Winning Streak

Last week, almost every taxi driver I met asked me where I placed my money. Spain or Holland? Just to keep the conversation going, I told them i placed my money on Holland. Almost every one of them agreed with me. That’s where they placed their money. I didn’t tell them that not only did i not place a single peanut … oops, I mean cent betting on World Cup results, I didn’t even watch a single match of the World Cup. It doesn’t take too much to guess how I know which teams were in the final. Everyone was talking about it and it’s impossible not to know.
The results are out. Those taxi uncles must be driving really hard to recoup their losses now. Almost everyone I know bet on Holland winning the World Cup. Why? I have no idea as I still haven’t figured out what the game is all about. I’m sure these guys came to a rational decision after comparing the relative strengths of the two teams. Using the same principles, our local experts predicted that Germany would win the World Cup not so long ago. As usual, they were wrong. And some people really deserve it for listening to the experts.
I’m not sure if Paul the octopus watched the World Cup, but this slimy creature predicted that Spain would win and it did. Nobody would consider Paul an expert on the game and when it comes to soccer bets, people still trusted their own intelligence over that of a slimy eight-limbed creature.
Holland. Holland. Holland.
Turned out to be Spain, Spain, Spain.
Paul the octopus was right! So what did people do? Did they blame it on their poor judgement and admit defeat? No. They all wanted to “take revenge” (as if it’s the octopus’ fault) by eating octopus.

So much for human rationality. Wouldn’t it make more sense to beat up the Spaniards or Dutch?













