The Forward Technology Conference took place at the Memorial Union on the UW campus on Friday and was a huge success.  Over 120 Madison entrepreneurs, techies, investors and other tech savvy Madisonians attended the inaugural FTC2010 to hear from some of the most interesting people in the Madison technology scene.

FTC2010 was only a small part of the 10 day long Forward Technology Festival, which was sort of a “taste of Madison” but for all of the tech and entrepreneur focused groups in town.  The Forward Technology Festival was the brainchild of Preston Austin, who had the foresight to try to bring all of the different tech groups in town together in a week long celebration.  FTF2010 included High Tech Happy Hour, Capital Entrepreneurs, Sector67, BarCamp and other tech focused events.

FTC Highlights

The Forward Technology Conference kicked off with a panel called Entrepreneur 101, which featured four successful Madison entrepreneurs: Greg Tracy (Sharendipity), Dan Voell (GoBuzz), Chad Sorenson (Flamedisk) and Roy Elkins (Broadjam) and was moderated by Bryan Chan (Supranet).  The panelists talked about their successes and lessons they’ve learned over their careers in the startup game.  All of the entrepreneurs talked about staying focused as one of they keys to their success.

Next up was All About LLCs featuring attorney Joseph Boucher of Neider and Boucher and Kevin Kelbel an accountant from Smith & Gesteland LLP moderated by Matt Younkle (Y-Innovation).  Boucher and Kelbel talked about the different types of business entities and shared stories about why different companies should choose LLCs, S or C corps.

After a quick lunch break, we did an hour of breakout sessions with topics proposed from the attendees.  We ended up with a wide range of topics and settled on four.  First was how to run an intern program led by Jesse Davis of Entrustet.  The second group was about what a shared hackerspace in Madison should look like, led by Chris Meyer of Sector67.  Another session was about biomimicry, with the last session focusing on the future of the web and HTML5 (hosted by Momenta’s Dan Gordon).

The final panel of the day was all about design, branding and identity.  It featured John Besmer (Planet Propaganda), Wesley Grubbs (Pitch Interactive), Andy Wallman (Knupp & Watson & Wallman), Gage Mitchell (Gage Mitchell Design) and was moderated by Dan Merfeld, (TheoryThree Interactive).  This was one of the more fun panels of the day and featured spirited discussion on the pros and cons of large and small design shops.  The panelists stressed that brands need consistent messaging across all platforms or their marketing won’t work.  My favorite quote of the day came from Besmer “If you’re thinking about your marketing when its time to do marketing, its way too late.”

We rolled on into my favorite part of the day: Pitch Your Biz.  5 startups had 5 minutes each to present their ideas to the crowd and then the crowd had 5 minutes to provide feedback, ideas and ways to improve the business.  Biz Pitchers included Heidi Allstop (Student Spill), Derek Swoboda (Golf Links Cafe), Joseph Beck (Loacsys), Justin Beck (PerBlue) and Mudit Tyagi (Open ADC).

I love this format because it keeps the participants and the audience on their toes.  The audience can’t fall asleep, since the pitches come fast and furious and there’s a new one every five minutes.  All of the startups did a great job, as did the audience.  My personal favorites were Student Spill, which I think has the potential to be a game changer by bringing support groups online, but with a tweak and PerBlue.  Justin Beck from PerBlue is always an entertaining speaker because he is right to the point, provides compelling stats and doesn’t mince words.  All five startups did a great job and Laurie Benson (Innacom) was a phenomenal MC.

Fred Foster of Electronic Theater Controls was the keynote speaker and told the story of how he founded ETC while he was still in school at UW.  He told war story after war story about his battles growing the company into what it is today: $200m in revenue and 700+ employees.  Foster had the audience laughing every few minutes and I could have listened to him tell stories for as long as he wanted to talk.  I thought it was awesome that when he started the company, he wanted to sell theater controls to The Met and 20 years later, he actually did it.  Talk about perseverance!

After the keynote, we put on a reception above the union terrace, right on the lake.  The weather was perfect and I enjoyed talking with all of the attendees and learning about their current projects.

I really enjoyed FTC2010 and am hoping to make it an annual event.  I know that with a full year to prepare, we can do an even better job and get more people in town to attend.  Madison is turning into a startup hub in the Midwest.  TechCrunch noticed.  Forbes noticed and the local media is starting to take note.  The Forward Tech Conference is another step in the right direction and one that I hope continues to put Madison on the map!

Did you attend FTC2010?  What was your favorite part of the festival? Do you have any suggestions or feedback?

                          

My guess is that young people who want jobs are getting pushed out of the market by older, more experienced and more reliable employees because of unemployment in other areas of the economy.  With unemployment near 10% and underemployment much higher, people are starting to support their families with mall jobs.

I think the other factor in play is that many middle/upper class teens now don’t want to get jobs.  They’d rather get internships rather than work a job that they believe is “beneath” them or they’d rather do nothing at all and hang out with their friends all summer.

It does make sense though.  Teens are generally more unreliable than older people who need the job to support themselves or their families and the immigrants working the foodcourt seem to work (much) harder than the average high school junior.  It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out as the recession continues.  Will older workers stay in the workforce longer and prevent younger people from being hired?  Will younger people (even those with college degrees) have to accept “lower status” jobs?  I think it’s likely.  The only way out is for companies to start creating more jobs, which I don’t see as being likely on a mass scale in the current economic climate.  It’s going to be an interesting next few years.

What do you think?  Do you see the same phenomenon in your area?

                          

Introducing the Entrustet music video “What My Assets Will Become” a cover of All the Things I’ve Done by The Killers.  Daniel Thompson plays the piano and with Rob Howard on the camera.  I hope you enjoy…I know we all had a ton of fun with it.

                          

After some work, we settled on the Forward Technology Festival, headlined by Forward Technology Conference, Barcamp, High Tech Happy Hour, Capital Entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurship, startup and technology events in Madison.

We’ve partnered with the founders of the Forward Music Festival and have an eye toward unifying the dates for the music and tech festival in the future.

This year’s Forward Tech Conference will have some great sessions, including:

10:05 am – Startups 101: A panel discussion with Madison-area entrepreneurs with businesses at different stages of development. Hear what’s working and what’s not in today’s market. Your questions and participation are encouraged.

11:00 am – All About LLCs: Finally learn about the in’s and out’s of Limited Liability Companies. We’ll have an attorney and a CPA on the stage together to set the record straight, and you won’t have to worry about any hourly billing.

1:00 pm – Unconference: Here is where the attendees become the presenters! Come with topics to discuss and ideas to share. We’ll poll you and the other attendees for hot topics, and split off into four or five groups based on interest.

2:00 pm – Branding and Identity Panel: Learn about what to look for in choosing a good graphic designer, hear about relevant design trends, and learn about different identity philosophies from some of the area’s top design minds.

