Today, while watching the German vs. Argentina soccer match, I finally decided to look up the “vuvuzela” – also known as the “annoying soccer buzz horn” heard during the South African World Cup. The vuvuzela sounds like an army of hornets screaming a B♭at 120 decibels.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter responded to complaints about the vuvuzela by saying, “We should not try to Europeanise an African World Cup…that is what African and South Africa football is all about: noise, excitement, dancing, shouting and enjoyment.”

Call me crazy but isn’t “noise, excitement, dancing, shouting and enjoyment” universally associated with soccer? Moreover, the current vuvuzela is not traditionally “African.” The instrument is less than fifty years old and likely is an attempt to copy the Brazilian corneta.