YouTube Gets a Vuvuzela Button (Seriously) 305
teh31337one writes "YouTube always has had a way with pranks. Some time in the last hour, the world's largest video portal activated a new button on some videos that looks like a tiny soccer ball. Clicking it will activate an endless, incredibly annoying sound that sounds vaguely like a swarm of insects. Or, for anyone who has been watching the World Cup, like the dreaded vuvuzela — an instrument commonly played in South Africa at football (soccer) games. South Africa is, of course, the host country for this year's World Cup, and fans watching the games have been subjected to the vuvuzela's mindless drone for hours on end. The noise is so annoying that television networks have taken measures to filter it out, and guides have popped up showing viewers how to block it from their TV sets and computers. I'm not seeing the button show up on all videos, but it is definitely appearing on some clips that aren't soccer-related."
Re:For the americans (Score:3, Interesting)
There was an interesting interview on NPR this week. It was pointing out that quite a few schools in the US are dropping American football for soccer sports programs (basically due to cost as to outfit a soccer team you basically just need a field and a ball compared with suits of armor) so a huge number of kids are playing it. But when it comes to watching sports they all watch American football.
It also suggested that part of the reason for not watching soccer is a distaste for a draw - there has to be a winner, someone has to win and someone has to lose no matter how well the game is played.
Re:I wonder... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm from Milwaukee and I grew up listening to bob ueker, truly one of the all time great announcers. I swear, only 10% of everything he's said was actually describing the game.
Re:So... (Score:1, Interesting)
i have never understood why some people take such great pride in hating something
Easy, for me at least to answer. Popular football causes violence, racism, hours lost at work, wasted money, hours of TV and news coverage is lost; and a small minority. who are already rich, are the only ones to benefit.
Speaking of national football, at least in the UK; Manchester Untied owe the banks around £2.2 Billion (a million million, not a US thousand million). That money would pay for about a tenth of the cost of the war in Iraq to the UK. That's just one football club. Most football clubs in the UK are in debt.
Not just that, but at least in the UK, many people see those who don't support Football as unpatriotic - when they themselves are only patriotic during football games.
I believe it's morally wrong to support national and international football because of these, and loads more reasons. Many people don't realise what cost football has, and what little it does. Does that answer your question?
Re:For the americans (Score:4, Interesting)
It also suggested that part of the reason for not watching soccer is a distaste for a draw - there has to be a winner, someone has to win and someone has to lose no matter how well the game is played.
First of all, American Football used to have draws, and people watched it just as much.
Second, why do people keep searching for some mystical explanation for why Americans don't watch soccer? It's not that complicated. The United States has a HUGE number of sports to watch. It's a mass market. Individuals gravitate to which sports are the most interesting to watch. The market has spoken. Soccer is less interesting to most individuals in the United States than other sports.
It really is that simple. I can go into the reasons *why* soccer is less interesting than other sports to me, but it's not because of some stupid reason like "it wasn't invented here."
Of course (Score:2, Interesting)
Everybody loves Vuvuzela, I even made an Android app for it: http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/sports/vuvuzela-soccer-world-cup_hyzb.html [androidzoom.com] :)
More than 10000 downloads in 3 days! People will soon learn how to play Vuvuzela at musical school
Re:So... (Score:2, Interesting)
I saw the clip of Ronaldo taking ball to the knee, then immediately collapsing while clutching his face. The USA-ALG game yesterday had a bunch of this, too. On one hand, instant reply for the refs would clarify some of these issues.
On the other hand, I like how football/soccer matches go without delays. If video replay was used, I fear it'd be as slow as American football (which we should call Armball.).
Are football refs known for strong biases? In the world cup matches I've watched, I see bad calls/missed fouls on either team.
Re:For the americans (Score:5, Interesting)
Soccer is less interesting to most individuals in the United States than other sports.
It really is that simple. I can go into the reasons *why* soccer is less interesting than other sports to me, but it's not because of some stupid reason like "it wasn't invented here."
I would buy that, except Americans watch fucking golf, the world's most boring sport. (Thanks a lot, Scotland.)
And let's face it, baseball can be pretty freaking boring too. Throw the damned ball already! No, not to first base! And there are how many more innings of this?!
(Disclaimer: I'm joking and American.)
Re:dreaded? (Score:5, Interesting)
Dreaded? Incredibly annoying? Come one, it's just a trumpet.
Have you actually fucking heard the noise just coming over the television? Are you deaf? Or is your opinion simply irrelevant to any normal person's perception of what is annoying?
Re:For the americans (Score:3, Interesting)
Richard Tardits, the frenchman who played both American football in the NFL as well as rugby has this to say:
"two completely different types of pain. American football is the more violent, rugby is the greater physical challenge".
Run scared indeed.