3:15 pm – Pitch Your Biz: Here’s your chance to pitch your new biz or big idea in front of your peers for some no-holds-barred feedback. Biz-pitchers will have exactly 5 minutes to sell the audience on their concept. After that, the floor is opened for feedback, compliments, and criticisms. Contact us if you’d like to be a Biz-pitcher

All of the session will have high quality speakers and presenters, but I’m most excited for the Pitch Your Biz session.  5 entrepreneurs will get 5 minutes each to pitch their idea, business plan or even full fledged business and then the audience will have 10 minutes per company to provide feedback to try to improve the business.  I haven’t seen anything like it and I think we’re going to have some really strong presenters that should make the session really interesting.

After the panels, we’ve reserved the top level of the deck overlooking the Memorial Union where we’ll host a networking happy hour, with 2 drinks included in your registration fee.  There will also be a live band on the terrace, which should be awesome.

I’m also excited that people in Madison are getting excited about technology, entrepreneurship and startups.  I’ve already started to hear some buzz surrounding FTC2010 and think that Madison has the chance to really showcase its entrepreneurship credentials.  After being featured in TechCrunch last week, people outside of the state are starting to figure out what’s going on in Madison.  I’m hoping that Forward Technology Festival, Forward Music Festival and the rest of the Forward Movement can help bring the Madison community together around new, interesting ideas and the culture that’s needed to help the city grow.

If you’re interested in attending FTC2010 or want to get involved, you can sign up here, or you can contact me for more info.

What do you think?  Are you excited for FTC2010?  What panel are you most looking forward to?

                          

Between USA/Slovenia and USA/Algeria, we drove up to Madikwe Nature Reserve for a three day safari.  We booked online just before we left, so we didn’t really know what to expect, but all three of us were excited to see some animals.  We were happy that we’d gotten a discount from the official rates and it was about a 4 hour drive from Pretoria, so we left fairly early in the morning and drove northwest, via Rustenburg.

We arrived at Madikwe, which is about 15k from Gaborone, the capital of Botswana and entered the park.  There are three types of reserves in South Africa and three different types of safaris.  There are national parks like the famous Kruger National Park or the newer Pilanesberg, which allow anyone to drive around the reserve in their own cars in search of animals.  There are also private reserves that are generally much smaller and are owned by companies that feel that they can make a profit from safaris.  Madikwe is a public/private combination of the two, in that the land is owned by the government, but private companies were allowed to build accommodations in small areas of the park.  You also must be accompanied by a guide at all times in Madiwke, so there is much less traffic than in Kruger or Pilanesburg.

Elephants at Bush House Watering Hole

We got to the park and made our way to The Bush House, a few km inside the park, just off the main road.  We really didn’t know what to expect, but we were greeted by friendly staff and luxury accommodations.  The first day, the three of us were the only people staying at The Bush House out of a possible 12, so we basically had a private, luxury safari for a day.  The Bush House is in the wild, surrounded by electric fence to keep the animals out and guests safe.  In addition to luxury accommodation, they have a watering hole that is right outside the fence, where you can watch animals come take a drink when you’re not out in the park.

Each day, we would get up at 7am and do a 3.5 hour safari with our guide, Jason.  After about 2 hours, we would stop for coffee and tea and then cruise around for awhile longer.  When we got back, breakfast would be ready for us outside in the breezeway.  We had the next few hours to ourselves, then had “afternoon tea” which was really like a lunch at 230, before another 3.5 hour safari that included drinks at sundown and 30 minutes or so of night safari.  When we got back, dinner was ready for us.  We were there for three full days and the entire experience was completely worth it.

It is winter in South Africa, so it gets really cold at night.  During the day, it was comfortable to walk around in shorts and a tshirt, but as soon as the sun went down the temperature would drop from about 70 to about 40 in twenty minutes.  We made sure to bundle up for the morning and night safaris because it was frigid, but it was completely worth it.

Giraffe on Safari

Our first game drive started out slowly our first afternoon, but it was fun to be in the bush, looking around hoping to see the big 5 (lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard).  We saw a bunch of antelope and wildebeest and continued to drive around.  Our guide got a call on his radio that there had been a sighting in another part of the park, so we drove that way.  He pulled off one of the dirt tracks and all of the sudden, we were 10 feet from two sleeping lions.  The guides use radios to share sightings between each other, but Madikwe has a cool rule that only allows 3 vehicles to be at a sighting at once.  Other parks have no limit and cars crowd around the animals, which doesn’t seem fun or safe for the animals.

20 feet from a lion

I was continually suprised at how close we could get to the animals without them running off or us being in danger.  Our guide told us that the animals view the vehicle as one big blob, which looks dangerous to them, so they do not want to attack or show interest.  He also told us that as far as he knew, there has never been a case of a lion grabbing a human off of a vehicle before.  We never really felt in any danger, but was a little disconcerting to be 30 yards from three rhinos who continued to stare us down.

Sundowner drinks/snacks in Madiwke with our vehicle

Speaking of rhinos, they look like they are from a different time and place.  They look prehistoric and you can really tell they’ve been on earth for a really long time.  They’re also incredibly wide.  I’ve seen rhinos in the zoo before, but they’re always just sitting around in their enclosure.  Seeing these huge creatures in the wild was completely different.  They are the ones in control, not you.  We also learned that the guides do not talk about rhinos over the radio because poachers have been very active in killing rhinos for their horns.  There are only about 6000 rhino left in South Africa and over 125 had been killed already in 2010.  A full grown rhino horn is worth close to $1m because mostly Asian cultures want them for either rhino horn knives, which are used in coming of age ceremonies, or to be ground up and snorted or eaten as an aphrodisiac.  On our second to last day in South Africa, there was a story in the Cape Town paper about a rhino that was brutally attacked with a chainsaw for it horn.  It’s an incredibly sad and unfortunately growing problem, even on the nature reserves.  Madikwe has not had any poacher problems yet, but they are constantly vigilant to prevent rhinos from being hunted to extinction.

Three rhino

After seeing the rhinos, we got back to the Bush House and dinner was waiting for us in front of a roaring fire.  It felt great to get out of the freezing cold and the meal didn’t disappoint.  We had ostrich steak and lamb chops, accompanied by potato and leak soup, which were both really good.

The next morning, we got up for another game drive.  We drove into a more mountainous region of the park and ran into a group of 8 giraffe.  Giraffe are under appreciated animals, but I think they might be my favorite.  They’re huge, but we were able to get within 10 yards of them.  I didn’t realize that they have cones on the top of their heads that they use to fight and defend themselves.  Our guide told us that the males have much bigger cones and the older ones generally have broken cones from all of the fighting they do.  During mating season, the males fight to show dominance and apparently a giraffe fight is really brutal, with the loser dying of concussions or a broken jaw from time to time.  The males also get darker as they age, mostly to show dominance.  Again, seeing giraffes in the wild is a completely different experience from seeing them in a zoo where they just sort of stand around.

Right after the giraffes, we spotted one elephant on the side of the mountain.  After stopping to take some photos, we realized that there were a ton more coming down from the hills.  Elephant go up into the hills at night and then come down to eat when the sun comes up.  We quickly found ourselves in the middle of a group of 50-60 elephant, including a bunch of babies.  The babies are pretty funny, because they can’t use their trunks yet.  They try, but they sort of just dangle there, useless.  Elephants learn to use their trunks after 6-12 months, but have trouble until then.

