During the 2010 World Cup we had a lot of fun here and elsewhere — or bored people to death here and elsewhere — with a series of stories about Paul the Octopus.
This is how the story started:
“As one can imagine, those who predict and place odds and bets on the World Cup semifinals and final winners are extremely busy these days.
Serious fans and serious gamblers anxiously seek and mull and use the predictions and odds provided by reputable and not-so-reputable experts, odds makers and bookmakers.
Millions – probably billions – will be won and lost by the time the last goal of the 2010 World Cup is kicked. The vast majority of prognosticators, albeit assisted by computers and other tools, are human.
However, one of the most famous prognosticators is turning out to be a cephalopod: Paul the German octopus.
Paul, an English-born octopus (I don’t know how he got his German citizenship), resides in an aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany.
He has become an instant worldwide celebrity by having correctly predicted all five of Germany’s 2010 World Cup matches so far.
According to Sports Untapped, Paul predicts the winner of the games by picking out, and eating, a mussel out of two plastic containers let down in his aquarium. One of the containers has the German flag on it and the other the flag of the opposing team. You guessed it, the flag on the container from which the sacrificial mussel comes represents the predicted winner.”
There was a panic on the eve of the Germany-Spain semifinal when it was reported that Paul had eaten the Spanish mussel, which would mean that Spain would be victorious in the semi final.
One headline read:
An apparently psychic octopus has risked the wrath of his fellow countrymen by predicting Spain will beat Germany in the World Cup semi-final.
As so happened, Spain did defeat Germany in the World Cup Semi Final 1-0.
After such a catastrophically (for Germany) correct prediction in “Paul the Octopus: Once More, with Wine and Balsamic,” we discussed the serious predicament Paul found himself in and I asked if Germany had a witness protection program for octopuses.
As it turned out, Paul could have used some form of protective custody:
After Paul’s latest prediction turned out to be accurate, the public sentiment among Germans suddenly and drastically changed from admiration and respect to downright ugliness, loathing and hate.
The internet was full of nasty messages and threats against the poor cephalopod – and full of octopus recipes.
But it was not the first time that Paul’s life had been recipe-threatened.
When Paul correctly predicted Argentina’s loss to Germany in the 2010 quarter final, Argentines threatened to make asado out of Paul. The newspaper El Dia gave a very simple but effective recipe for Paul: “All you need is four normal potatoes, olive oil for taste and a little pepper.”
Notwithstanding all the threats, Paul the Octopus continued to do what he did best and what had made him so famous.
So famous that even CNN reported that Paul the Octopus had once again eaten a Spanish mussel in anticipation of the World Cup final.
As those two or three of us Americans who watch soccer know, Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 in the World Cup final in Johannesburg, South Africa to become the 2010 World Champion.
Finally, Paul the Oracle was no more.
Not that the German psychic octopus was turned into a recipe, nor that he met some other tragic fate.
No, the famous cephalopod who correctly predicted “the outcome of as many World Cup matches as he has legs — all seven of Germany’s games plus the Spain-Netherlands final — is going to retire,” announced none other than the New York Times in July 2010.
In “Paul the Oracle no More,” I wrote:
According to a spokeswoman for the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, where clairvoyant Paul held his aquatic court, Paul will “step back from the official oracle business.”
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“He won’t give any more oracle predictions — either in football, nor in politics, lifestyle or economy,” she said.
.“Paul will get back to his former job, namely making children laugh.”
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As recognition for his services to the World Cup community, Paul was presented with an appropriate facsimile of the World Cup trophy, encrusted with three live mussels.
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We wish Paul luck getting back into his former job.
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I have no idea how long octopuses live, but perhaps Paul is young enough to make a comeback in 2014.
Sadly, Paul passed away at the Oberhausen aquarium in October 2010. He was aged two-and-a-half, “a normal lifespan for the species,” says Wikipedia.
As expected, several animals — “imoctopusators”? — have tried to outdo Paul.
Back in 2010, after a lucky string of predictions, 13-year-old Mani, a Singaporean parakeet, predicted that the Netherlands would win the World Cup final match against Spain. Parakeet stew anyone?
Today, as the 2014 World Cup winds up, several animals are stepping in to fill Paul’s (eight) shoes.
There are the penguins Alf, Lolly and Ginny, the macaws Sarge and Oscar, miniature donkeys Alistair and Derek, all in England. Then we have Big Head the loggerhead turtle in Brazil, Nelly the elephant in Germany, Flopsy the kangaroo in Australia, Shaheen the camel in Dubai and Madame Shiva the Swiss guinea pig.
You can read about the various sophisticated and not so sophisticated methods used by these prognosticators to predict the outcomes of World Cup 2014 matches here.
Salon.com describes one such method used by Miss Shiva:
A Swiss guinea pig is also offering prophecies for World Cup matches. Madame Shiva, who is only focusing on Swiss games, is placed on a mini soccer field with the colors of two opposing teams at either end. She makes her forecast by pooing at one end of the pitch. She correctly called a Swiss victory over Ecuador in their opening match. Her skills will be tested again on Friday when her team takes on France. Madame Shiva has called a Swiss win.
(Note France beat Switzerland 5-2, so there goes that “theory” — and perhaps the guinea pig, too)
There will be many Paul the Octopus impersonators and wannabes, but none will replace Paul in his accuracy and personality…
Even Google is paying tribute to Paul with a June 17 “Doodle” showing Paul in (octopus) heaven, sitting atop billowing clouds with a halo over his head, trying to decide the winner between Brazil vs. Mexico, the game played that day.
Rest in watery peace, Paul. You gave us some very interesting, entertaining and anxious moments.
And good luck to the U.S. team today against formidable Portugal. If Paul were still here, I know he would have eaten the American mussel.
Lead image: Courtesy Google/Digitaltrends.com
