I Want to Give You an Expensive Cell Phone [Updated]

Seriously, I have one and I want to give it to you. But first, you have to do something for me.

This is only fair, because when the man from Sony Ericsson came to me and said, “We would like to provide you with a special-edition FIFA-branded SE W995 phone, a thing that retails for £500*, to give away to your readers in a contest,” the main thing I felt was a rush of paternal stewardship. This was a pretty nice phone, the kind of phone that “does stuff,” as Jennifer Aniston used to say, and it deserved a good home. How could I separate the phone-deserving wheat from the likely-to-drop-the-thing-over-a-castle-wall-the-next-time-they-take-a-church-trip-to-Germany chaff?

Then it occurred to me. I could make you answer a trivia question. I could do it that way. I could go that route.

Here, then, is your chance to prove your worth. Note that we are on a strict honor code at this university and that you are not permitted to consult Wikipedia to find the answer:

Who is the only player in World Cup history to play in the final for two different countries?

[NOTE: UK-BASED READERS ONLY. SEE THE UPDATE BELOW, AND PLEASE CONFIRM IN YOUR EMAIL THAT YOU ARE BASED IN THE UK.]

Email your answers to contest@runofplay.com between now and August 23.  All entries with correct answers will be placed in a giant lottery-style ping-pong-ball agitator from which a winner will be selected at random by a retired military hero with an eyepatch. The winner will be announced by a less heroic, probably two-eyed person on August 24.

To make things even more enticing, Sony Ericsson is doing a Willy Wonka-style Golden Ticket promotion with these phones, and if you find a Golden Ticket, you could win a trip to the World Cup in South Africa, including seats at every single game played by your team. This could be your chance.

So send in your answers by August 23, and learn more about this phone you might win here.

*$4375.20

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE: The people at Sony have only just now informed me that the competition is limited to readers in the UK. Apologies to everyone else who’s entered; I only just found out. On the plus side, if you do happen to live in the UK, your odds of winning just went significantly up.