These elephants were huge.  They were so much bigger than the mostly Asian elephants I’d see in zoos.  We were close enough to smell them and hear their vocalizations.  The younger males, 10-12 years old, are sort of like human teenagers.  They think they’re invincible and are really interested in the opposite sex.  They start to cause trouble and then a senior male, usually 45-55 years old, disciplines them.  Once the young male learns his lesson, the older male mentors the young one, teaching him how to interact with females, other animals and how to behave.  We were told that in areas with lots of poaching, the young males miss out on this mentoring and then don’t know how to interact with females or other animals and cause trouble, many times leading to them having to be put down.  Elephants live into their 60s and their lives parallel humans.  It’s amazing how far the parallels actually go.

View from the room, the bush house

That night, more people came, so our private safari was over, but it was still really fun.  They didn’t believe us that it got cold at night, so they froze the first night.  We ended up finding a large pride of lion, with over 10 lions in it.  After watching them for awhile, we noticed the younger cubs wandering off, so we went to find them.  On the other side of the hill, we saw all four of them getting the last of the afternoon sun in what looks like a staged picture, but I can assure you is not.  After dark, we saw two lions hunting and heard the shrieks of antelopes, but the lions didn’t catch them.  The lions were huge and slinking through the tall grass.

The next day, we saw a ton of zebra and went in search of wild dog, but didn’t find them.  Instead, we stumbled on a herd of 250+ buffalo.  They were huge and their horns looked like they could do some serious damage.  Our guide told us that buffalo are the most dangerous of the big five because they are so smart.  He said that he’s heard stories of buffalo that are shot by hunters that double back and attack the hunter from the rear to kill them.  Later that day, we saw the only cheetah on the reserve.  There used to be 60 cheetah, but the lions killed them all.  The park is trying to move 15-20 of the lions and then reintroduce more cheetah.  Our guide had been in the park for 6 months or so and had never seen the cheetah, so we were fortunate.  We were also fortunate to see two male lions eating a freshly killed wildebeest from really close up.

It was amazing how much all of the animals blended into the landscape, especially the lions and cheetah.  I had always thought of lions are yellowish and probably had a bad picture of cheetahs in my mind because of the cheetos guy, but both are almost light brown and really hard to see.  I could easily imagine walking right up onto a lion without even knowing it.

I really enjoyed the three days on safari.  Besides the matches, it was the highlight of my trip to South Africa.  Seeing these huge animals in the wild is a completely different experience than seeing them in the zoo.  If you go to Africa, you must go on safari.  It’s really not that expensive.  If you do choose to do a safari, I really recommend Madikwe and the Bush House based on value for money and all of the animals we saw.

                          

Nathan Lustig: Hey Jeremy, thanks for talking with me.  Can you give me a brief overview of your company?

Jeremy Shafton: Door-6 was started in June 2009 with the goal of developing mobile phone games with a level of quality only found on handheld gaming devices. We want to eliminate the need for additional hardware by bringing features like immersive 3D environments to the phone. By doing so, gamers will no longer have to spend money on additional hardware, and will be able to directly download our games on their phone’s integrated marketplace at a fraction of the usual cost.

Our first product was Atmosphere: The Training Mission which we built specifically for the 2^nd Google Android Developer Challenge. The game was completed in a single month, yet we still managed to reach the final round, finishing in the Top 20 Arcade and Action Games. We continued to improve Atmosphere over the next few months and released its successor, Vacuum, to the Android Market in March 2010.

Between April 1 and May 31 we ran a cash prize contest to reward the top three highscores in Vacuum, for which we recently announced the winners.

We currently have six part-time people, and will be taking on more in the next few months. We’re focused on setting ourselves up for success.

NL: What kind of background did you have to be able to start a mobile gaming company?

JS: I was a big gamer in high school and have had a little bit of Java programming experience, but I saw a great opportunity in this industry and worked with two people who shared my vision on getting this company off the ground.

NL: Many founders of startups have some sort of an “ah-ha moment” when they first got the idea for their company.  Did you have one and what was it?

JS: Together with my partners Jon and Ryan, we looked at the way things are in mobile gaming today and realized that over the next few years there would be a significant transition. 97% of all teenagers and adults have cell phones in the US, even the majority of 12 year olds have cell phones now. The hardware is getting so powerful and so inexpensive, that soon it will be completely out of the question for most gamers to buy more portable gaming hardware than just their phone.

NL: What is the biggest reason you founded your startup?

JS: The startup life is the life for me. In high school I started my first business selling build-to-order desktop computers online. It wasn’t a success by any means, but I gained insight into a lot of the elements of entrepreneurialism. In reality, my first business was in elementary school, I built balsa wood airplanes, painted them “cool” colors, and sold them on the street corner in a custom booth.

And yes, I have photographic evidence of this.

My last startup was The Gadgeteers and it was a small success. I found a unique product, built a website to sell it, briefly existed as the exclusive retailer within the US, and sold hundreds. As exclusivity ended and I had to become a normal ultra-competitive retailer, it just wasn’t as fun anymore.

NL: What is the biggest unexpected challenge you had to overcome?

JS: The biggest challenge we have come across, but have not yet overcome, is breaking into this highly cluttered market. With the release of Vacuum we were able to get the blogs talking, using press releases and YouTube videos, but in the end we didn’t sell more copies than other games. The cash prize contest was one the big ways we drew attention, and even that did not generate significant sales. Instead of rushing into the next product, we are taking the time to build something more groundbreaking that will force the market to pay attention.

NL: What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about starting a startup?

JS: I would suggest that you share your ideas with the intelligent people around you, and seek out those who can help you build your idea into a business. Having a great partner or two makes the difference in the early stages.

Work as hard as you can at it, but don’t be afraid of changing your business model as you go. You have to be flexible and consider every opportunity that presents itself.

NL: What are three websites you check everyday?

JS: I like to stay up on the technology, software, and smartphone industries, so I read Engadget and TechCrunch daily. TechCrunch is great for seeing more about what’s happening in the startup world. Number three is Gmail which I have open 24/7.

The Android Development Blog from Google is a good one to check irregularly.

NL: Do you have any funny stories or amusing anecdotes about starting or running the company?  Do people ask you “when are you going to get a real job?”

JS: Everyone always asks how we got our name. We came to it after sitting for days in a conference room trying to pick out a name and after a long while the only consensus we had come to was that the door to the conference room was quite unique looking. From there we just counted how many people were actively involved in the company, and now you have Door-6 Inc.

I get asked the real job question on occasion, but my family is supportive. My girlfriend would prefer if I had a steady salary, but she knows I’m doing what I believe in.

NL: What/who has been the biggest help to you and your company?

Working with Jon and Ryan has been the driving force of the company. Partners make all the difference, like I said earlier. We all count on each other to make this company succeed.

NL: What is the most fun part of running your company?  The least?

