The Dugout: The Day the Horrible Music Died

Summer's here, and that means aside from baseball, the other sport considered most boring by many Americans, known as soccer, is in full swing with the World Cup.

I don't know how many of the games you've been watching (I've managed to catch a few here and there, but my brother's the one who's keeping the stats on this one), but early on in the tournament, crews, coaches, and TV audiences complained of a horrible noise being emitted from the TV. It was a perpetual buzzing sound and it sounded as if the cameras were parked next to a swarming South African killer beehive.

This annoying sound was not bees, but rather a souvenir plastic horn with a provocative-sounding name: "vuvuzela".

Though the loud, familiar plastic ones were invented by a South African man as a rival to the infamous "thundersticks" here in the US, vuvuzelas were allowed to stay and be blown during the games because apparently, REAL vuvuzelas are a part of African culture and since South Africa is, well, in Africa, it seems only right that they should be allowed to stay.

So how the hell does a loud plastic horn with a name that's sure to raise eyebrows in translation tie in with this baseball site?

Well, some crafty Americans managed to purchase a few back here in the US and decided to let them loose at Yankee Stadium.

Needless to say, Hal Steinbrenner was not amused.

The Dugout: The Day the Horrible Music Died

Bye everyone! Go Team USA!

tamtam