In Defense Of The Vuvuzela...

There's controversy surrounding the World Cup because of a noisemaker called the Vuvuzela (not pictured).

If you've watched any of the games, it essentially sounds like there's a perpetual buzz.

In fact, while watching the United States' final friendly against Australia, my girlfriend was first convinced that there were bees in my apartment, and then kindly asked me to mute the TV.
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It's gotten so bad that on Sunday, the organizer of the World Cup said they are considering banning them from the games.

Now you would think, being a neophyte to the sport, I'd be all for this decision.

You'd be wrong.
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During the World Cup, we're guests of the country of South Africa.

This month is for that country to showcase its cultural and traditions.

For one month every four years, I take an intense interest in the beautiful game, and then it falls to the backburner (like many Americans who are casual soccer fans).

But while I'm in that world, who am I to start dictating how people enjoy themselves?

It's not my sport.

It's not my country.

My job is to observe, to learn, to appreciate.

Not to start calling the shots.

If that's the tradition, that's the tradition.

Would I like someone from abroad to come here and end "the wave" (of course I would, it's godawful, but that's not really part of my rhetorical argument)?
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Soccer and sports are about expressions of who you are and what you want to be.

If that's how the fans of South Africa and from around the world want to enjoy their game: cool.
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I was a Cameron Crazy in college.

We had strange chants, rituals, face-paintings.

We were a bunch of nerds who slept out in the cold for 6 weeks, to try to heckle North Carolina's basketball players.

It was strange and bizarre.

If I were an outsider in Cameron, I'd think, what an annoying freakshow (that was always the point).

As a Cameron crazy, I wouldn't want someone telling me how to or how not to cheer.
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So if that's what makes the fans in South Africa happy, I say, Vuvuzela away my friends.

It's better than letting Bieber sing. (callback!)