JS: The most fun I have had at Door-6 has been building our team. We’ve recruited some talented individuals, and it has been a great learning process for how to build a team and collaborate successfully. Having big meetings where we all share ideas and work together is a blast. The least fun thing is dealing with the fact that pretty much everyone has to commit part time, because of the lack of a salary. It makes it harder to coordinate meetings, and harder to meet deadlines.

NL: As always, it’s been great talking with you.  Good luck with Door-6!

                          

A View of Durban From the Beach

Durban is located on the east coast of South Africa on the Indian Ocean.  It has a warm, tropical climate and although it was winter, it was about 75 degrees during the day the entire time we were there.  We were told it gets to be 100+ in the summer, so spring and fall is the best time to visit.  It was a welcome change of pace from Guateng, the province of Pretoria and Johannesburg.  Durban seemed much safer than Joburg and the rest of Guateng, as there was much less razor wire and almost no electric fences.  Durban was full of natural beauty.  The city has some of the best beaches in the world for swimming and surfing, and right nearby, you’ll see some of the most beautiful coastline in the world.

The Coast North of Durban

We drove from Rustenburg down to Durban, without a place to stay.  We kept calling places, but everyone was booked.  We finally started to ask for recommendations and were told to call Florette, who had rooms to rent in her house.  The price was reasonable and the area was nice, so we booked.  Her house was in Umgeni Heights in Durban North, which is just north of the Umgeni river.  Her neighborhood was located on the top of some hills and provided picture-perfect views of the ocean and Moses Mabhida stadium about 5k to the south.

Our Crew with Florette

We didn’t really have a plan, but luckily Florette had us covered.  Not only was she a great host, but she also was a lecturer at the local university teaching tourism.  Florette and her daughter Melissa helped plan out the best places for us to go for the time we were in Durban.  Each morning, we ate a homecooked breakfast and then went out for the day.  We saw two matches in Durban and like I said earlier, Moses Mabhida stadium is the most beautiful stadium I’ve ever been in.

Our first full day, we drove inland to PheZulu to learn about Zulu history.  The drive to PheZulu was beautiful.  We went up winding roads to high mountains that had great views of the valleys below.  Once we got to PheZulu, we learned about Zulu culture and ate a Zulu meal of Pojtie, which is like a stew.  We also were introduced to Biltong, which is sort of like South African beef jerky, but with real flavor.  It’s sold all over South Africa and we ate a bunch of it during our stay.

Potjie at PheZulu

We decided to take the scenic route back toward Durban and drove through areas of extreme poverty, right next to 3 story houses.  It’s amazing to see people living in shacks right next to 5000 square foot luxury houses.  It was important to venture off of the main highways because as one guy put it “if you’re driving on the toll roads, you might as well be in America.”  He was right.  We saw a whole different side of South Africa when we went off the main roads, but we never once felt threatened or in any danger.

That night, we decided to go to an Indian restaurant for dinner.  Durban has a huge Indian population of many well to do merchants and business owners.  We at at Vintage on the recommendation of a guy working at an internet cafe and it didn’t disappoint.  The tandoori fish was the highlight of the meal, but everything was great.  Although they seemed to have raised their prices for the world cup, it was worth it since everything we were buying was so inexpensive compared to home.

The next day, Florette was nice enough to take us around to her favorite spots in Durban.  First, we went to the Sharks Board, the people who are in charge of making sure that there are no shark attacks at Durban beaches.  In the past, there were frequent shark attacks, with many being fatal.  In the 1950s the Sharks Board started to put nets a few hundred meters off shore to deter the sharks.  Since the nets have gone in, there has not been an attack on a netted beach.  The Sharks Board museum was really interesting and included a shark dissection of a shark that had been caught off the Durban coast (decided not to post the shark pic).

Next, Florette took us up the coast to Ballito, where we looked at some huge waves on beautiful beaches.  We were told that last summer when the moon, earth and sun were in a line, the tides were huge and washed out much of the road we were driving on.  I could definitely see it happening, since the waves were huge, probably 12-15 feet.  Its no wonder that Durban is one of the stops on the pro surfing tour.  We went further up to Salt Rock and Shaka’s Rock, the place where Shaka Zulu, the great warrior leader of the Zulus, would plan his military strategies.  He was a great tactician and used the attack of a buffalo as the model for his army.  He was one interesting guy and if you like history, I’d suggest checking out some of his background.

Natural hole in the rock caused by wave action

We drove back down the coast back toward Durban to sample Durban’s famous cuisine: bunny chow.  I have no idea where it got its name, but bunny chow is delicious.  It’s a half loaf of bread, hollowed out, then filled with hot, spicy curry.  We went to Some Like It Hot and shared mutton (why don’t we have more mutton here? It’s great if you cook it right), prawn, chicken and veggie bunnies.  You’re supposed to eat them with your hands, but we had to use forks and knives since we weren’t experts yet.  I think bunny chow would really catch on as a foodcart in the United States.

Bunny Chow

Speaking of free business ideas, we ate a ton of pies in South Africa.  Not apple pies, but savory pies with flavors like curry, feta and spinach, mincemeat and veggies and tons of others.  They cost about $1 and you can find them pretty much everywhere.  I think pies would do extremely well in the US as fast food or snacks.  They’re cheap and taste really good.  The other import I’d like to bring back is the chili sauce that goes on Boerswoers, or South African sausage.  We had ton of these, but the sweet chili sauce was great.  I can’t find anything that tastes like it in the US and think it could take off.  It’s spicy, yet sweet, sort of like sweet and sour sauce, but more spicy.  After the Spain/Switzerland match, I’d convinced a street vendor to start importing to the US, but I’m not sure he’s going to follow through!

The next morning, we drove over to uShaka, which is sort of like the Wisconsin Dells of Durban.  It’s a bunch of tourist attractions that really weren’t our cup of tea, but the beaches on the other side were beautiful.  They’re huge sand beaches that are protected by the shark nets and offer great views of Durban and the stadium.  We walked along the boardwalk, up to the fanfest and then relaxed in the warm sunshine until we were ready to go to the game later that day.  We intended to go to the Victoria Street Market, but we couldn’t organize a tour that worked for us.  If I go back, I’d like to check out the Market and old part of the city with a guided tour.

Mike and me on the beach in Durban

The next morning, we had to say goodbye to Durban so we could drive back up to Joburg to see the US play Slovenia.  We decided that if we had to do the trip over again, we would have made Durban our home base and done trips from there, since the weather was so nice and the city had much more to offer.  Overall, we had a great time in Durban.  It was one of our favorite spots and it was even better because we had a local who was willing to show us around.  Florette’s guest house was a great place to stay in Durban.  Although the areas around the stadium weren’t amazing, if you have a car, there’s a ton to explore in Durban.  It’s a place I’d like to come back to at some point in my life.

Fanfest for South Africa vs. Uruguay. There had to have been 7k supporters on the beach.

                          

When most people are traveling, they’re more likely to try new food, talk to people on airplanes and in bars and try new things.  Overall, people seem to be much more outgoing when they’re traveling.  I like to call it the traveler’s effect.  I’ve experienced it all over the world, but every four years when the World Cup comes around, I see the traveler’s effect on steroids.  This is why I love the World Cup.

