BE AFRAID OF SOUTH AFRICA

In my first blog entry, I wrote about all of the stories I had been seeing about how scary, unsafe, unprepared South Africa was/is for tourists coming to see the World Cup. Concluding my trip here in SA, I find myself overlooking an amazing beach in Durban after a month of friendly faces, amazing experiences, and breathtaking scenery.

I know i have a day left here so I don’t want to jinx myself, but I have had no bad experiences with Great Whites(although I had some good ones), no issues of theft, and even an eye-opening visit to a township outside of Knysna.

All this time, I would have been completely limited if I would have allowed myself to be controlled by what I read. Number One, if we had no car--and every article I read touched on the threat of carjacking--we would have NEVER seen the garden route and all its beautiful coastline.

It’s fine if you don’t want to believe what your reading right now, I’m ok with that, as long as you aren’t believing half of the other stuff you read that may prevent you from an experience of a lifetime. South Africa was GREAT and I will miss the people, the hikes, the elephants, the stadiums, the coastlines, the baboons, the hostels, the b&bs, the lakes, and the great roads. Thanks for doing a great job with the World Cup SA, hope to see you soon.

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Follow-up, I made it back home safe and sound with no issues in the last few days. I do miss the country, the cup, and the adventure of travel--Until next time!

Data Plans and Internet Cafes -- South Africa Edition

In South Africa, the name of the game is per mb downloaded/uploaded. Whether its cell phone data plans or bandwidth for the internet, you play more you pay more.

Talking to Scott Franzen, a mobile data consumer in Chintsa, South Africa, he was excited to tell me that they are starting to adopt the American way of flat fee pricing in the coming months for specific mobile data plans. It was interesting because they always see themselves as playing catchup to the American Tech game, but interestingly, many phones in the US may be adopting this per mb plan to keep usage down. When I told him we may be taking this approach as well, he laughed and said “I knew we were ahead of you guys this whole time!”

Even at the local internet cafe in Muizenberg, I was humbled to find out that spending an hour on the internet uploading a few albums to Flickr was going to cost me nearly $12! Unlike most internet cafes that I’ve visited around the world, these guys really wanted to get me for my bandwidth usage--no flat fee here.

I fear for my friends that may think that they are ok with a per mb plan if they so choose to use a provider with that system. It seems like the people of South Africa are much more aware of their data use and hardly ever opt to using this network for obvious reasons.

This concept made me think twice about my data consumption and made me at least feel good about my unlimited broadband and data plans back home. PLEASE DON'T GO TO A PER MB SYSTEM USA!!

Human Labor

Here in South Africa I’ve noticed that there are very frequently multiple people doing jobs that in the states would only take one. Instead of five tellers at the bank there are ten. Instead of ten police there are twenty. Instead of no housekeepers, there are two. There are just a lot more people available for cheap labor.

My guess is that the social classes here in SA are so vast that the “haves” can hire many more “have-nots” to make sure that a job gets done properly due to the social stratification. It has allowed for an overwhelming police presence at many of the soccer matches in and around the stadiums--which I will admit made me feel a bit safer wandering around a foreign city at 3AM a few Hansas deep.

It is staggering that the unemployment in this country is often estimated between 30 and 40%. This means that there are MANY people vying for any job or opportunity to earn any amount of money. That being said, I came across many people living in townships that weren't necessarily "employed" but loved their life just as it was...hanging out with friends and family and living off of the little land they had procured.

FIFA coming in with thick wallets were able to secure the stadiums, cities, and locker rooms ten times over. If you looked around the stadium, you would see that every square inch bordering the field was manned by police. There were cops everywhere and it definitely made us think twice about streaking the field.

With all of this instant employment, there were big disputes. At Moses Mabhida Stadium in durban, the police and security guards were promised a specific wage to be temporarily employed for the cup, but reports estimated that they received FAR less. In some cases, they were promised around $65 for a 12 hour shift and their post-shift pay check came out to only $25. While in South Africa, its not uncommon for people to live on roughly $2 a day, fair is fair and the guards were not happy.

I'm glad that some of the South Africans that wanted to work were able to for the short month of the cup, but I also hope that this influx in money was not just hoarded by the already wealthy corporations of South Africa. It is a shame when people are promised a wage and not given what they are worth. My hope is that the trickle-down theory in affect does work, but in a country still writhing from apartheid, my guess is the top are still on top and the people on the bottom won't really be the main benefactors.

Adventure Tech: EXTREME! Bungy Jumping Edition

Technology in adventure sports has come a long way in recent years. I never realized how safe and comfortable it could be launching 216 meters straight toward the ground.

Independence Day, 2010. As I stand atop the Bloukrans bridge outside of Plettenberg Bay, my mind races to justify why I am jumping off of this extremely high platform. If anything goes wrong, I plunge to certain death.

