I love vuvuzelas!

I love those horns that they blow at the World Cup games. More vuvuzelas, not less. People who claim they inhibit watching the games on TV don't get it. And they don't get that they don't get it. It is part of the international flavor of the games. Soccer is not America's game. It has a large following, but it is not our game, likely never will be. The MLS in our country will continue and be marginally successful, but it will never rise to the level of the NFL, MLB, or the NBA.

I haven't watched many of the games, as they are played at the time when I am at the office, but I have been paying attention. I hope the US makes it to the next round. I'm amused at the consternation of the Brits for their poor showing so far. I'm highly amused at the childishness of the French team. (A very good player on their team was substituted for at half time, went on a profane tirade at the coach, was sent home, and his fellow teammates then refused to practice later that week.) The French team is pretty good but they are in danger of not making it past the opening round.

I was very curious to see that North Korea has a team in the World Cup. Is this not the same North Korea that cannot feed its people?

And I'm interested to hear the soccer enthusiasts talk about the sophistication of the game and how much better it is than all the other sports. Sophisticated? All you need to play soccer is a ball and two tin cans. And if you don't have two tin cans, find two trees that are sufficiently spaced and you can turn those into goal posts. The reason soccer is loved worldwide is because it is cheap to play. You need a ball. That's it. No bat. No hoop. No helmet. No skates. Just a ball. You know the reason I don't snow ski? I don't have any snow and I don't have the money to go skiing. If I lived in Colorado, at least the snow would be taken care of, but skiing is still pretty expensive. Soccer is cheap. Just find a ball and some other people and voila, a game appears. Sophisticated? How about inexpensive?

But bring on the vuvuzelas. It used to be the custom in the church that during the Sanctus the Zimbelstern was used. (A Zimbelstern is a bell-star, or a bunch of bells on a ring that rotates against a clapper making the bells sound.) Perhaps the next time we celebrate communion vuvuzelas could be blown during the Sanctus, during the Words of Institution, at the conclusion to the Lord's Prayer. They definitely need to be brought to our church bodies' convention in July!