The 2010 World Cup was anything but ordinary. The U.S. National Soccer Team won its group for the first time in eighty years, more Americans watched soccer than ever before, and Spain won its first ever World Cup. But the thing the Beautiful Game's signature event may most be remembered for in 2010 is the vuvuzela: the portable, affordable stadium horn that angered and intrigued fans from all over the globe.

Now, with the noisemakers banned in events ranging from hot dog eating contests to tennis matches, the vuvuzela is seemingly on its way to extinction in the States. But there may still be fertile ground for the vuvuzela to stand on - an untapped market, where loud noises and cheap methods of psyching out an opponent are always welcome: high school sports.

"Their place in high school sports is a tricky one," according to World Cup patron Josh Patterson.

"I will make one thing clear," Patterson said, "Vuvuzelas are NOT indoor instruments. As loud as they sound on TV, they are ten times louder in person. I would leave games with my ears buzzing like I just left a rock concert."

That is the driving reason behind the ever-increasing ban on the noisemakers. Major League Eating (MLE) announced that vuvuzelas would not be allowed into Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Championship at Coney Island due to their "annoying, bee-like hum," as MLE President Richard Shea put it.

UFC President Dana White followed suit, saying in a press release, "This decision was pretty simple for me. Vuvuzelas make the most horrific sound I've ever heard. I'd rather let Brock [Lesnar] punch me in the face than hear 15,000 people blow on those things."

Wimbledon, college football conferences, and even the United Arab Emirates have placed some sort of ban on the plastic horns.

That is because vuvuzelas can reach harmful audio levels of around 127 decibels, which is only a stone's throw away from the level a jetplane creates on takeoff. Still, the plastic horns are being manufactured to blow a little softer, lowering the decibels to more tolerable levels.

Not everyone jumped on the ban bandwagon, though. FIFA and the World Cup chose not to ban the noisemakers, citing South Africa's right to cheer in their own way. The African World Cup host nation has a rich history with the buzzing one-note instruments. Originally made out of tin, the vuvuzela became popular with Bafana fans during the 1990's. Now usually made out of plastic, fans use the horns non-stop during soccer matches, thus the incessant buzzing which defined the 2010 World Cup.

But South African soccer is one thing. American high school sports are not as accustomed to the vuvuzela's drone.

Still, Patterson thinks the horns could catch on at certain high school sporting events. "I can tell you that vuvuzelas have no place at indoor sporting events. That pretty much leaves baseball, football, and soccer," he said. "But I don't think they work well in baseball…The only time the crowd is really loud in baseball is A. 3-2 count, B. strikeout, and C. home run, which comprise approximately 2% of a baseball game."

He says football would be a different situation, though: "I think a vuvuzela would be perfect during a 3rd and Goal situation. I mean, just imagine a whole student section [blowing vuvuzelas]… It would shake the stadium."

Then, of course, Patterson says high school soccer is always a possibility.

That possibility and the idea of vuvuzelas at a high school sporting event are new to Georgia High School Sports Association Executive Director Ralph Swearngin, though. "I can honestly say that these noisemakers have not come up in GHSA discussions," Swearngin said in an email. "I just returned from the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) summer meeting, and they were not mentioned in any discussions."

"Most of the GHSA rules about noisemakers come from NFHS rules on this matter. Generally, we do not restrict artificial noisemakers at outdoor events, except for air horns and whistles - because they may be interpreted as the scoreboard horn or the officials' whistles," Swearngin said.

Vuvuzelas could be interpreted as a similar sound to a scoreboard horn, but Swearngin says their effects remain to be seen. "I really don't know what impact these noisemakers would have on high school games or to what extent they will catch on with our fans," he noted.

Patterson says other noisemakers have been embraced by many high school sports fans, so why not the vuvuzela?: "I mean, what's really the difference between a cowbell or milk jug filled with beans and a vuvuzela? I don't think a whole lot."

Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins did not see too much of a difference either. They hosted a Vuvuzela Giveaway Night on June 19. Their opponent that night, the Tampa Bay Rays, often uses cowbells at their home games.

Cowbells have been popular for years, though. And after spreading its infectious buzz to the rest of the world, the vuvuzela's fifteen minutes may be up. The World Cup is over and the cheap trumpets continue to suffer from standing bans in several sports.

There is always a significant chance the vuvuzela will be rejected in high school sports, too. The musical devices were banned (and are being banned) for reasons: hearing loss, negative impacts on players and competition, the loss of a sporting event's usual atmosphere.

It will be up to fans to decide whether or not to accept the monotone horn. Either the vuvuzela will find a quainter place to sound off - a place where loud noises and spirited competition rule the day (high school sports). Or the noisemakers will fade away, sequestered to the nation that brought them into the spotlight.

Only time will tell if the South African staple finds roots in America's grassroots. There is no guarantee one way or another.

But love it or hate it, the vuvuzela will always have the 2010 World Cup.