Thursday, June 20, 2013

Korean Baseball. Oi.

Ok....I feel that I need to preface this particular post with a little background of my baseball game experiences. I have never been to a MLB game before. Before you get too shocked, I grew up in Cali (SLO) which has no major league team. I saw their "little guys" play...AAA I believe. Maybe double. If that's a thing. Then I moved to Washington. Spokane, Washington. So never was like Oh em ge Mariners. Saw the Spokane Indians play a few times though. Other than that, I've seen more of my sister's softball games than one person should ever have to watch in a lifetime (don't worry Jess, I loved going and sitting in the sun and eating delicious food...and watching you play lol) and have caught many a Mariners game on the tele.

That being said, Korean baseball is a hoot and a half. I attended a game about a month ago, but just sat in the outfield in the sun with some friends and drank some beer and enjoyed the game from afar. It was a good time. THIS time was a much different experience.

Our doctor at the clinic (Dr. Hamm...or is it Haam...Idk the Korean way) bought tickets for 5 of us coworkers to go to the game and sit in the cheering section. Not only did he buy our ticket, but he arranged for us to get picked up after school by 2 of his friends, and then bought us cool baseball toys like blow up fingers, and loud stick clappers. In return, we bought the beer and chips. Oh they also bought us sandwiches. What the heck, can you say hospitality?

Now I'm not gunna lie, I don't even really know what happened in the game. When you sit in the 100's sections, you are cheering the whole entire time. When your team is up at bat, you do not sit down. And you do not stop yelling. You're dancing, you're waving your sticks around, you're mumbling words that sound like what it is everyone else is saying (unless someone translates for you...which I got a few times so sometimes I knew what I was saying). It was also helpful that many of their cheers go to songs I already know, like an ABBA song, and some hip hop, and other good things. So if all else fails, I can just mumble the tune and it sounds the same as what everyone else is saying. All this being said, it was a super good time.

In Korea, they have cheerleaders at baseball. They dance sometimes (one time to Gentlemen...and if you don't know, GOOGLE IT.....Gangnam Style is so last season, Gentleman is where it's at now) and they even had a wardrobe change. They got more scandalous as the night went on, which is saying a lot for Korea, the country that has a ban on how short your shorts and skirts can be in public (don't know if that's in effect yet or if it will ever be). There is also a fantastic man who wears gogo boots and has a loud whistle that keeps the fans cheering the ENTIRE TIME. He was a hoot and a half to watch him shake his booty in front of hundreds of people. No shame.

Also, at one point, we put plastic bags on our heads. Orange ones. They passed out enough for the entire crowd. so you put some air in it,and tie it on your head via your ears. Or the girls can make an adorable bow. I didn't want a bow. I wanted an awesome puff ball.

The most exciting part of the night was when some old Korean guy let me wave the flag around. First he had Mandy and Ellen do it, but they were not the best flag wavers in the world. They weren't enthused enough. I was more than enthused so I was wavin that flag like there was no tomorrow. Hittin the people in front of me. Hittin the people next to me. Wackin people in their arms and faces. I didn't care. It was awesome. Then the man took my picture and took his flag. Sad.

Overall, we won the game by like 8...had a good time, and experienced a new part of Korean culture that I would love to experience again, because honestly, how much more exciting can a baseball game get????

Cheerleaders in outfit one. 

The crew who brought us. 

Giant hand clappers and a bag on my head. That's my coworker Sara. 
 Man rockin the gogos and shakin it for probably lots of dollas.  


Sea of orange bag heads. 

My awesome flagness. 

Finally, here is the video of the cheerleaders doing it...now you know why the game is not nearly as exciting as the cheering that is going on. Before you click this, please go back up and watch PSY do it first so you get a full understanding of it's importance. 

1 comment:

  1. Looks like a blast! Not sure about that PSY guy though. Anyway glad you had fun.

    ReplyDelete