What's Up With the World Cup Logo?

Okay, first it is confession time. I am not much of a soccer fan. I will occasionally go to the soccer games of a friend of ours, and I enjoy those well enough, but mainly because I know one of the participants. All of these World Cup games really don’t mean much of anything to me. I much prefer good old American football.

Back in the old days, I would have felt like I was in the majority. But these days, due to all the social media posts of people going on and on about each of the World Cup matches, I am starting to feel very much a part of the minority. And when we were in Florida recently, there were several foreign tourists there, as there always are, and they seemed to all be glued to whatever television was showing a match, if they weren’t watching one on their phones. So soccer is definitely gaining in popularity in this country, catching up with the other countries of the world.

It seems like you can’t get away from soccer right now, too. Not that I am actively trying to avoid it, but it just seems to be there, no matter which way I turn. For example, the 2014 World Cup logo is on the side of the last box of Coca-Cola cans that I bought:

Once again, I will remind you that I don’t know everything there is to know about soccer. The main things that I know about the game are: 1. Kick the ball into the goal, and 2. Don’t use your hands (unless you are the goalie).

So given #2 above, I have to ask the question: What is up with the World Cup logo? It looks like a soccer ball made out of hands. Or maybe if it isn’t a soccer ball made out of hands, it might be a bunch of hands grabbing on to a soccer ball. But neither of those make any sense, because you can’t use your hands in soccer. What’s going on here?

I suppose it is easier to make a soccer ball out of a bunch of hands instead of a bunch of feet. Because feet don’t bend very well, after all. Not to mention that soccer socks can be awfully stinky, especially after a game. Trust me on this - I know, based on when Jaylin played elementary school soccer. Hands are definitely easier to manipulate, and they smell better, too. Usually. Unless you ate an extra-drippy sardine sandwich right before your match.

I’m sure the logo has some great overall meaning, such as “Uniting the hands of the world through soccer,” or something like that. That is a noble meaning, and it does seem to be true when you see people from many different, sometimes not-so-friendly countries participate in a (mostly) friendly game of soccer.

But still, couldn’t they have used something besides the one thing you can’t use in a soccer game?