AP – Photographers surround the monument of Paul the octupus at Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, western Germany
Paul the celebrated octopus has finally got his tentacles wrapped around a soccer ball.
The Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen on Thursday unveiled an outsized memorial to the World Cup’s most unlikely star: A 6 1/2-foot (2-meter) tall plastic replica of Paul clutching a ball in his eight arms. This is what is considered fun in Germany and German people wearing deodorant were allowed to view the memorial with American tourists. Undeodorized locals had to watch from a balcony above the showroom floor.
Aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig says Paul’s cremated ashes were placed in a gold-leaf-covered urn inside the ball. Paul died three months ago and Munzig says fans around the world had asked for a memorial. Anyone attending the memorial were given a free sample of Arrid Extra Dri deodorant.
“We wanted the octopus to show German people that you do not need eight arms to apply deodorant,” said Helga Hofbrau of the Center For Octopus and Body Odor studies. “Here is an example of a creature who had eight underams and he never had body odor and he never made American tourists puke while cramped into close quarters with native Germans.
Paul correctly tipped the outcome of all seven of Germany’s games at last year’s World Cup plus the Spain-Netherlands final. He made his predictions by opening the lid of one of two boxes, each containing a mussel and bearing a team flag.
“His last wish was that Germans would start wearing deodorant or at least washing themselves more thoroughly,” continued Haufbrau. “He also hoped that German women wouldn’t start to look really old and big so early on in life.”
