Come Blow Your Horn

Nothing energizes team spirit like the clarion call of the faithful.   The first time I took the light rail to a Ravens game (a religious experience in itself) the train was packed tighter than the clown car at the circus.   After pulling out of  Patapsco (where not another soul could be wedged in) the operator announced we'd be expressing to M&T.   The crowd cawed in jubulation.  Not just little chirps, but full throated caws. It sounded like a flock of crows in a cornfield.  It was thrilling.  (OK, goofy -- but still thrilling)

The entire train was electrified (and still cawwing) when the doors opened and chorus tumbled onto the platform.  I could only imagine what a full stadium of blood curdling cawwers would sound like.   But although I have seen devices from sporting goods stores sold on the sidewalks, I've never heard them in the stands.  I guess coordinating bird calls isn't exactly like conducting woodwinds at BSO.  We need to work on that.

I bring this up now because I just learned of a new contraption indigenous to South Africa that has been incorporated into soccer celebration.   It's called a vuvuzela, and it sounds like someone with oversized adenoids giving a Bronx cheer.  Next to the droning vuvuzela, a digeridoo is dulcet.  And it leaves the caw caws in the dust.

The vuvuzela, once used to call elders to tribal councils, has historic and cultural significance.  It celebrates the unique character and national pride South Africa feels in its multicultural heritage.  It will no doubt become one of the most memorable aspects of the 2010 World Cup games.  The "vuvuzela effect" debuted at the Confederations Cup and quickly gained iconic status as the latest in home field advantages.  The fainthearted have been warned -- pack your earplugs and/or Excedrine.

So don't wait for the first match of the series.  Try it yourself   http://www.boxofficefootball.com/blow-the-virtual-vuvuzela-go-on/

Orchestrate a few these trumpets and it creates a buzz not unlike a cluster of Indy Cars on a hairpin turn.  (Just think --you won't have to travel halfway across the globe for that auditory experience.  Come to Baltimore next August.)

Anyway, our successful efforts to make Maryland part of a World Cup bid, the upcoming match between Manchester City and Inter Milan, this weekend's lacrosse championship, and the confirmed Indy Race have us all excited.  So indulge us as we toot our horn a bit.

(At least it's not a vuvuzela.)