Picks for the Final Weekend

My quarterfinal and semifinal picks were lousy. I got half right both rounds. Listening to me is no different than consulting a flipped coin. It makes no difference, but I have Deutschland in the 3rd-place game and Nederland in the final. Yep, "Hup Holland!" I agree with what comedian Drew Carey said on NPR last night from Cape Town, that Spain is his head's pick, and Holland is his heart's. I'll go with heart.

One fellow you probably should pay attention to, if you aren't already, is Paul the Octopus. A resident of Oberhausen, Germany's Sea Life aquarium, Paul has somewhat absurdly garnered worldwide media attention by correctly picking each of the games Germany has been involved with, including their losses to both Serbia and Spain. After the Spain loss, German fans reportedly posted death threats on his Facebook page (where 2,667 people say they "like" him as of this morning), threatening to turn him into sushi. But as they say, "Don't eat the messenger." On the other hand, Spaniards have adopted him as their own, adoringly gushing over "El Pulpo Paul." Here's the video of Paul picking Spain to win the final (he also picked Germany over Uruguay)...

Note all of the clicking in the background from a phalanx of international photographers documenting this international news event, which was broadcast live throughout Europe.

If mollusks don't do it for you, Mani, a parakeet from Singapore, has weighed in with his pick of Holland in the final...

Sadly, Mani does not appear to have a Facebook page.