The 2014 World Cup has an answer to the infernal vuvuzela that tortured eardrums four years ago – and it has somehow managed to become even more controversial than its droning predecessor. Hopes were high that the caxirola, a colorful plastic contraption filled with tiny beads that makes a hissing sound when shaken, could become a much-loved symbol of the tournament. Instead, despite being installed as the official World Cup Noisy Plastic Thing (my term, not FIFA’s) and backed by Brazil’s president Dilma Roussef, the caxirola (pronounced ka-she-roll-ah) has gotten itself banned from tournament venues and seems destined to be consigned to an inglorious place of ignominy as a future World Cup trivia question. Caxirola banned as weapon of mass disruption.