SOCCER BALLS. A retired physical education instructor and former football coach arrived recently from Brazil to witness the World Cup 2014. It was his second World Cup experience. He brought three soccer balls made by Brazilian prisoners in Contagem, Brazil. One of the balls he gave as "pasalubong" to our Ear informer, his cousin.
CONVERSATION. The balls used in the World Cup were virtual conversation items because they were all made by prisoners in the national penitentiary. The prisoners manufactured 400 soccer balls daily for the duration of the World Cup. Many of these balls were brought home as souvenirs by tourists and non-tourists who came to Brazil to see the football games.