I spoke with FACE Adrenaline owner and bungy innovator AJ Hackett, to ask a few questions about his unique bungy setup. Hackett was the first to create commercial bungy jumping and even hurled himself off of the Eiffel Tower in 1987, so I figured he was a good guy to talk to about the safety and to hopefully settle my stomach.

"We use a special, custom bungy attached to the back side of the bridge to create a pendulum effect decreasing whiplash effects."

He also said that there have been 4 deaths in the 13 years they’ve been operating(it scared me as well to hear this) then he went on to say, “2 suicides, and 2 car accidents above the jump site--so its 100% safe.”

FACE Adrenaline suit you with a full body harness and backup carabiner used in case the bungy for some reason comes free from your legs. The Bungy that Hackett has perfected over the years is constantly honed to increase comfort and minimize chance of injury--a bit different than the vines used by the indigenous of Vanuatu. Hacket uses his own custom, unbraided cords in which the latex strands are exposed. These give a softer, longer bounce and can even be produced at home--I'm not saying you should create your own, but its possible. Many other bungies are made from factory produced, braided cords with a tight outer cover for a shorter bounce.

The rush from this is unreal. My brain had no idea why the earth was coming so fast!

With a friendly and encouraging staff, I felt safe and had a great experience that I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy! EXTREME!

Jabulani: Celebration for whom?

Before the World Cup, the Jabulani was introduced by Adidas citing their blueprints for what was to be the roundest, most accurate ball to date. Every four years they say this and every four years there are complaints. This is the first time that as a fan, I could actually see what the disgruntled players are talking about.

Skyrocketing ball after ball is prevalent when watching an under-16 youth league match, but its hard for me to believe it when players such as Messi and Fernando Torres are missing routine goals by launching them meters over the bar. As for the ones that actually do go in, they look like they completely change trajectory in the air, dipping, diving, and hitting the net, but seemingly not where the player wanted it to go. (eg. Schweinsteiger’s shot leading to Muller’s goal vs. Uruguay in 3rd place match)

Some people I generally trust about scientific research, NASA, agree that this ball is very unpredictable (Watch this video from "4-4-2") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFX7laMy3q4&feature=player_embedded

With all of Adidas’ AeroGrooves and thermally bonded panels, the ball just doesn’t seem normal. In trying to create a sophisticated and intelligent ball, it really took away from the fact that players don’t normally play with a ball like this and we’ve seen it be very difficult to control...not to mention it skipping away and out of bounds during many through ball attempts.

While I like to think that these players are good enough to play with any ball, and we’ve seen that to an extent they can, why doesn’t Adidas just stick to what they know and not make it such a controversy before, during and after each cup?

Video Ads? Not a focus on the pitch

Online advertising’s trend away from banners to video seems to be the opposite direction the World Cup is taking to reach the masses.

I have been privileged enough to attend matches at three different stadiums here in South Africa and each only has one maybe two Jumbotrons...if you can even call them that--not very jumbo.

Green Point Stadium here in Cape Town is one of the newest, most state of the art soccer stadiums in the World. Primary form of advertising? The sideline banner.

While this is true, the banners aren't your standard, old school, wooden signs of the past. It's basically one long monitor that has the ability to completely change as the game's being played.

Watching these signs change was pretty impressive from a marketing standpoint.

While paying attention to the screens, it seemed to me that a company can go ahead and buy any specific minute of the game that they want to control, determine which section of the screen they want for that period, and display their ad. It even allowed for advertisers to perform complete, full field takeovers.

This subconscious advertising is very interesting and can say a lot about what times the fans are paying the most attention, which side of the field may see more action, and which games may be more profitable for different advertisers based on the viewers.

This type of advertising also trumps the old style by being able to change creative relatively quickly. If a company wants to rebrand their name, they should be able to do it hours before or even on the fly since its merely a video image opposed to a pre-printed sign. It can also allow for many more advertisers than the traditional method as it can change all the time.

I like to see this type of innovation that is easy on the eyes and actually makes way for an uninterrupted flow of game by simply branding the action. As long as there are no TV timeouts and interruptions in play, I like seeing these field length monitors.

How Can I Watch Soccer Without that ANNOYING Horn?

The skillfully produced and highly technological hollow piece of plastic called the Vuvuzela is now the buzz heard ‘round the world. Here in South Africa, there is little debate as to whether it should be here--but my friends back home have even said "you aren't one of those people with that annoying horn are you?"(I am)

While the Vuvu creates energy and entertainment for the fans in attendance, I guess it can be a little annoying for fans to hear this beehive every time they want to watch a match on TV.

Because of this, I have to tell you of a possible solution: the anti-vuvuzela mp3. This counters the sound with an inverted phase to the standard vuvuzela sound creating interference.

For just 3 Euros, it can be yours! http://antivuvuzelafilter.com/ Enjoy!