I think the defense of the vuvuzela on the grounds of "tradition" is either pretty thin or pretty patronizing. The started showing up in Mexico in the '70s.
posted by yerfatma at 08:25 AM on June 16, 2010
I noticed the vuvuzelas WAY more last summer in the Confederations Cup than I have this year. I assume that has something to do with the relative numbers of supporters of the teams playing who made the trip and are in the stadium for the WC vs. the CC. In any case, I'm pretty well over it.
posted by bender at 09:50 AM on June 16, 2010
There are two groups of vuvu blowers in the stands.
The in-country folks who have been tooting them for some time and know what they're doing.
And the hodad visitors from other countries who bought their horns from a novelty kiosk on their way into the stadium and have no idea what they're doing.
My guess is that if we could take the horns away from the clumsy pretenders, the whole thing might sound a bit better on TV.
My fear is that even now, there are college students in Durham, NC secretly practicing on newly acquired vuvus, and that they will come out in force to serenade Duke basketball home games this coming season.
My even greater fear is that the vuvus will become a Cameron Crazies tradition.
We may never be able to hear Dick Vitale's courtside Blue Devil love orgasms again over the din.
posted by beaverboard at 09:57 AM on June 16, 2010
That's all fun
Tens of thousands of people screaming you're a pedophile is fun? Or commemorating the good old days of going to the footy for a stabbing? What about listening to the chants that taunt the Liverpool or Man U with their dead supporters and players, respectively?
If you think that's fun and less offensive than a bunch of guys with trumpets, well, I can only say that I'll agree someone seems, in your words, "retarded".
posted by rodgerd at 07:44 PM on June 16, 2010
http://vuvuzela.ytmnd.com/