Yes, there’s really good soccer, but that’s only a small part of it.  During the World Cup, people are more outgoing, willing to help others and have a good time.  Citizens of the host nation want to showcase their country and go out of their way to help travelers out and people who have traveled to the World Cup seem to be much more willing to reach out to each other.  It’s an incredible phenomenon and one of the reasons I’ll do what I can to never miss another World Cup in my lifetime.

I went to seven matches in five stadiums while I was in South Africa and saw 18 goals or 2.6 goals per game, which was above the tournament average.  Although the US didn’t get past the round of 16, all four games were really entertaining, especially our one win against Algeria.  That match moves to the top of the list of the best sporting events I’ve ever attended.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg – USA vs. England, June 12, 2010

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, USA/England

Our first match was USA/England in the small mining town of Rustenburg.  We stayed in a camp with tents and it was packed with USA and England fans.  Africa Ubuntu was the only place that advertised on the Internet and they were able to charge $50 per person per night for tents with beds.  It was a bit expensive, but it was worth it because we had transport to and from the stadium and tons of people to watch the other matches with.

We took our shuttle at 3pm ahead of the 830 kickoff and went to Lucky’s bar, a township bar that was close to the stadium.  When we got there, it was full of about 200+ really drunk English people and maybe 30ish Americans who were on their way.  The English are an interesting bunch, sort of like Chicago Cubs fans in that they haven’t won anything in a really long time, but expect to win each year.  Most were really nice before the game and even during the game, until the USA scored.

We had a great time with the English at Lucky’s and marched toward the stadium around 7pm so we could hear the national anthems.  On our walk to the stadium, a few English fans threw beer cans at us from their passing cars, but we didn’t see anything serious.  It was interesting that most of the English fans were 40-65 year old men, whereas most of the American fans were 21-30 year olds and there were clearly more American women than most nationalities.  If people my age keep attending World Cups like this, the USA will be the largest supporters group at all of the further World Cups.

Lucky's Bar before USA/England

The atmosphere in Royal Bafokeng was electric from the moment we got in.  The English have some great soccer songs and it was a pleasure to hear them singing over the vuvuzelas before the match.  As it got closer to 830, the temperature started to drop and we put on our extra layers.  The teams came out and we were ready for the national anthems.  At most American sporting events, many people view the anthem as a necessity and stand quietly waiting for the real action to start, but at World Cup matches, everyone screams the national anthem.  It’s enough to give you goosebumps.  It’s probably my favorite part of a World Cup match.

We gave up a really crappy goal 4 minutes into the game, and the English thought they were going to run away with it.  The US fought back and played really well, scoring on a howler by Robert Green.  I thought we played really well and thoroughly earned our draw.  England went right to the dressing room.  The English fans were not happy and headed for the exits.  We stayed in our seats and celebrated at the team came down to the supporters section to thank us for coming.

We went back to Lucky’s with our friends from Minnesota and met tons of locals.  The South Africans in Phokeng were so happy to see us.  We talked with hundreds of people and the common sentiment was that they were so happy Americans had come because they were worried that with the bad reports in the media, nobody would come.  It’s like when you throw a party and tell people it starts at 9pm and at 845 nobody’s there yet.  You have that empty feeling…what if nobody comes?  The South Africans, especially the ones in Rustenburg and Phokeng were having this feeling x100. At 915, the first person starts to come in and by 945, it’s completely full and you know you’ve done a good job.

Lucky's Bar After USA/England

We had friends who tried to drive back from Rustenburg to Joburg that night and said it took forever.  I’m really glad we missed the traffic and stayed in Rustenburg because we were able to check out Lucky’s, meet a ton of great people and experience some real local color.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban – Germany vs. Australia, June 13, 2010 & Spain vs. Switzerland June 16, 2010

Germany 4 - Australia 0

We left the next morning and drove the 7 hours to Durban, which is on the Indian Ocean on the east coast of South Africa.  We got to our guesthouse at about 5pm, ahead of the 830 kickoff.  We didn’t have tickets, but I wanted to go.  Our host, Florette, was kind enough to drop us off near the stadium and I walked over to try to buy a ticket.  I ended up buying a category 1 ticket for $70 when face value was $160 and had a great seat to see Germany completely destroy Austarlia.

Moses Mabhida is the best stadium I’ve ever been to in the world.  The architecture is beautiful and looks similar to the Calatrava designed Milwaukee Art Museum and the site lines are perfect.  It also has a cable car that you can take across the roof for views of the city and the stadium.  It’s located right off the beach in Durban and was about 5k from our guesthouse.  Although there weren’t many things to do right around the stadium other than a casino and the beachfront, Moses Mabhida Stadium and Durban in general where highlights of the trip.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

I saw Germany destroy Australia 4-0 and then Switzerland upset Spain 1-0 and both times, the atmosphere was great.  The German fans love to clap in unison and the Aussies were clearly having a great time until Germany unloaded on them.  At Spain/Switzerland, most of the people were supporting Spain and it was eerily silent when Switzerland scored.  Their raucous fans went nuts in their supporters corner.  The Swiss are some of my favorite fans.  I saw Switzerland beat South Korea in 2006 in Germany and hand a ton of fun with their fans and this time was no different.  They remind me of Wisconsinites: they like beer, cheese and sports.  There were tons of neutral South Africans blowing their vuvuzelas and really getting into both games.

Ellis Park, Johannesburg, USA vs. Slovenia, June 18, 2010

Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Ellis Park is one of the older venues of the World Cup, but might have been the best one in terms of watching a game.  It’s sort of like Camp Randall, in that it’s located right in the middle of a neighborhood and the people around the stadium like to party before and after the match.  We had category 3 tickets, but they were the best seats we had for any match, regardless of category.

We started out at Radium Bar, about 3 miles from the stadium and had a great time meeting tons of Americans and signing US Soccer songs.  When we got inside, the atmosphere was again electric.  All of the South Africans were rooting for the US and it was incredibly loud.  The US gave up an early goal again and were down 2-0 at halftime.  I still thought we could score some goals, since Slovenia looked pretty weak and sure enough, Landon Donovan scored a great goal right at the start of the 2nd half.

People started to believe and Ellis Park got louder.  The US pushed for the equalizer for most of the second half, but finally broke through after Jozy Altidore had an awesome flick right into Michael Bradley’s path for the tying goal.  Ellis Park erupted and I got bruises on the backs of my legs from jumping up and down so much.  Everyone was hugging each other and the entire stadium was rocking.  Minutes later, the US took the lead and the stadium was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium.  Nobody heard the whistle from the referee who decided there had been a foul.  There clearly wasn’t and after the match, the ref was sent home by FIFA for screwing up the match.  We had no problems parking on the street and driving home and our car was exactly where we left it, with no damage.

