The Korean Baseball Organization

Sorry for the delay in updating. I realize some of you hang on every word I say in here. And for that, I appreciate it.
Not much going on here, typical going to work, teaching, making kids cry (it's easier than making my fellow workers at Jalapenos cry), going exploring, and trying to stay up-to-date with the happenings in the U.S.of A.
My computer is messing up right now, so new pictures will NOT be posted for a while. Grampa Bernie has been kind enough to find a part for me and ship it to me. The way the Korean postal system is, I should have it by Labor Day.
The adventures of my laptop have been keeping me busy and going all of this city in search of parts, service, and answers. It's tough enough to communicate with people, but to add to thast describing the works of my laptop has been a challenging one. I have talked to over 100 people about a PCMCIA card (I won't bother you with explaining) and have had no luck. To top it off, I have found an authorized Hewlett-Packard service center, but they cannot get parts for foreign made computers. THAT actually defeats the purpose of me purchasing this, I bought it, because HP is an international company. Yet, they cannot ship parts overseas. It confuses me, but what can I do? So as soon as I get the part I need, I will post pictures from various areas around Seoul.
I can feel the anticipation already.

Now.
To the title of this post.
My buddy Chris and I went to our first KBO game yesterday over at the Olympic Complex at Jamsil. The Kia Tigers were playing the LG Twins in a match-up of major corporations.
I have been doing a search for a schedule in English with no luck. Until the other night. I was able to get my hands on one, a gentleman (from Kansas, no less) has taken the time to translate a schedule and post it in a forum. What luck!!!! It's a good thing, we were informed all games on Saturdays are at 6:00. WRONG!!! Saturday's game was at 2:00.
Plans were made.
Set in stone.
Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd, buy me some dried squid and kettlefish, I don't care if I don't get what I wish. For it's il, i, sam strikes you're out at the oooooooold baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallgame!!!!
You read that right folks. Dried squid and kettlefish. Kettlefish is a dried fish, like a jerky. It's not bad, I have had it before, but I didn't get any yesterday.
We were on our way.
Anticipation.
What are we in-store for?
What should we expect?
A transfer on the subway line, knocking people out of our way, tripping some Adjoshi (older, married man. Usually seen drinking Soju and smoking thin cigarettes. Married to an Adjuma).
Planning our course.
Where do we sit? What should we spend? How drunk should we get? Do we chase foul balls? Do we scream at Sweeney for swinging at the first pitch, AGAIN? Do I yell at Buddy for leaving Perez in to long? How do I tell Tony Pena Jr. I love him in Royal Blue? In Spanish or English? I can never tell what to do in that case. Do I tell Emil Brown he is an adventure in the outfield? How would Dayton feel if I came up and hugged him?
Oh.
Wait.
Wrong city, wrong, stadium, wrong teams.
The subway has to make about 45 stops, or at least it felt that way. The feeling of going to a ballgame is overwhelming.
I am nervous. Just the fact I can go to a baseball game is euphoric enough.
Finally. F-I-N-A-L-L-Y. The subway stops and we run out, screaming, "HAVE YOU SEEN MY BASEBALL?" The crowd morphs into one, moving at breakneck speed, running over women and children. The exit is coming closer. I can hear the crowd. I can smell the, uh, um, FISH? We hit the stairs, taking us up to Jamsil Stadium. We walk by the Adjumas selling everything from beer to dried squid to water to spring rolls to candy to Spanish (WHAT?) peanuts to sodas to juices.
It's like a Bazaar.
"Makju (beer)!!!!!!!!"
Trying to draw us near. The Adjuma won't bite in this situation, we think. They want our money, so they are nice.
The sun is shining, the stairs are completing and now we are at the top. Just like everyone else in this city, we stop. Right at the top of the stairs. People scramble behind us, having to choose whether they run into us, stop, or choose another direction.
They choose the other direction.
We scan the area. Tents are set up. Tables, chairs, MORE Adjumas selling stuff. Hats, thunder sticks (don't worry guys, if you are under the age of five, you will get some. Unless otherwise requested), beer, Soju, MORE dried sea life, yet, no hot dogs, no peanuts or Gate's or P-Sub or garlic fries. Those of you on the West Coast or have seen a game on the West Coast know what I am talking about with the garlic fries. Tons of vendors. Cute Korean ladies in cheerleader outfits hawking various hand phones, riding around on two-wheeled machines, and handing out coupons. There is a Burger king and a KFC there, they are handing out seats cushions (next time, I get one from BK), selling burgers, and basically running up to you.
Beers in hand, after Chris negotiated a lower price, we wander.
Where to sit? What do we want to pay? Let's walk around for a bit to soak it in.
