The Tongue King: a little tongue-in-cheek

In honor of Euro 2008 and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, I'd like to share with you about Lällekönig (aka The Tongue King of Basel, Switzerland)... Basel being one of the venues for the football (aka soccer) finals.

"And there is the tongue king," Val stated proudly while gesturing towards the figure prominently perched upon the "Greater Basel" building with its' gaze and... er... tongue projected across the Rhine towards "Lesser Basel."

Seriously?? I thought she was kidding at first, but, no, there he was looking like a cat with a hairball or rather a dog with peanut butter! Apparently there's quite a rivalrous history between two sides of Basel... obviously... I mean, one side went so far as to mount a mechanical head in 1640(!) that uses a clock mechanism to constantly roll its' eyes and stick it's tongue out at the other side. I wonder if the designers snickered mischeviously? I wonder if they had any clue that it would still be there almost 400 years later?!?! (See video at end of blog... ok, it's a replica, but the original is in a museum.)

Oh please... :::gasping for breath::: give me a moment while I have a laughter break and can't type.

OK, in honor of Euro 2008, let's take it out of the historical city rivalry realm and put it onto the soccer... er... football field... Each night I hear the passionate "YEEAAAAHHH!!!" cheers or disappointed "ohhhh!!"s from the dozen or so coffee/sports-bars around my apartment building... and I can always tell who the locals are rooting for and who they are... uh... sticking their tongue out at.

Last night they were disappointed that Russia lost to Spain... and before that when Turkey lost to Germany (yet they cheered for Croatia against Turkey... hmm..). Makes me wonder who they'll cheer or jeer for this Sunday at the finals.

Anyways, thanks for joining me in the stretch of an attempt to tie the "Tongue King" to the Euro Finals. Now enjoy the video of the Lällekönig and laugh with me. :)