Friday, July 29, 2011

KBO: LG Twins vs. Doosan Bears 7/1/2011

Korean baseball.  Really, I should go to games more often.  It's an excellent excuse to get drunk and NOT drive home.  But, as is, this is only my second time to visit the ball park in Korea.  The first time was in 2007 at around the same time to see the Doosan Bears stomp the Hanhwa Eagles.  I was pulling for the Eagles, since I was living in Daejeon at the time (they name the teams after the corporations that sponsor them, so Hanhwa Eagles is the team for Daejeon).  I am still more of an Eagles fan even though they ain't good (and currently, second to last in the league), but on this night, I was a Bears fan.  Both of these teams are Seoul teams, but my understanding is that the Twins are like the equivalent of the Yankees.  So, of course I am not about to pull for them.  Hell, the Texas Rangers smashed 'em in the playoffs last year, so any team that is a dynasty like the Yankees does not get my love.  Only hate.  So, the Bears are more like the Mets, and I'm okay with that....until they play the Eagles again.

In case you haven't been keeping up with Korean weather, it's raining like a motherfucker over there.  Floods and all kinds of mayhem.  I, however, am not there.  I'm on vacation in Texas visiting folks and friends, and I guess I picked a good time to do so.  Although....it is the exact opposite over here.  No rain anywhere.  At the time of this game, the weather took a break, and we could enjoy this ballgame, but seriously, it had been pouring down the previous week or so, and continued up until I left, and apparently just got completely over the top recently.  So, excellent weather for the game.  I went with some co-workers, which was a little annoying at times.  Mostly because I went with a dude that I kinda don't like at all.  But I'm not gonna get into that.  I just focused on the game.

A few things about baseball games here:  1) the stadium is separated by which team you are pulling for, so we were all Bears fans so we sat on the opposite side from the Twins fans.  2) each side has a male cheerleader, and occasionally four ready made ladies would hop on the stage and do a jig for the male crowd.  They usually dance to k-pop hitz.  3) when one team is pitching, the other team's fans can make an ass ton of noise, to encourage their team at the bat.  4) each team player has a chant.  I've heard these things are similar to Japanese baseball teams, too.  Anything else?  No?  Well, let's sum up the game:  Bears won 6-0.  The Bears winning pitcher (with a complete game) was a foreigner named Dustin Nippert.  Nice job, and fun times.  I didn't even have a drop of beer, and it was still about 10 times more fun than an American baseball game.  Who woulda thought?  Below are some photos of it, and some youtube clips that I took from the game.





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