How the Grinch tried to Steal the World Cup
Saturday – Long Street – England/Yankee half-time! My meek vuvuzela skills are met by a respectable lady’s lamenting, “Oh no, you’re not going to blow that thing are you?” Less a question than an instruction by someone used to ordering around us lesser social classes.
I smiled, “You’re not a World Cup Grinch, are you?” Her friends found it amusing; her, not so much.
It seems the humble vuvu is making almost as many headlines as the beautiful game itself. No matter what the Hate All Vuvuzela Enthusiasts (HAVE’s) might say, those of us on the other side (let’s call us the HAVE-not’s) have found it to be an international unification tool.
Passing it around like a peace pipe, laughing as my British girlfriend taught a true African how to blow it properly, gleefully unconcerned about the scary germs we were exposing ourselves to, we befriended and bonded with folks from New York, London and even as far as the Northern Suburbs!
Our posse included Italians and Brazilians and as the drinks flowed the talk went from football to politics to whose national anthem would best suit a House beat.
We all sang and vuvu’d down the street and left feeling the world was a smaller place and we could learn and teach so much over this month. When people and cultures are thrown together in a football calabash or restaurant or nightclub the only thing to do is take the opportunity to broaden your social horizon.
So please, all the pessimists, you can’t beat us, so you might as well join us. Then you will know the true meaning of Ayoba!
I smiled, “You’re not a World Cup Grinch, are you?” Her friends found it amusing; her, not so much.
It seems the humble vuvu is making almost as many headlines as the beautiful game itself. No matter what the Hate All Vuvuzela Enthusiasts (HAVE’s) might say, those of us on the other side (let’s call us the HAVE-not’s) have found it to be an international unification tool.
Passing it around like a peace pipe, laughing as my British girlfriend taught a true African how to blow it properly, gleefully unconcerned about the scary germs we were exposing ourselves to, we befriended and bonded with folks from New York, London and even as far as the Northern Suburbs!
Our posse included Italians and Brazilians and as the drinks flowed the talk went from football to politics to whose national anthem would best suit a House beat.
We all sang and vuvu’d down the street and left feeling the world was a smaller place and we could learn and teach so much over this month. When people and cultures are thrown together in a football calabash or restaurant or nightclub the only thing to do is take the opportunity to broaden your social horizon.
So please, all the pessimists, you can’t beat us, so you might as well join us. Then you will know the true meaning of Ayoba!
