Marlins Bring in Vuvuzelas

If you've watched any of the World Cup this year, you've noticed two things:

1.) The referees suck, and
2.) The annoying buzzing sound that permeates every inch of your viewing pleasure.

That noise, which is made by a South African horn called a vuvuzela, has received more attention than almost anything else involving the World Cup (which is a real shame given how good the games have been thus far). It is INCREDIBLY annoying and while you do start to get used to it after sitting through a dozen or so games, it's not really something you want during your sports viewing.

So, naturally, while everyone in the world who is not South African is talking about how horrible these vuvuzelas are, another organization has jumped on the annoying bandwagon. This weekend, during an interleague series with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Florida Marlins decided it would be a great idea to pass out vuvuzelas to all the fans who attended the game. The result was an obnoxious, ear splitting, insanity inducing buzz that overtook the ballpark and eventually led to a costly miscommunication between the home team's manager and the home plate umpire.

I get the need for give aways and promotions, especially if you're a Marlins team that sells, on average, 16,000 tickets a game. (And probably seats no more than 5,000 if the recent weekend series with the Rangers is anything to go by.) But really, Marlins brass? Really?! This vuvuzela thing is getting panned worldwide for the annoyance and general disruption that it causes and you think the smart thing to do is to bring them across the pond and integrate them into Major League Baseball, the most resistant-of-change institution our country has to offer? Terrible idea! And what if this catches on? Will we see every ballpark filled with horn blowing fools who've eaten too many dollar hot dogs and drank too many beers? Have we learned nothing from the 2002 Angels and the evil they brought into the world in the form of the Thunder Stick? If this trend takes off, I'm leading the caravan down to Miami to set fire to the Marlin offices. It would be the right thing to do.