Loftus Versveld, Pretoria, June 23 2010 – USA vs. Algeria

Prefamge at Loftus, USA/Algeria 12th Row

We were excited and nervous to watch this match.  We knew that we were likely the better side, but knew anything could happen.  If we won, we went through.  Loftus is normally a rugby stadium, but it had decent sight lines for soccer.  The US almost gave up another early goal, but were lucky not to concede.  After that, the US dominated, but couldn’t finish.  The refs mistakenly disallowed another US goal, but the fans were not deterred.  There seemed to be a bunch more US families and women at this match than there had been in the past, but that didn’t stop the crowd from being incredibly loud the entire match.

We thought we were going to score the entire match, but it came down to an amazing throw from Tim Howard, a great run by Donovan, a good cross by Altidore and then an awesome finish by Donovan in the 94th minute.  You know when I said that the 3rd US goal in the Slovenia was the loudest I’d heard a stadium?  This completely topped it.  It was complete pandemonium.  Beer was flying everywhere, people were screaming, some were crying.  There were still a few minutes to play, but I don’t think any Americans remember what exactly happened.  If you’ve seen the video of people around the world celebrating the US goal, it was like that but even crazier.  Everyone was so happy that Donovan scored and we won the group.  I don’t think I could feel like I did at that match for any other sporting event.

Celebrating USA/Algeria

Green Point Stadium, Cape Town, June 23, 2010 – Netherlands vs. Cameroon

Green Point Stadium looks amazing from the outside, but wasn’t completely finished on the inside.  I sat on the center line near the top of the stadium and my entire side of seats were temporary bleachers that didn’t seem all that safe.  I was probably 70 feet up and to my left there was a huge drop off protected by a small fence.

The Dutch are great supporters and painted Cape Town orange.  There seemed to be a bunch of white South Africans who were supporting the Netherlands as well, which added to the atmosphere.  Arjen Robben is a joy to watch, as was Samuel Eto’o.  As soon as Robben came into the game, he immediately took over and created the winning goal.  Although both teams didn’t have anything to play for, they both clearly wanted to win and it was a fairly entertaining match.

Green Point Stadium was the most fun to go to because it is surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants along the Cape Town waterfront.  While not the best looking stadium compared to Durban, Green Point was the total package and was more fun than most of the places we went in Germany 2006.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium – Rustenburg June 26, 2010 – USA vs. Ghana

I was back in Rustenburg for the USA/Ghana match after a crazy flight/sleep in the airport.  I met some friends, Andy and Chris, in the airport and we ended up back at Lucky’s and then onto the game.  Bob Bradley inexplicably started Ricardo Clark in the midfield and Robbie Findley at forward and both didn’t do well.  Clark was horrible and gave away the ball dribbling in his own defensive third, leading to Ghana’s first goal.  He was promptly subbed off.  The atmosphere was electric again.  90% of the fans were rooting for Ghana and the rest were from the United States.  Anytime Ghana did anything well, the vuvuzelas would go crazy.  If we had to lose to any team, I’m glad it was an African side like Ghana.

Overall, the soccer was great, the atmospheres exactly what you’d expect at the world’s largest tournament.  In the US, everyone’s asked me about the vuvuzelas.  At the matches, I actually really liked them, besides for the fact that you couldn’t hear fans singing.  The vuvuzelas brought the matches to another level and weren’t annoying.  They were much worse on TV.

The South African fans were incredible as well.  They danced, sang and had a great time, even at the games where they weren’t playing.  They were also quick to help and offer suggestions on where we should go and what we should do while we were in each city.  Each city felt safe and there were hundreds of police officers around each stadium to make sure that people knew it.  For all of the hand wringing in the media beforehand, South Africa staged a magnificent World Cup and were great hosts.  I just wish the US would have gone farther.

The Bad

The only drawbacks that I encountered were caused by FIFA.  FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, along with the IOC, so many of the things that went wrong were caused by greed or outright corruption.

The first problem caused by FIFA was in the ticketing.  FIFA categorizes tickets in the stadium into four categories, with 1 being the best and 4 being the worst.  This world cup, category 4 could only be sold to Africans.  The problem was that in many cases, the $160 category 1 tickets were not any better than the $80 category 3 tickets.  My best seats were category 3 for USA/Slovenia, Category 3 for Spain/Switzerland and Category 2 for Netherlands/Cameroon.  The worst were category 1 for Germany/Australia and the category 1 tickets in Rustenburg were no better than my other category 3′s.  Since you can only choose a category ahead of time, not actual seat locations, you can get stuck with expensive seats that aren’t any better than the cheaper ones.

There were also large swathes of empty seats for many games, including two of the USA matches.  FIFA claimed that it was because people bought tickets and then didnt show up, but it was entire sections that were open, which doesn’t make any sense.  I think FIFA’s ticketing system was screwed up and didn’t show how many tickets were really available.  For USA/Slovenia, people were searching for tickets on the street, but there were 4-5 sections available in the stadium.  FIFA should have made sure that locals got unsold tickets to make the atmosphere even better.  It was a huge missed opportunity for FIFA to spread the game to people who otherwise couldn’t afford it and improve the atmosphere in the.

FIFA showed its greed by not allowing resales of tickets.  The only way  you could legally resell tickets was to use FIFA’s own system that cost 10% to sell and an extra 10% to buy.  If you had already printed your tickets, you couldn’t use the system and if you bought through supporters clubs, you couldn’t legally resell tickets.  If you were like our group, and many were, you had to buy tickets months in advance.  One person dropped out of our group, so we had 1 extra ticket for all of our matches.  According to FIFA, we weren’t allowed to resell it anywhere.  It caused fewer people to get into the stadium and higher prices outside because people were scared to get their tickets cancelled by FIFA if they were caught selling.

A few days before the round of 16, FIFA cancelled hundreds of tickets that had been “illegally” resold, causing the buyers to be screwed and the sellers to keep the money.  That’s just dumb and shows FIFA only care about the money, not the fans.  FIFA also wouldn’t let people give tickets away in sweepstakes or make their own travel packages.  All were deemed illegal by FIFA.

The second problem was FIFA’s overarching power.  South Africa (understandably) rented themselves out to FIFA for the tournament.  They acquiesced to new laws demanded by FIFA like “outside companies advertising inside the stadium is a crime.”  This “law” led to 40 Dutch women to be arrested and charged with a crime for wearing identical orange dresses to support a brewery.  FIFA also banned any local food from the stadium, so we were stuck with Coke, Budweiser and pies by a large company.  People decided to smuggle food into the stadium instead.  I understand that the sponsors need to make money, but jacked up prices (by South African standards) and poor food quality rubs people the wrong way.  FIFA also brought logistics companies into the country to care for the teams.  They used “blue lights” which were law-exempt cars that traveled at huge speeds all over the city to shuttle dignitaries all over the place.  They were dangerous for everyone else involved.

I also talked to one of the people who FIFA contracted to manage these people and he said that FIFA covered up all sorts of problems created by teams, delegates and others involved with FIFA.  I heard about a team getting caught with lots of cocaine, but it never made the media.  Another story was that a FIFA delegate stole about 10k from a player, but that was swept under the rug as well.  I’m sure there were a ton more problems that never made the media, but it’s pretty sad that one organization has all this power.

