GO BEARS!!! (Baseball in Korea)
I had the luxury of going to my first Korean baseball game today, and I have to say - Well Done, Korea. I am now a tried and true Doosan Bears fan.
The KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) has 8 teams throughout the country. Each team is sponsored by a company such as the Doosan Bears, LG Twins, Samsung Lions, etc, etc. It's run somewhat like the setup in the US - as far as having a spring training, and a 126 game season, ending with playoffs and a championship.
The Doosan Bears and the LG Twins are the two Seoul Teams and they play out of the same Baseball Stadium in Jamsil, right next to the Olympic Stadium (which is gi-normous):
Today's game was a Bears vs. Twins game and it was great fun to see the "home" teams duke it out. I imagine this would be something akin to the Yankees/Mets subway series, only they just share a city, not a stadium.
There are a few cool things about these games...
1) Tickets are only 8,000W.
2) Said tickets are general admission (or at least they were today). Seriously you can sit anywhere you want in the whole stadium.
3) There are Burger Kings, KFCs, and GS25s directly inside of the stadium so its not just normal stadium fare. Well, if you call this normal:
4) The fans are absolutely insane! They have cheers, and cheerleaders, and tons of songs, and those awesome balloon stick things that you bang together to make lots of noise - which I love and now own to be used again and again.
And last but not least - the 5th coolest thing are the men walking around with kegs on their backs and taps in their hand ready to give you delicious (ok well, mildly tasty at best) Hite Beer for the amazingly low low price of 3,000W. Honestly - what an ingenious idea to carry around a mini keg on your back - it beats carrying a tray up and down stadium stairs spilling it all over the place.
Today's game resulted in the Twins beating the Bears, but I have faith that my team will seek revenge at some point. I'm now the proud owner of a sweet, sweet, white Doosan Bears hat, and have a newfound love for Korean baseball. I will most certainly be back...
The KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) has 8 teams throughout the country. Each team is sponsored by a company such as the Doosan Bears, LG Twins, Samsung Lions, etc, etc. It's run somewhat like the setup in the US - as far as having a spring training, and a 126 game season, ending with playoffs and a championship.
The Doosan Bears and the LG Twins are the two Seoul Teams and they play out of the same Baseball Stadium in Jamsil, right next to the Olympic Stadium (which is gi-normous):
Today's game was a Bears vs. Twins game and it was great fun to see the "home" teams duke it out. I imagine this would be something akin to the Yankees/Mets subway series, only they just share a city, not a stadium.
There are a few cool things about these games...
1) Tickets are only 8,000W.
2) Said tickets are general admission (or at least they were today). Seriously you can sit anywhere you want in the whole stadium.
3) There are Burger Kings, KFCs, and GS25s directly inside of the stadium so its not just normal stadium fare. Well, if you call this normal:
4) The fans are absolutely insane! They have cheers, and cheerleaders, and tons of songs, and those awesome balloon stick things that you bang together to make lots of noise - which I love and now own to be used again and again.
And last but not least - the 5th coolest thing are the men walking around with kegs on their backs and taps in their hand ready to give you delicious (ok well, mildly tasty at best) Hite Beer for the amazingly low low price of 3,000W. Honestly - what an ingenious idea to carry around a mini keg on your back - it beats carrying a tray up and down stadium stairs spilling it all over the place.
Today's game resulted in the Twins beating the Bears, but I have faith that my team will seek revenge at some point. I'm now the proud owner of a sweet, sweet, white Doosan Bears hat, and have a newfound love for Korean baseball. I will most certainly be back...