Future telling Octopus, what next? Paul, the ‘Octopus Oracle’ has predicted the outcome of the World Cup final. Unbelievable, or the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard?
The media attention which Paul has received is raising eyebrows with the superstitious. Many people – including Roar columnist Adrian Musolino – have deliberately chosen to support the opposite team to whatever Paul has chosen in the hope that it’s all a load of codswallop.
Unfortunately, Paul is yet to be defeated.
Paul rose to fame after predicting the outcome of all of Germany’s six World Cup matches, including their loss to Serbia, and stunning victory over the Socceroos.
Trust the industrious nation of Germany to come up with such a bizarre method of predicting the outcome of matches, especially since Nostradamus gave no inclination during his time as to who would lift the trophy in 2010.
How much faith are people genuinely placing in Paul, and how far are people willing to go in order to come up with other weird and unusual methods of predicting the outcome of sporting events?
There have been suggestions for a Psychic Skippy to be employed to foresee the outcome of domestic codes, I’m sure other nations are coming up with their own mascot to take up future telling duties.
But do we really believe this is possible, or has Paul just got lucky…very lucky?
At first it was considered a good laugh, a conversation starter and something to mull over at the water cooler:
“How bout that Octopus huh, Jeez, he’s a genius.”
Now, regular TV programming is being interrupted in order to get Paul’s opinion on the biggest sporting event in the world.
I for one think this is going to become an even bigger farce than it already is. People are gullible and could take this all too literally. Could you imagine someone literally putting their house on a prediction from Paul, only for him to have an off day, or for it to be the stupidest thing anyone has ever taken notice in?
If I were his owner, now would be the time to capitalize on Paul’s fame, and try to earn a fortune from the creature. He should be capable of being “floated” on the German Stock Exchange, and the initial subscriber share sale should set the owner up for life.
Problem with that is that there are risks inherent in Paul getting it wrong…especially if the business was conducted with football gamblers from certain South American countries. Paul might the need 24-hour protection, or he might end up on a platter.
On the other hand, the owner might have grown very attached to this phenomenon of the deep, and might wish to keep “it” as a member of the family, or, perhaps on display for people to gawk at (for a fee of course).
Perhaps we should enquire as to whether or not Paul sub contracts. We could give him a host of tasks such as whether or not Australia will ever win a World Cup?
Problem is, once Paul starts to lose his knack of getting it right, his value will plummet, even to his owner, and ultimately, he will end up being “cooked”.
Ah! fame, such a fickle beast.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Considering that Paul lifespan won't allow him to live to 2014. I suggest that Paul is cryogenically frozen until the 2014 World Cup and then again for the 2018, 2022, 2026
Midfielder
Guest
I suggest we all register on the ........save Paul ...........site
Lee
Guest
Interesting theory, in fact some claim that when there is a major global event ie 9/11, boxing day tsunami, that random number generators around te world generated numbers that formed sequences, some hold this up as evidence of a "global consciousness", ofcourse you could argue there will always be some form f a sequence in random numbers if you look hard enough.
Lee
Guest
That assumes that each flip of the coin effects the next one. Assuming the flips of a coin(octopus picking a box) are an independent event, then each time the odds of him picking right are 0.5. Sound unlikely that the octopus would get them all right? Or even taking the odds above of 0.78%. Which is 78 out of 10000, roughly 1 in 100, now remember how many aquariums and zoos in the work have probably tried to get their octopus/near/mmanitee to pick the winners and suddenly in 100 doesn't sound to unlikely. In fact probably more surprising that more animals haven't picked them all.
Redb
Roar Guru
Paul is retiring on top and will no doubt feature in the next series of Masterchef, although he should have read the contract more carefully :-)
Roger
Guest
If only I had of put my trust in the octopus!! haha
Tim
Guest
As Dominic points out, demonstrably untrue. I also think you give Paul's handlers far too much credit, considering the unorthodox nature of several predictions (Serbia to beat Germany? And Germany went into the match against Spain as favourites).
Dominic Herzberg
Roar Rookie
http://www.krakepaul.com/ Picture at the top, germany won and was on the left side ;)
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
Pauli always went for the Mussel in the right hand box - after a couple of times it became a habit. The handlers put the flag of the team they thought would win on the right hand box. Octopussies only live 2 years, so he'll miss the next WC. They have nine brains, one for each leg and one for their head. Imagine if professional footballers had a brain in their heads and one for each leg. :)
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
apaway- What level have you achieved at playing GK? FACT: Kalac was Number 2 GK at AC Milan (205-09), which is one of the most prestigious Football clubs in the world. They don't sign & re-sign rubbish footballers. I reckon Kalac's GK credentials can only be lampooned or negatively critiqued by someone, who also has successfully displayed technical proficiency in Goalkeeping at a reasonable professional level.
apaway
Guest
He was a great shot stopper when at his best. Unfortunately, there's a lot more to goalkeeping than that.
JohnB
Guest
Paul only seems amazing because we don't hear about all the octopi tipping the WC in every other bar in Germany and getting their tips wrong.
Marcel
Guest
Lets let him decide the federal election.
Tim
Guest
If you actually look at the flags of the countries involved in the matches that Paul has predicted, this theory doesn't hold water at all. The Australian and English flags have as much red as the German flag, which has, again, as much red as the Netherlands flag, which has the same colours as the Serbian flag. In fact, the only match Paul predicted in which one team did not have any red on its flag was the Germany-Argentina match. The same was the case in Euro 2008, where the octopus picked Germany to beat Portugal, despite Portugal's predominantly red flag, and Germany to beat Turkey, despite the fact that Turkey's flag has even more red than Germany's.
John
Guest
Octopus, journalist, apart from the number of limbs on one and the capacity for alcohol of the other, is there that much difference?
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
hahahahah clasic I have cut and pasted that and emailed to some work mates. thanks Dominic
Dominic Herzberg
Roar Rookie
I did a line up of all the bets you could have set based on the predictions of Paul for my Blog. Names in German but I think it is clear ;) If you would've started with 100 € Deutschland : Australien Quote 1,55 155,00 € Deutschland : Serbien Quote 5,50 852,50 € Deutschland : Ghana Quote 1,55 1.321,37 € Deutschland : England Quote 2,87 3.792,34 € Deutschland : Argentinien Quote 3,30 12.514,74 € Deutschland : Spanien Quote 2,65 33.164,06 € Spanien : Holland Quote 2,1 69.644,54 € Not bad for an octopus.
Roger
Guest
Actually, I found the SBS commentators to be bandwagon opinionists with no real insight into the games. If I had of wanted to hear negative commentators with little insight, I would've switched to FoxSports. I expected more from SBS.
Roger
Guest
Hahaha. Well I for one would've thought that it would make much more sense for a PERSON to pick winners than an OCTOPUS. Maybe that's just me?
apaway
Guest
You got me, Andy!