Korean Baseball
The video in the popup (if it's not showing, refresh the page with pop ups enabled) might indicate major differences between American and Korean baseball, and there are a few:
But for the most part, the differences are minor (and the video is a taste of Korean humor - it's a spoof of players brawling). Here's Kuno's report of his experience at a Korean baseball game preceded by a real video:
Let's start from the beginning. Walking up to a professional stadium in America, you are guaranteed to find vendors outside Olympic Stadium Olympic Stadium The Korean Olympic Stadium is across the lot from Jamchil Stadium. It makes you wonder - what do they do with old Olympic stadiums? of the stadium selling many of the same items that you would find inside the stadium. For example, hot dogs, barbecue sandwiches, bags of peanuts, sodas, baseball hats, and t-shirts with team logos on them. Walking out of the subway stop up to Jamchil Stadium (home of the Doosan Bears and LG Twins), we are bombarded with vendors much the same way as I would expect in America. However, there isn't a bag of peanuts or a hot dog to be seen among the stands. There are, of course, rice cakes, squid, and kimbop being sold everywhere. I was cracking up laughing because it felt so very much like the atmosphere outside of a baseball stadium in America, however it was bitterly different, as I couldn't quench my strong desire to wolf down a chili dog smothered in ketchup. Kimbop and squid just don't hack it.You may have noticed that Jamchil Stadium is home of both the Doosan Bears AND the LG Twins. This is a true statement, and apparently these two teams are bitter rivals, so it would be similar to someone saying home of the Redsox and the Yankees. However, it would not be the same KFC and Burger King KFC and Burger King American imports inside Jamchil Stadium in Korea. as saying home of the Boston Redsox and the New York Yankees, because Boston and New York are different cities. The Bears and the Twins are both hometown teams of Seoul, along with the Unicorns (yes, the Unicorns). As we know, the land area of Korea is significantly smaller than that of the land area of America (refer to Korean Hiking Experience article). This makes it hard to have 30 teams from 20-some different cities like in America. So in Korea, instead of having 30 teams, they have 8 teams, 3 of whom are from Seoul, 1 from Incheon which is just outside of Seoul, and 4 from other cities in Korea. You also may have noticed that I did not say the Seoul Bears, or the Seoul Twins, or the Incheon Wyverns. Quick overview of Korean Doosan Cheerleaders Doosan Cheerleaders They keep the down time up. Prices: everything costs about as much as you would pay in America - everything except American imports and Korean products that you can only get in Korea. For example, sodas, candy bars, and bags of chips all cost similar prices in America and Korea. Tickets to American baseball games on Sunday's can range anywhere from $35 to $150 depending on how bad you want your nose to bleed. Well, good seats to a Korean baseball game cost $7, and you can sit almost anywhere you want! So, we graciously purchase our $7 tickets and head into the stadium. All 10 of us (Koreans and North Americans alike) grab our seats and check out the sights. Lastly, the main difference between the Korean baseball experience and the American baseball experience is the level of participation of cheering during the game. During practically every moment of the action during the game, there is a gentleman dressed in a uniform on top of the dugout with a whistle leading the crowd in what appear to be planned and practiced cheers. He's like a conductor to a symphony of fans all playing "thunder sticks" (you know, those two columns of plastic filled with air and smacked together to make a loud noise, as seen at some college basketball and football games in America). It's amazing to see this guy wave his arm, blow on his whistle a certain way. It took a while, but we figured out that the couple thousand fans all responding in sync to his cheering command. It blew my mind. There's a cheer that includes the players name and beckons for him to get a hit, a cheer that sounds like the slow clap, and a soft cheer that seems to be a conciliatory cheer after one of our players gets out. Honestly, it was bizarre, and you can best understand it by experiencing it. The cheering and fan participation was intoxicating and I found myself on my feet from the third inning on, yelling out my version of the cheers - "(clap, clap) Kim Dong Hu, haaaawt... DOG (clap, clap)!", or "(clap, clap, clapclapclap, clap clap) DOOSAN!" Or "(clap, clapclapclap) He no hitter, he naCHO! (clapclapclap)." Oh man, it was awesome. I didn't know any of what they were saying, but I would yell out syllables that sounded similar and hit the beat, and I don't think any Koreans around me knew any better. This went on for 12 innings strong, as our beloved Doosan Bears were losing 7-4 in the seventh when they decided to score 2 runs and then tie it up 7-7 in the bottom of the 9th to push us into extra innings! Then when SK scored one in the top of the 11th, Doosan fought back and tied it up again in the bottom of the inning. However valiant, our beloved Bears fell behind another run in the top of the 12th and didn't have it in them to come back. All and all it was honestly one of the most exciting baseball games I've seen in my life and was all the more fun experiencing all the cultural differences!
The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) of South Korea was founded with six teams in 1982 and currently has eight. The teams are named after the companies or conglomerates which they belong to. The first game was played on March 27, 1982 between Samsung Lions and MBC Blue Dragons (LG Twins) in Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul. Then-President Chun Doo-hwan threw the first pitch. To date, founder members the Kia Tigers (formerly, Haitai Tigers) have won 9 of the 22 national championships. Teams: