Since the demise of the Yanks (collapse? catastrophe? end of the world?–nah, it’s only a game), I’ve been following the Korean championship series. I took in a game in {{link http://www.samsunglions.com/english/stadium.html Daegu}} this past Sunday, and it was quite a spectacle, more like an American college football game atmosphere. The game was played between the defending champion {{link http://www.hd-unicorns.co.kr/main.asp Hyundai Unicorns}} (from Suwon, just outside of Seoul) and perennial favorite {{link http://www.samsunglions.com/english/ Samsung Lions}} (from Daegu). There was flag-waving, chanting, thundersticks, scantily-clad cheer squads, fog horns, whistles and general game-long bedlam from the capacity crowd of 14,000 fans. It sounded more like 40,000. American corporations would love this league, since all of the teams are sponsored by Korean companies. Can you imagine the unbridled joy of corporate executives in the U.S. if they were to hear 50,000 fans chanting “Let’s go Westinghouse” or “Let’s go Lockheed”? It was quite a lot of fun, and, though the caliber of play is somewhat below Major League standards, it is competent, perhaps AA or AAA level. Click {{link http://baseballguru.com/andrewwong/koreanbaseballprimer.html here}} for a Korean baseball primer.
I was watching the {{link http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/sports/200410/kt2004102522295611620.htm next game}} on TV last night (Monday), and the one very bad thing about baseball here came into play. There is a rule that games cannot go longer than 4 hours or past the 12th inning, so ties are somewhat frequent. Last night, the pitcher for Samsung threw 10 INNINGS of NO-HIT ball, walking only one and striking out 11. Unfortunately, the opposing staff did well also, and the game ended in a 0-0 tie after the 12th inning. The news story above reports that hundreds of fans posted protests at the {{link http://www.koreabaseball.or.kr/ Korean Baseball Organization}} web site. Can’t say that I blame them–that particular rule needs to be changed.