We’re sad and yet glad that the World Cup is over. Sad because it was fun and exciting and we actually hung out more with friends than we have in months because we were always getting together to watch the game, and sharing it with pals worldwide through Twitter. Although the Netherlands-Spain final was the kind of shitty game that makes people who don’t like soccer continue to not like soccer, it wasn’t representative of the tourney as a whole. Sad because there was so much to see and ponder in “the beautiful game.”
But we’re also glad because things that are fun and exciting are the most fun and exciting when they come and go and leave you wanting more.
Of course, the breakout star of the Cup was not Ronaldo or Kaka or Messi but an unassuming mollusk whose psychic powers amazed the world. Yes, it was Paul The Psychic Octopus whose stunning 8-for-8 predictions have left scientists and sports fans reeling with questions regarding cephalopod intelligence, the possibilities of psychic powers, and tentacled understanding of the passing game and the offsides rule.
Housed in a German zoo, Paul correctly predicted all of the German team’s results — including their losses to Serbia and Spain — and Spain’s win over the Netherlands. His method of communicating his predictions to his keepers was a bit unorthodox — Paul would choose a tasty bit of oyster from one of two boxes, each adorned with the flags of the competing teams in each contest — but it worked. He surpassed the efforts of other would-be animal seers at the same zoo: Petty the pygmy hippo, Leon the porcupine and Anton the tamarin monkey all picked wrong in other games. A South American dolphin named Sayco announced his pick and the headline “Dolphin favors Argentina” but we all know how that turned out. Paul’s biggest rival, Mani the Parakeet, picked the Dutch squad in the final.
No, it was Paul who made headlines this time out — but his terrific run in the World Cup followed a lesser performance in the 2008 European Cup where he incorrectly picked Germany to beat Spain in the final.
So how did Paul do it? Octopi have the largest brain of any mollusk, and the limits of their brain capacity are still being studied — they can learn, use tools and recognize complicated patterns and devise cunning strategies for getting food. But they are color blind, leading skeptics to say Paul’s picks were base on the varying attractiveness of the national flags. Since there were only two choices, most say Paul’s picks are the result of random chance, like flipping a coin. But even octopus experts can’t say with certainty what really happened:
“But having said that I don’t want to underestimate how amazing these animals are and how clever they are… they’re doing pretty well for a super snail relative. They can recognise individual people in a crowd, they can do really clever things like learn to unscrew the lids off jars to get prawns out of the inside, they can collect up half co
9 Comments on The Life and Times of Paul the Psychic Octopus, last added: 7/13/2010Display Comments Add a Comment
What is the weight of the Octopus?
What is the weight of the Octopus?
I found the final pretty enthralling, even though the Dutch took the notion of “cracking” Spain a little too literally.
Then again, I went in expecting a tense, tight, battle-chess-with-a-ball kind of thriller with not a lot of goals.
And here’s another coincidence:
The German word for “octopus”…
Tintenfisch (ink-fish)
Paul is a common octopus, which means he can secrete a nerve toxin.
If you read Paul’s biography on Wikipedia, you’ll discover the mathematical odds of his feat. Interesting… the system used in Oberhausen did not account for ties in the group stage.
Will Paul be getting his own comic or joining the X-Men?
Is Doop in disguise.
PulpoMania is hitting Spain. Today at the Team Spain reception, will +1 million people out in the streets, you could see all kinf of octopus memorabilia.
Nerd alert: it’s actually offside rule, not offsides.
Just wanted to mention Alfonso Alfonseca.