I also really dislike that FIFA uses politics to choose referees.  As you can see from some of the dubious refereeing decisions, the best referees are not all in South Africa.  The referee from Mali who blew the USA/Slovenia match is likely not one of the best 16 refs in the world.  Just pick the best 16 referees in the world, no matter where they’re from.  And let’s try to get some sort of replay for the next world cup.  It really wouldn’t be that hard!

The last and probably the biggest problem was MATCH, the official tour/accomodation partner of FIFA.  MATCH was the company that partnered with FIFA to “help” people find accomodation, flights and car rentals.  All MATCH did was buy up all of the reasonably priced hotels, guesthouses and B&B’s and then tried to resell them at 4-5x their price on the FIFA website.  I felt bad for the people who spent huge amounts of money on what would have been normally priced accomodataions, but that’s not the bad part.  Since FIFA bought up all of the reasonable places and the places that normal people could find online, many people didn’t come.  FIFA got greedy and it resulted in at least 50k people not coming to the world cup.  The best part?  MATCH and FIFA didn’t sell out their accomodations, so they turned back a bunch of rooms a month before the tournament, too late for people to book flights.  In pretoria, MATCH has reserved an entire guesthouse of 40 rooms, right across from the stadium.  FIFA was trying to get $350 per night per person on their website.  We called the place directly and they booked us in at $100 for the night total because there was only 1 other person staying at the guesthouse who had booked through FIFA.  Instead of an awesome guesthouse filled to the brim with world cup fans, it was only us and the one guy who paid the $350.  What a scam.

South Africa did a great job putting on the tournament and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I just wish FIFA would hold up their end of the bargain, become more transparent and make future tournaments even better.  I’m not holding my breath.

                          

I left Madison on June 9th with my friends Andy and Katie, not really knowing what to expect.  We had tickets for all three USA matches, plus Spain/Switzerland and an idea of where we wanted to go, but hadn’t booked any accommodation except for the first two nights.  I had read all of the press about South Africa being dangerous and that we shouldn’t drive, but I wasn’t worried.  I figured that if their media is anything like ours, they would really overstate the bad and ignore most of the good.

The trip was unbelievable.  South Africa is an incredibly beautiful country, with varied climates and landscapes.  The people were extremely nice and we never felt threatened the entire time we were there.  If anything, the people, both black and white, were protective of us.  They clearly really liked Americans and everyone we met went out of their way to make sure that we were having fun and staying safe.  Here’s what we did:

We landed in New York on the morning of the 9th and dropped our bags with my friend Chris who works in the city.  He was nice enough to take all of our bags up to his office, even though his co-workers all gave him strange looks.  Andy and Katie had never been to NYC, so although it was rainy, we went all over the city.  We had to catch a flight out of JFK at 1130pm, so we had plenty of time.

We got to the airport to find it packed with soccer fans.  We were flying via Dubai and we were happy to see tons of Americans, Mexicans and South Americans, all dressed in their team’s gear, getting ready to board the flight.  As we were going through security, someone spotted Justin Timberlake going through security and most of the women got really excited.  When we got on the plane, someone asked one of the flight attendants if he was on our flight and she just giggled and said she wasn’t allowed to say.

We got to Dubai after a 12 hour flight.  We flew Emirates and it was a pleasure.  It’s the best airline I’ve ever been on, with fairly large seats, personal LCD screens with 600 channels and front and bottom cameras so you can watch the scenery from the plane.  The food was really good too and we quickly realized that they do Middle Eastern/Indian food much better than western food.

The Dubai airport is massive.  We had a 6 hour layover and got to explore a huge area.  It’s really the crossroads of the world and it was fun to see people from every corner of the globe.  To kill time, we walked around and tried to guess the destination of the flight by looking at the people.  We got pretty good at it after a few hours.  We finally got on our 8 hour flight to Johannesburg (Joburg for the rest of the posts) and arrived at 10am.

We rented a car and got on the move to Rustenburg, about 2 hours northwest of Joburg, where the USA would play England the next day.  It was incredibly strange at first to drive a car on the other side of the road, but I got completely comfortable after two days.  The hardest part were the round-abouts and shifting with my left hand, although the South African drivers were more aggressive than drivers here.  I’ll have more about driving in a later post.

We stayed at a camp in Rustenburg Kloof, which was a beautiful area just north of the “city” of Rustenburg.  I say “city” because there was really only a mall and a few restaurants, all about 10k from the stadium.  We watched the first South Africa match at a bar near our tents and it was an unreal atmosphere.  The South Africans were so excited, so supportive and incredibly happy to have to tournament start.  When South Africa took the early lead, the place went absolutely nuts.  We were too tired to watch Uruguay/France and fell asleep by 7pm.

Lucky's Bar Rustenburg

The next morning, we were woken up by Sky Sports News doing interviews outside of our tent and I got interviewed about whether we had a chance to win.  I pretty much said that we would draw and that we had a better goalkeeper and got to feature on Sky.  We went to a bar called Lucky’s in Bafokeng, about 4k from the stadium.  It was an outdoor bar with tons of English fans.  The atmosphere was electric and only built on the way to the stadium.  Most of the English were really nice, until we scored our equalizer on a howler by Robert Green, then they started to get really angry and a guy in our row tried to fight an older American fan with a neck brace on.  After the draw, which felt like a win, we went back and celebrated at Lucky’s.

The next morning, we started the 6 hour drive to Durban, without a place to stay.  Our plan was to start calling places from the road, but most of the places were booked up because Germany was playing Australia that night.  We asked a few places if they had any recommendations and one place sent us to Florette, a woman who rents out rooms in her amazing house.  We ended up staying there for five nights and it was one of the best decisions of our trip.  I’ll go into more detail in my Durban post, but I went to the Germany/Australia match after buying a ticket on the street for half price and the Durban Stadium was the most beautiful stadium I’ve ever been to.  Germany killed Australia, but the highlight was talking with a South African, Jordan, who sat next to me for the entire match.  He was extremely nice, bought me a soda and a pie and then offered to give me a South Africa Jersey for free.  He wouldn’t let me pay for anything.

Jordan and me in front of Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

After we explored Durban for a few days, we had tickets for Spain/Switzerland and my friend from the previous game met me outside with the promised South Africa shirt.  The Spain match was one of the best games of the tournament.  Everyone thought that Spain would roll, but the Swiss were organized and countered well.  When the Swiss scored, they stadium was largely silent.  Everyone was shocked.

Golden Gate National Park

After Durban, we drove back up to Joburg ahead of USA/Slovenia.  We drove through Golden Gate National Park and it was absolutely beautiful.  We were staying in Pretoria since it was cheaper and safer and stayed at a hostel.  The next morning, we drove down to Joburg to see the match at Ellis Park.  We got there really early and went to Radium Bar, which was the bar picked by the American Outlaws as the place to be.  It didn’t disappoint.  Katie got on NBC getting her face painted and the place was LOUD.  We sung just about every American soccer song we could think of and then walked to the game.  As always, the South Africans were huge USA fans.

