Thursday, Dec. 09, 2010
Paul the Octopus
No figure was more polarizing during the 2010 World Cup than Paul the Octopus, who secured his place in soccer history by correctly predicting the outcomes of eight of the tournament's matches. Prior to each contest, the magical mollusk — a resident of the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany — was presented with two clear boxes, each containing food and the flag from one of the countries whose team was getting ready to play. His game picks were logged by which snack he ate first, and through this setup, he successfully called each of Germany's seven games as well as Spain's victory over the Netherlands in the final. Paul's "psychic" powers spawned an iPhone app and some cool T-shirts before October, when he died of natural causes.