I went my first Korean baseball game today. Our team is the Doosan Bears*. One of the coworkers is a very serious fan. I find such things amusing since who your team is is so arbitrary but that doesn't mean it isn't fun.
The Bears' home stadium is at what is, as far as I can tell, simply called the Sports Complex. It's next door to the Olympic Stadium and park area. The stadium is nice, the bathrooms are nice**, the amenities are sufficient, and it is right next to a subway station. The photo of the refreshments lady captures a few elements that remind one that this is Korea. First, she's wearing an 'ajima' visor; second she is selling something that appears to be trying to crawl out of the snack box.
It has been about two decades since I went to a baseball game in America. At that time my interest in such things was limited to the question of whether I would get stuff and since I didn't catch a home run ball or score any other goodies I was not impressed. The biggest difference between what I recall of being at an American game and a Korean game is the waiting.
In America, if there is a time out or some other delay between pitches or innings there is not a great deal of excitement. Sometimes the mascot will be around or they'll play some annoying song meant to 'pump' you up or whatever but mostly you wait. It's boring. In Korea they sing. They have little chants of all kinds and, for reasons well beyond my understanding, play snippets of the Inspector Gadget song. I know that I would have to go to another game in America to truly make the comparison. At any rate, it was a good time and I socialized extensively this weekend.
*You can tell I'm a terrible sports fan because I didn't mention that "we" lost to Samsung.
**They have their own superhero, Toilet Man
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