If you do not know Paul the Octopus you probably haven't watched any TV in the past month or you're not German. The telepathic multi-legged beast has been thrown into celebrity status after he has gotten every prediction right so far. Too bad you can’t take him with you to play pokergames - a sort of “betting talisman”, the likes of which haven’t been seen since Rain Man.
Basically 2 glass boxes are lowered into his tank with identical foods inside them. Both of the boxes have a flag of the contending nation in front of them. So far the predictions have been only for the homeland(or water) Germany but recently he predicted the final. If he gets these final two games his score will be a magnificent 100%. True Oracle amongst us.
Paul The Octopuses career:
| Game: | Paul: | Result: | Correct: |
| GER-AUS | Germany | 4-0 | Yes |
| GER-SRB | Serbia | 0-1 | Yes |
| GER-GHA | Germany | 1-0 | Yes |
| GER-ENG | Germany | 4-1 | Yes |
| GER-ARG | Germany | 4-0 | Yes |
| SPA-GER | Spain | 0-1 | Yes |
| URU-GER | Germany | To be seen | |
| SPA-HOL | Spain | To be seen | |
Staggering 100% correct, how does he do it? Only Paul knows. If humans can be tributed psychic abilities why not animals? Some say he might like the horizontal colors or brighter colors but that doesn't explain how he has picked Germany over Spain during the EURO 2008 and lost but when facing the same teams second time, picked Spain and got it right. Did he learn? Did someone whisper the right prediction to him or was the food really that more tasteful? There are more questions than answers but the fact is, no-one knows why Paul is that good.
After he predicted Spain as the winner in the Semi-Finals Germans turned on their new love and wanted to brutally cook and eat him for what he had done. The Oracle was offered refugee and protection from the Spanish government but the people working with Paul hoped for the best and left him at his home. After all harpooning the messenger is wrong and he would probably see it coming anyway and go into hiding.
Know Paul's secret? Do you have a dog that has earned you much more in predicting sport bets? Tell us and let us in on the money. :)
