World Cup Death Watch

I love soccer. I hate death.

So what to do when World Cup rolls around and the two get entwined in a month-long headlock?

Answer: The World Cup Death Watch.

Here's how it works: Guess how many people will perish worldwide in World Cup-related violence between June 9th and July 9th. Get your guess in by 11:59pm on June 19th, EST. Whoever comes closest wins a WFMU Messenger bag filled with CDs, T-shirts and other sundry WFMU crapola. Bear in mind, we're not talking just about deaths in Germany! We're counting arson in Australia, deadly bar brawls in Brazil, homicidal hooliganism in Helsinki, just as long as the World Cup is implicated in a news report of said incident. More rules below, but first a wrap-up of World Cup weirdness to get you started:

Sex slaves being smuggled in to Germany to populate giant World Cup Brothel in Berlin.

Brits seize passports from 3,500 known soccer hooligans to prevent them from going to Germany.

Incessant flag-waving likely to be deadly.

Domestic violence sites worldwide gear up for increase in World Cup related battered women crimes.

Germans say: It will all be the fault of Polish hooligans!

German police will hum loudly when British hooligans sing their silly songs.

Nine million extra pints of beer to be consumed in UK during Wolrd Cup: no relation to forthcoming "summer of violence."

British World Cup video at youtube, via Moritz from Sound Scavengers

And dont forget this amazing Russian soccer brawl video.

Now get your guesses in. You can follow the official count with this link here. Follow the jump for the fine print.

World Cup Death Watch Rules:

• Only one guess per IP number.
• No pre- or post- World Cup deaths count. Death must occur between 12:01am on June 9th and 11:59pm on July 9th, Berlin time.
• In case of a tie, the earlier guess wins, and in case of an over-under tie, the lower guess wins.
• If you really want to win, leave a valid e-mail address. If your e-mail address is invalid, I'll go to the next closest guess. Feel free to put a fake address in the required field and then spell out your real e-mail address in the body of the comment if you're concerned about spam-bots.
• Deaths must be violence or mayhem related, eg: plane crashes don't count unless marauding hooligans have stormed the cabin, causing the plane to crash.
• Work the word "hooligan" and its many variations into your guess for extra credit.
• More rules to be devised as the need arises.

Comments

[world cup 2010]

Hopefully therell be no goal against their own side`s murders.