Psychic Pig to predict the outcome of Euro 2012

These omnivores and highly social animals are considered to be intelligent; they are frequently referenced for idioms and famous quotes – still are not considered important and are rated lowly.  

More than the IPL glamour that we had, Europe would clamour for Euro 2012 – the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship - the 14th European Championship for national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8^th  June and 1^st  July 2012. It is the first time that either nation has hosted the tournament.  The tourney features 16 nations, the last European Championship to do so (from Euro 2016 onward, there will be 24 finalists). Qualification was contested by 51 nations between August 2010 and November 2011 to join the two host nations in the tournament. The winner of the tournament gains automatic entry to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Brazil. 

Would you be interested in seeing or following the matches and would you be interested in predicting the winner of the tourney !  It is but human to exhibit a passion to know what would occur in future – at times arising out of fear, one would keep thinking of what future holds in store.  For centuries, mankind has attempted various methods in knowing the future though some would question the rationality of  reading the future or fortune telling, as they call it.  There are Psychics – some who possess ability to perceive information hidden from normal senses through extrasensory perception (ESP). Many believe in horoscopes and astrology. Astrology is stated as the Science of foretelling the future of people. There are some astrologers who use animals for foretelling.

Commonly, in India we see astrologers with green parrot in cage, parrot sliding out of the cage, picking up a card and fortune being read from the card so picked.  There are people who carry slender loris too….    During the FIFA World Cup, Paul the Octopus received International recognition after he correctly predicted Germany’s win over England and made four more correct predictions after that.  Challenging the Octopus was a Parakeet called Mani, a Malaysian bornnRose-ringed Parakeet resident of Singapore and an astrologer 'assistant' engaged in fortune prediction. In Western countries also, there is tarot and tarot readers – pack of cards used by mystics and occultists in efforts at divination.

After Paul the Octopus,  now comes a psychic pig to predict Euro 2012 – yes a Pig like the one seen here,  is set to take over where Paul the Octopus left off.  The pig would be predicting the results of matches at the European championships in Ukraine and Poland.  Kiev’s city government said  it would wheel out the porky tipster to give daily forecasts once the tournament kicks off. “A unique oracle hog, a real Ukrainian pig and a psychic which knows the mysteries of football,” a statement said. “Every day at 16.00 it will predict the result of the upcoming match.”

Paul the Octopus was not alone; a rare two-headed tortoise called Magdalena embarked on a new career as a tipster at last year’s ice hockey world championships in Slovakia and there was the German cross-eyed opossum called Heidi, who made an appearance on American television earlier this year to predict the Oscar winners.  Now comes the hog, which will be anxious to sniff out the correct result himself to avoid the chop as pork is a staple of the local cuisine.

The official mascots for Euro 2012 are - Slavek and Slavko, twins  representing Polish and Ukrainian footballers in national colours.  The names of the mascots were chosen in the web voting. They were designed by Warner Bros.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

29^th May 2012.