Let Life Rain

Was Machen Sie?
Nichts.
Ich lasse das leben auf mich regnen.
-Rachel Varnhagen

Of Oracles, Sweaters and Curses

In the past 7 hours or so I have come across many “reasons” as to why Germany lost their semi-final against Spain. There is of course the famous Paul. He has become a strange phenomenon in Germany, as well as in other parts of the world. He was able somehow, to predict (correctly) the outcome of all the world cup games Germany participated in. Now that Germany is not participating in the final everyone wants to eat Paul. So did I for a second.

The people who weren’t interested in listening to Paul said that if Joachim Löw wore his blue V-Neck sweater, Germany would win 4-0. Apparently the other two times he wore this particular sweater (Australia and Argentina games) Germany catapulted to a brilliant win. Well, Jogi wore his blue sweater and nothing exciting happened.

I even overheard someone say that because Paul’s prediction was splashed all over the German press, the team lost it’s moral. Seriously? Anyone who watched the game knows the real reason the lost. They just didn’t play well enough.

But the most interesting theory came from a close friend. He says the Netherlands will win the World Cup because they are the only team not “cursed”. How does the curse theory work? All the teams in the semi-final have gotten there unfairly. There was a lot of anger after the Uruguay vs. Ghana game. I too, feel like Ghana should have won. Spain scored an offside goal against Portugal to reach the semis and one of England’s goals weren’t counted in their game against Germany. And what about Netherlands? Nothing. They got there fair and square. Possible? We’ll have to wait and see.

4-0