It was a carnival type atmosphere; people milling; a batting cage; men yelling, asking you to come over and take a look at what they're selling; more cute little cheerleader types; and the souvenir shop.
We go in and look.
Hats are 3,000 won ($3) and Chris buys a Twins' hat, I buy a Unicorns' hats. Uh-huh, there's a team called the UNICORNS. I went back to buy a Twins' hat later. While we are in there, I notice a picture very familiar. A Hall-of-Famer. In Blue, ne, ROYAL Blue. George Brett. #5 on your score sheet, #1 in your heart. They have elbow armor from Brett's company and there he is, in all of his glory. I AM AT HOME!!!!!
Well, for a moment.
OK.
So we decide it's time to get a ticket. We walk to the ticket window to purchase a ducet. Um, where do we sit? Chris advises the ticket window, we want to sit near the cheerleaders. 7,000 won each, we are in the infield area.
NICE.
Close to the field. IF we would have found our seats. We never really looked for them, there aren't ushers like in the States and we really could have sat anywhere.
We choose to soak the stadium in and see what it has to offer.
Walking through the tunnel, the crowd noise penetrates the ears, the sun beckons us to bask in all its glory, the green of the grass comes into view. The tunnel ends and we are in.
The view is the whole stadium. Think of a larger Minor League park. Maybe about 30,00o seats, 100 meters down the lines, 125 meters to deep center, 110 meters in the power alleys, and dirt around the base paths.
It's about half full, but the crowd makes it sound as though it is packed.
A platform with a male yell leader, speakers blasting music (during at-bats of the home team, THEIR team), and more cheerleaders. Thunder sticks beating, chants in unison, kids crying, cats and dogs, it was chaos.
OK, maybe not cats and chaos, but it was a neat feeling. The Kia Tigers were up when we walked in at the top of the second inning.
We saw our first home run, no sooner than we focused on the field.
The game is slower moving than the US game, but enough to keep your attention.
All teams are owned by corporations here. Kia, LG, Doosan, Hyundai, Lotte, SK, Samsung, and Hanwa. It keeps ticket prices down, not that the salaries are very high.
The type of baseball played here is the small-ball, Billy-Ball, for those of you who know what I am talking about. Advancing runners, sacrifices, slap hits, double-steals, and bunting. There is some power, as we saw TWO homers, but it is nothing like the MLB version.
We eventually found hot dogs. 1,000 Won ($1). However, they were cold. And had HONEY mustard.
Oh, Well, we got what we wanted.
We then went back out of the stadium to wander and find more beer, 3,000 won ($3) in the Tall Boy cans, 2,500 won ($2.50) in the smaller cans. After negotiating with another Adjuma (and losing), we take our beers back into the stadium. You can do that here, although the second time, they gave us a cup to pour it in.
Chris and I found a couple seats down the right-field line and observed for a while, scouting for seats to the next game
It was quite the experience and we were fired up for more games, announcing this would become a Saturday thing for us. And because two teams share the stadium (Doosan Bears and the LG Twins), there are games EVERY Saturday and Sunday.
A couple of rules I will have to get used to: 1.) Games are limited to FOUR hours or 12 innings, whichever comes first. REGARDLESS of the score. Yes, folks, ties in Baseball. Bud Selig would be proud. 2.) Screens around the field. They keep some foul balls on the field. You can keep them here, just like the States, but the percentage of foul balls is lower.
Nice, huh?
Week day games will be tough to go to, since we work at 3:00 everyday, but that won't deter us from heading out on the weekends.
The experience rates as a 10 out of 10, a good time was had by all. Except for the LG fans. Kia won 9-1.

Now.
On to MLB.
I have purchased the MLB.TV package and will be able to watch a majority of Royals' games over here. I say the majority, because Saturday's game was blacked out over here. So I am relegated to watching the A's and the Angels right now. Over 3,000 games will be at my fingertips and I can watch archived games, so the games played when I am sleeping will be watched when I wake up.
Nice, huh?
I was up at 4:30 AM for Opening Day, taking a cab to another teacher's place (We're both Royals' fans. Probably the only two in all of Korea. We're working to change that), and watching it on his big screen. We watched the game, rooted and were thrilled at a Royals' win. Made getting up that early worth it. It's doubtful I will be doing that often, but for Opening Day, certain sacrifices have to be made.
I will be avoiding all web pages giving scores to games when I wake up in the morning. So if you think you want to be funny and send me the score or tease me about it, know I will not be checking my e-mail or instant messages until after I watch the whole game. Nice try though.

OK, that's all I have to say about that.
Thanks for reading and taking your precious time to amuse me.
I hope this finds everyone happy and well.