Paul The Octopus Does It Again
Posted on 11 July 2010 by LynThomas in sports
It seemed the entire world became caught up in the World Cup fever.
The psychic, winner picking, octopus known for his amazingly accurate World Cup predictions, has received death threats. Paul, the oracle octopus whose premonitions perfectly predicted the outcome of all six German World Cup games, first generated anger from Argentinean fans who believe his pick doomed Argentina in the quarterfinals.
The Germans are not happy with Paul either, after his controversial choice of selecting Spain to beat Germany, even though the pick was correct. The beautiful and brilliant octopus accurately predicted all four of Germany’s victories, as well as their upset loss to Serbia and semi-finals defeat at the hands of Spain.
Paul’s keeper in Oberhausen, Germany said “There are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive.”
Prior to the final Paul’s keepers gave the octopus an out. “It will only happen if he is deemed not too tired and still hungry,” a spokesman for the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, said. “We do not want to overburden him.”
The magnificent mollusk made his selections clear by a selection from boxes inside his tank. From the commencement of the World Cup, two boxes were placed within the tank, with the flags of the opposing teams on them. Whichever box Paul selected it was said to be the team he picked to win the game. Each box contained a tasty morsel inside.
Prophetic Octopus
Eventually Paul correctly chose Spain as the winner. An enterprising business person leapt on the band wagon and produced hats with an octopus on top, in the Spanish colours.
The miraculous mollusk’s prophetic prognosis even generated an online hoax, with an unsophisticated Photoshopper forging a sham Paul pick.
Singapore was not to be outdone by Germany. Mani, a rose-ringed parakeet also predicted all four countries for the World Cup semi-finals. Mani blotted his copy book, however, when he chose Uruguay to win against the Netherthlands.
Then the predictions of Mani and Paul came in direct opposition to each other. Mani chose the Netherlands to win the Final, making a lot of Dutch people very happy, while Paul opted for Spain.
Mani belongs to a roadside astrologer, Maniyappa, of Indian origin. Mani increased the traffic to Maniyappa’s small business in Singapore’s Little India, when the customers increased from 10 a day to 10 an hour.
What will these two intrepid creatures turn their talents to next? Tanja Munzig, a spokesman at Sea Life said Paul would now step back from the official oracle business and return to relaxing in his water home, having greedily consumed his own shiny golden replica of the World Cup trophy.
AFP reported one tongue-in-cheek bookmaker offered odds of 8-1 that Paul becomes a bookmaker, 20-1 that he releases a record, 100-1 that Paul unveils his own brand of calamari, 250-1 the octopus becomes Merkel’s new adviser and 1,000-1 he ends life as part of a paella.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] It seems the entire globe became caught up in the FIFA World Cup fever. Paul, the oracle octopus whose premonitions perfectly predicted the outcome of all six German World Cup games, first generated anger from Argentinean fans who believe his pick doomed Argentina in the quarterfinals. The psychic, winner picking, octopus known for his amazingly accurate World Cup predictions, has received death threats. Read how Paul was challenged by Mani the parakeet of Singapore… [...]
[...] For more information about “Prophetic Octopus Gets It Right Again”, visit website http://www.tropicpost.com/paul-the-octopus-does-it-again/ [...]