Last month was a little skimpy as I believe I mentioned in previous post because of my trip to Thailand. That turned out to be all right and I still managed to have a lot of fun, but it also meant that last weekend I kinda let loose a little bit when it came to time to go out. Saturday was a doozy let's just say that. Here is the beginning.
As most Saturdays do I began May 8th with a soccer game. I woke up bright and early at 5:05 to go to the field at 6:15. Our game didn't actually start until 7 probably but we our coach has always insisted that we arrive early, maybe so we can be awake for a little longer before the game, I dunno. The game went well. I assisted the only goal in the first game, sat for two half hour games then scored two in the final game, can't do much better than that for the amount of time I played. More and more people have been coming to the games because the weather is steadily improving so playing time is becoming a hot commodity, no one plays for more than two games, but Pete and I usually get decent enough time. Following the game we went to the Sauna and to lunch with the team as we do all Saturday mornings when we play. Pete, Sung Nam and I offered to pay for the meal because each time we go out to eat a different team member pays. We felt that 5 months of not paying was a little long so we did. They of course insisted on us drinking as a reward for being so gracious as to pay for everything. Someone brought Chinese Soju Kor-I-An-Ju is what it sounded like that was very sweet and very strong. That on top of the Makali led me immediately back to bed when I got home from soccer. I slept for 3 hours and the next thing I new it was 330.
Pete had asked if I would go to a baseball game on Saturday with some of our friends. Stupidly I agreed forgetting about the DJ Fest some of my friends had told me about that began at 2 on Saturday. I wasn't going to miss that though so I decided to skip the party that was going to happen after Baseball and cab straight to DJ Fest from the game. It was a good plan. The game rolled around and the four of us went out, Pete, Allie, Kevin and I. Kevin is a friend of the Canadians who I've hung out with a few times. We were meeting two Korean girls who we've gone to Baseball games with before, they love the sport and every time I go to a game I can see why. It is so much more upbeat than an American sporting event. Think of Duke vs. Maryland ACC basketball on speed. There are cheers for each of the players which are chanted every time they bat, a variety of cheers for defense and of course two distinct cheering sections (one for each team) which invariably despise each other. The cheers are all sung in unison with hand motions and dances usually accentuated by the blow up noise makers which you beat together. The sound can be deafening at times but it just adds to the atmosphere of the game. Everyone has these beaters and well everyone uses them, I never had the best hearing but after Saturday it probably will never improve.
At baseball games there are also cheerleaders led by one guy who walks around on a stage in the middle of one side of the stadium conducting all the cheers. He's flanked by four stunning Korean girls, all of whom I will admit to having stared at a little. They're beautiful, it's not fair it really isn't. Regardless the four cheerleaders are basically glorified back up dancers who support the masters of ceremonies himself, a man decked out in a uniform for whichever team he's supporting dancing around like a lunatic on the stage. At least that's how it should be. The man is there, he does conduct and direct the cheering, he is wearing a uniform, but he doesn't dance around to much. I would be much better at his job I really would, I mean I can dance like a lunatic, so I got something on him.
Despite his complete lack of lunacy, the man does control a pretty ridiculous show and the whole time he's up there strutting his team's stuff he's competing with his doppelganger on the other side of the stadium. I swear it's like dueling banjos between the two orchestrators of the cheer, one goes the other tries to one up him and it gets interesting but I always thought that one would be more enthusiastic than the other and that maybe would push him over the top. That's just not how it is here though. The name of the game is efficiency. I think the winner of the dueling cheerleaders is the man who can goad his cheering section into chanting in complete and total unison. There isn't really much emotion to it. When I went to the wedding one of my coworkers told me that at the wedding the couple isn't supposed to show their emotion in respect for the sanctity of the ceremony, in thinking back now the baseball game is similar to this. There is no cheering beside the preplanned and orchestrated cheering delivered by the master of the cheer. No boos and no shouts of "FIGHTING", the signature cheer of Korean games, are heard except from the foreigners used to leering at other players and screaming lewd comments or racial slur at whoever is unlucky enough to be on the other team. You never call anybody on your team anything bad, but the other team, well it would have been better off for them if they had just not been born . . well in America, but not here.
That seemed strange to me at first. Hey battabattabattasaaaaWING batta was something I always expected to hear from some drunk asshole at a baseball game, but it just didn't happen here. I think that this just shows a little more respect for the game and the athletes. These people are the cream of the crop at what they do and whether we love or hate them they deserve some respect for being much better than we are at what they do. It's then fitting that opposing fans restrict the competition between them to the uniformity and subsequent strength of their cheers rather than who can be more insulting, malicious and hurtful with what they yell. It was nice getting buzzed around people who were focused more on the collective good time than the competition. Obviously the competition was important but it didn't go past that into negativity and I really liked that.
Well the other good thing about Baseball games is the beer at them DOESN'T cost 10 dollars for six ounces, in fact you can get a tall boy for lest than 3 which is a pretty good deal, so I had a few beers, to you know celebrate pay day. The six of us had a good time, I learned the cheers from Jamie, one of the Koreans and impressed both of the Koreans with my ability to read the Korean alphabet. I mean it is impressive after only 9 and a half months of studying, I'm the man, no, but they acted as if I had done something remarkable. The game went on longer than I thought it would. LG lost but I don't care I'm a Doosan fan because that's the first game I went to and I left immediately afterwards.
Next entry: DJ Fest and probably this weekend depending on how tomorrow night goes.
PEACE
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