Katie with South African Kids Going to USA/Slovenia

We went down 2-0 early, but we felt that we could score.  In the 2nd half, Donovan scored a great goal and then we got another one in the 84th minute.  I got huge bruises on the backs of my legs from celebrating so much in the stands.  We were sitting next to three little South African kids and they were really getting into it.  We scored again, capping the biggest comeback in USA history, but the referee decided he’d seen a foul.  He got sent home for his poor decision.  It was still a great day, even though we should have won.

After the match, we went back to Pretoria and watched the England/Algeria match at Eastwoods, right across from Loftus Versveld, the stadium in Pretoria with two Americans we had met in the bar in Joburg.  We were rooting for the 0-0 draw that happened and were just about the only people supporting Algeria, as the rest were English fans.

The next day, we drove 4 hours through the mountains to get to Madikwe Nature Reserve, where we had a 4 day Safari at a place called The Bush House. Other than the soccer games, the safari was the highlight of the trip.  We saw all of the big 5, minus a leopard, a lion eating a wildebeest, a cheetah and tons more.  We were driven around by a trained guide and it was awesome.

Lion in Madikwe Wildlife Reserve

Lion Cubs

After our safari, we drove back to Pretoria for the USA/Algeria match, which was a must win match.  We didn’t have a place to stay again, but ended up right across the street from the stadium.  I’ll go into more detail again later, but FIFA and Match really screwed up here.  We got accommodation because FIFA bought up all of the rooms at cheap rates, then tried to resell them at 4-5x prices and failed.  The place gave us a room for a good price because they were empty, although FIFA paid for the nights.

On match day, we went to some bars and were completely surprised by how many Algerians there were.  They were everywhere and wanted pictures with us.  Most were really nice, but a few were a bit angry with Americans.  We had ANOTHER fair goal disallowed on a blown call and the atmosphere was incredible.  People stood the entire match singing, chanting and blowing their vuvuzelas.  We had chance after chance and finally put one home in the 91st minute to send us through.  I don’t remember the next 10 minutes because everyone was celebrating so hard.  Andy and I got on TV right after the match and everyone stayed in the stadium celebrating for the next 30 mins, then went outside to sing and dance some more.  Katie got a ride on a police horse in exchange for her American flag and the party went on most of the night. Those 4 hours and that one moment were incredible.  Those moments are what make soccer the best sport in the world and now clearly top the list of the best sporting events I’ve ever been to.

Katie on Police Horse

We stayed with a family near the stadium and left early the next morning for Cape Town.  We had assumed before the World Cup that the US was likely to finish 2nd in the group and play in Bloemfontein, which would have been a drive from Cape Town, but since we won the group, we played up north again in Rustenburg.  I went to an Internet cafe to check out flights and told myself that if I could go for under $500, I had to do it.  Luckily, I found a flight for $180, a car for $60, a place to stay for $40 and a match ticket for $150, so I had to go.

We climbed Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain, watched the two matches that day and then I drove to the airport for what I hoped would be an unreal 30 hours.  Besides for the final result, the day didn’t disappoint.  I met two Americans in the airport who were planning to do the same thing as me, so we traveled together.  We slept in the airport, rented a car, drove to Rustenburg, went to Lucky’s again and hung out with Americans and some really nice Brits.  The match was electric again.  When the media here says that Africa is behind Ghana, it’s an understatement.  Everyone except the Americans were cheering for Ghana, hard.  It was a fun match and I thought we would pull it out, but it was not to be.  We went back to Lucky’s and partied with the South Africans.

From the Top of Table Mountain, Cape Town

The next morning, I drove back to the airport and was back in Cape Town with Andy and Katie by 1pm.  We took a drive around the Cape, stopping at beaches, towns and mountains, before stopping in an English pub to watch England get destroyed by Germany.  We saw one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen from the top of a mountain, overlooking the Cape and then went back to Cape Town to watch Mexico/Argentina.

The next day, we drove to Stellenbosch and the towns around it, about 30 minutes outside Cape Town to tour the winelands.  It was a beautiful day and a great way to relax.  The vineyards were all set in incredible locations, many surrounded by mountains and rolling hills.  We did tasting at 3 different places, then went into Stellenbosch to explore for dinner/games.  We got back to Cape Town and prepared to leave the next morning for our last day.

It was raining the entire day on the 29th, so we drove around and explored Cape Town and had a great meal in the Cape Malay section of town.  We got to the airport at 4pm and were back in Madison on the 30th at 10pm.  It was an exhausting two day trip via Dubai and NYC again, but completely worth it.

Overall, the World Cup and South Africa were amazing.  The soccer was great, the people were incredibly nice, were were safe the entire time and it cost about what we expected.  I’ll likely come back to South Africa sometime in the future and will for sure be in Brazil in 2014!

This post was sort of a rambling overview, but I’ll get into more details about each city, the soccer and South Africa in general over the next week or so.  I hope you enjoy reading!

Andy, Katie and me at USA/Slovenia, Ellis Park

                          

Square changes all that.  All you have to do is download their app, give them your social security number and a bank account number and you can process credit cards.  If you want to get a lower fee, you can request that they send you a free credit card reader, which you plug into your headphone jack.  From their site:

In February 2009, Jim McKelvey wasn’t able to sell a piece of his glass art because he couldn’t accept a credit card as payment. Even though a majority of payments has moved to plastic cards, accepting payments from cards is still difficult, requiring long applications, expensive hardware, and an overly complex experience. Square was born a few days later right next to the old San Francisco US Mint.

I’ve downloaded the app and played around with it and it’s about as easy to use as it could possibly be.  Just like paypal, you always know what you have to do to accept payments.  Imagine being able to settle debts and split bills at restaurants right on your phone.  Or maybe accept a utility bill from your roommate who never has cash and doesn’t like to write checks.  Or imagine a street vendor selling food or tshirts.  Square opens up completely new markets and lowers the friction between buyers and sellers.

There are drawbacks.  First, many people do not trust vendors who use their personal mobile phones to accept credit cards.  People are worried about being scammed.  I wouldn’t be too worried about being scammed, since if you challenge credit card purchases, your credit card company refunds you and goes after the seller.  From my understanding you won’t have any liability, but that does not stop the trust factor from being an issue.

The second problem are the credit card fees.  Square charges 2.5% when you use the card reader (card present transactions) and 3.5% when you just type in the credit card number.  These fees seem really high.  I use traditional credit card processors and their fees have been 1.5%-2%.  I know that when I sell big ticket items, I shy away from PayPal because the fees eat up any money I make.  Square needs to figure out a way to lower it’s fees and get buyers to be more trusting, or find a place where people are willing to pay those fees out of convenience like PayPal did with eBay.

For now, I probably won’t use Square very often, but I can see times I would use it.  I’m really interested to see how the general population reacts to Square as it becomes more mainstream.  I think it’ll be a tough road, but ultimately, accepting credit cards on a mobile device will be the way of the future, unless we just eliminate the credit card completely and just use our phones to make purchases like they do in Japan.

What do you think?  Will Square take off?  Will you use it?  Are the fees too high?