Last week I had the fun experience of going to my first and second Korean baseball games! On Saturday, I headed to Busan with a group of foreigners to see the Lotte Giants (Busan) vs the Nexen Heroes (Incheon? Not sure). On Thursday, I went to Pohang with some Korean coteachers (and one foreigner coteacher, Dan!) to see the Giants against the Samsung Lions (Daegu). As you can see, instead of being called the Daegu Lions, teams have sponsored names. Pretty strange, I can't imagine cheering the Bell Canadiens, or the Telus Canucks, but I guess one day it might be possible. Regardless, the fans were extremely supportive and it was a super fun atmosphere!!
When I went with my coworkers, Dan and I sat next to a teacher, Dongwan, who is a huge fan of the Giants. He was nice enough to tell Dan and I a whole bunch of fun tidbits about the game we would have missed. For example, he told us to expect to see Jiminez (I just had to google how to spell his name because at the game it was only written in Hangeul!) who is a Venezuelan player. Dongwan said "He is very big. And cute. Like a bear." This description proved quite accurate as Jiminez was about four times the size of the other players, with a funny bear-like gait. The fans and team certainly embraced him and he, like all the other players, had his very own chant when he came out! When the fans disagreed with a call or play, they would yell out "MA." Dongwan explained this is a Busan saying, a shortened version of hajima (don't do that). Also when fans would catch foul or homerun balls, the other fans would say "ajura" which meant they had to give the ball to a child. It was a really exciting game with an intently suspenseful ending. It was super fun. Also the Lotte chant was sung to the tune of "Glory glory Hallelujah" and then another chant was to the tune of "Happy Together" by The Turtles.
When I went with foreigners, it was also fun, but I didn't get the same insider scoop. I would definitely recommend going with a Korean who is a big fan if possible! The one bonus to the Busan trip, however, was witnessing a very odd tradition. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on my blog before, but Korea is horrifyingly lacking in garbage cans. They can't be found ANYWHERE. It's insanely frustrating, especially since the result is that there is trash littered everywhere. So nearing the end of the game in Busan, someone handed out little trash bags to every one (intead of having garbage bins...). Because the bags were orange, the team color of the Giants, people filled them with air and wore them on their heads. No joke. There were even different styles of bag wearing, either blown up as you see on me below, or somehow made into a giant bow. It was rather hilairous. After the game, people put their trash in the bags, and then as we left the stadium there was a place to pile them all on top of each other.
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| Everyone was doing it, I swear! |
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| Busan stadium |
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| Pohang stadium. I was sitting behind a very excited Lions fan. |
Cool :)
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