BKLOG

One of the more frequent statements you’ll hear from Koreans when praising their own country is that ‘Korea has four seasons.’  I haven’t been here long enough to say one way or the other, but foreigners generally roll their eyes and chalk such talk up to popular nationalistic topics of conversation such as Dokdo and Kim Yuna.  Yesterday, however, certainly felt like spring to me as I spent the afternoon at the Lotte Giants’ Opening Day.

I’m only about a half hour by subway to the stadium but, knowing what Kenmore Square can be like on game day in Boston, I left pretty early.  I put on whatever orange clothes I owned to properly display the hometown colors and expected the trains to be mobbed with people.  The tickets were sold out within 90 minutes and Lotte fans are notoriously rabid.  Sadly, the cars carried only the usual ajoshis, ajummas and small children that like to stand directly in front of me and stare like I’m a Saturday morning cartoon.  Even as I got to the stadium, there were very few people dressed for the ballgame. 

MLB is extremely popular here in Korea.  They have no interest in what each team is about.  It is not unusual to see a Korean hipster wearing a Yankees hat and a Red Sox jacket.  Plus, none of the clothes out here are officially licensed so the designs can be interesting.  Apparently, even at Sajik Stadium on Opening Day, fashion trumps fandom. 

Well over a month ago, I went out on a Thursday night in Jangyu, the comparatively tiny town where I once taught elementary kids the secrets to dominate in hangman.  After most of the foreigners had gone home, it was just me and a fresh-off-the-plane Texan named Joey.  Blissfully innocent to Korean etiquette concerning strangers, he was bouncing around offering ‘Howdy!’s’ to anyone that would return his eye contact.  Eventually, a 50-something business man, Kim, and his friends returned the friendliness and we ended up drinking and noraebanging until dawn.  At some point, the drunk talk turned to baseball and Kim said he’d take us to opening day.  I hadn’t thought much of it until Joey called me last week and said we had tickets. 

So I met Kim, his girlfriend (apparently the wife couldn’t make it), and Joey at the front gate and we were escorted to our seats nearby the right field foul pole.  Kim introduced me to many of his associates (sometimes I get the feeling I’m a trophy) and we sat down to enjoy the game.  Joey and I were fed well and offered all the soju and beer we could stomach while the Giants struggled through the afternoon. 

At one point, Kim offered me some popcorn chicken.  After gnawing on dried squid, I was glad for the familiarity.  I downed a few pieces and he started laughing at me.  I knew immediately that he had fed me something foul.  ‘OK Kim… what did I just eat?’  He stood up and pointed at his butt hole.  God Damn it.

The first pitch was thrown out by HyunA, a member of the KPop group 4 Minute.  She did considerably better than the Giants’ new ace, Ryan Sadowski.  By the end of the 2nd inning, he had let two home runs leaving the score at 3-0.  Shortly thereafter in the 4th, the Giants’ bats started swinging when Lee Dae Ho and Karim Garcia each hit home runs of their own.  Twice, the Giants ended innings with the bases loaded and they were never able to recover and the final score was 3-2.  I came away with the impression that our bullpen is damn good and hopefully Sadowski can get his shit together next start.

Even with the loss, the game was a blast.  Built into the stands on the first base side was a stage for the cheerleaders (yup) and emcee.  It was from the stage where all the chants were led.  Every single player has his own chant… for example, Lee Dae Ho’s is similar to the banana boat song (DAAAAAE HO! DAAAAAAAAAAE HO!) and Garcia’s was ‘GARCIA’ to the tune of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.  Whenever a foul ball was hit into the stands, the crowd would shout ‘AH JU RA’ which basically means ‘give it to the baby.’ 

When the Giants started their operation back in the mid 80’s, there was very little money available for fan appreciation.  While most teams had boom sticks and over sized inflatable hands, the fans in Busan had to get by with more modest accessories: newspaper (pom poms) and orange plastic shopping bags (rally caps).  The carnival atmosphere really made me think of a college football game.

So, chicken anuses and poor pitching aside, I enjoyed myself incredibly.  I held back from getting too smashed… but since it’s only about 7 bucks to get inside a game, I’ll be sure to bring the mayhem to Sajik sometime soon.  Until then, I’m going to be stocking up on toothpicks.