Vuvuzelas!
 

Should these idiotic, mind numbing vuvuzelas be banned at the World Cup? It's like every game is played in a swarm of bees.

http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.c...704666gm-a.jpg

It looks like they are just trying to be heard and noticed in a sea of a zillion people.

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_spor...1276449777.jpg


For those who don't ride on the crest of every Internet-football-hot-topic wave, the unrelenting foghorn-esque noise you have heard at World Cup games is produced by an instrument known as a vuvuzela -- a three-foot-long plastic trumpet traditionally blown throughout games to create an atmosphere. However, by pumping out sound up to 130 decibels -- 10 decibels above the human pain threshold -- they also are associated with causing hearing loss and communication problems on the pitch.

Some 20 years after being introduced to the game in the early 1990s, the instrument came to prominence on the world stage during the 2009 Confederations Cup. TV stations were upset by the "goat being slaughtered" timbre, while players complained that they couldn't hear themselves think over the din. "It doesn't allow you to concentrate and it's unbearable," Spanish player Xabi Alonso said at the
time. FIFA head honcho Sepp Blatter, however, pooh-poohed calls to ban the vuvuzela for World Cup 2010, insisting that we should not attempt to "Europeanize" the African tournament.

As expected, the vuvu has caused quite a kerfuffle at WC 2010 thus far. The drone has been giving TV networks and commentators grief, and FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke has reportedly toyed with the idea of handing out free earplugs in stadiums to avoid the barrage of lawsuits from the newly hard of hearing. World Cup organizing committee head Danny Jordaan addressed the issue Sunday, and refused to rule out a ban.

In my opinion this discussion is ridiculous. Why did we let South Africa hold the worldcup if we find their traditional instruments annoying and want to ban them?? It's time to be tolerant. The vuvuzelas belong to South Africa. :nod: FIFA should've thought about this before.
And those who think they can't bear this oh so terrible sound are free to switch off the tv or stay away from the stadiums. Offering earplugs sounds stupid to me. Why would you go to a soccer game when you want to put earplugs in there? Either you go and put up with the vuvuzelas or you stay at home.
That's my 2 cents.

I completely agree. FIFA knew what they were getting into.

I don't watch sports but have seen snippets of this game flipping through channels. I find these things annoying, especially if they're affecting the players.

This is the World Cup...not the South African soccer league. There are 31 other countries represented who are complaining about these ear splitting horns (reports say over 127 db). If the South Africans want to ruin their hearing...that's fine. What about everyone else in the stadium? You can't even hear the commentary on TV from the incessant noise.:mad: FIFA needs to step in and ban these things before there is trouble.

would one have to wonder how these'd go over during a concert? :rolleyes:
fun to blow into the ear of any nearby beerguzzles, definitely.

Get rid of the stupid things.

I said no. I mean, yeah the buzz is annoying, but it isn't offensive in any way (I'm looking at you, Braves fans that do that chop with the styrofoam tomahawk) and in many ways, it reminds me of this quacker fans play at games for this minor-league baseball team, the Long Island Ducks (it's a beak-shaped whistle that nakes a quacking sound when blown into it). i don't see those horn-things posing a problem unless they, say, start attacking each other with it.

That's a real concern. Some of these soccer matches get quite heated with fans going after each other. These vuvuzelas could be used as weapons. Nothing like this would ever be allowed into a US stadium. It's turned the World Cup into a joke.

Not only is it potentially unsafe to fans in attendance and athletes because of the noise level, it has made watching the World Cup almost non enjoyable because the noise is CONSTANT!!! I love soccer and would love to watch as much of it as I can, but the noise is just too droning.

I'm watching the Spain - Switzerland match and these horns are maddening. I would turn the sound off, but since I don't know a whole lot about soccer, I need to hear the commentary to really know what's going on. I just don't see what's enjoyable about sitting in the stands blowing these stupid vuvuzelas for 90 minutes. Their throats must be raw at the end .

Tony Kornheiser made fun of the whole thing by repeatedly blowing one during yesterday's PTI program on ESPN

No parking zone.

I think Tony would call that a "got's to go" situation. :laugh: