Lotte Giants Baseball

Alright, if you know me at all, you clearly understand that I'm a diehard K-State sports fan. Many of the most exhilerating moments of my life occurred while attending various KSU sporting events (Big 12 Championship win over Oklahoma in 2003, Beating Nebraska in 1998, Stomping ku for over a decade, and the list goes on and on. I remind you of this to ensure that my first couple experiences at Korean baseball games are put in the proper context. I attended 2 Lotte Giants (Busan's professional team) games this past weekend and they instantly etched themselves in my top 5 sports experiences of all time. Combine the noise of the KSU football student section, with the intensity of the KSU basketball student section, topped off with the creativity of the KSU volleyball student section (if you've been to a KSU volleyball game, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, get your tickets now) and multiply the number of fans by 5 and that's what it feels like inside the Lotte Giants Stadium in downtown Busan, South Korea. The first base side of the stadium houses the young, rowdy fans led by a 20 something male cheer leader/announcer/drum line director/music video maker. He's nuts. He spends the entire game dancing, yelling, fist pumping, and leading the fans in numerous cheers from the opening pitch to the final out. He's surrounded by 4 female cheerleaders who serve mainly as his backup dancers. While this side of the stadium is clearly the loudest and most intense, the rest of the fans are pretty fanatical as well. They have individual cheers for each player as he stroles up the the plate. These cheers are super loud and super catchy. My favorite such cheer is for a Mexican player with the last name of Garcia. He's the starting right fielder for the Giants and each time he steps up to the plate, the entire stadium erupts in a Korean/Mexican style chant "Gaaaaar-a-cia, Gar-a-cia, Gar-a-cia! Gaaaaar-a-cia, Gar-a-cia, Gar-a-cia!" The cheer lasts the duration of most of his atbats. While chanting his name, most fans jump in the air waving their hands frantically above their heads (like Rocky Balboa when he reached the top of the mountain during his workout in Russia). In addition to the crazy chants, Korean fans make pom-pons out of newspapers and wear orange air-filled grocery bags on their heads (Korean style rally caps) during every game. We met two new Korean friends, who I'm certain will become our baseball buddies for the rest of the season. Their names are Pak and Lee, two early 20's crazy Giants fans. They taught us many of the cheers, bought us some beers, and entertained us throughout Sunday's game. The Giants rallied to overcome a 5-1 deficit to win the game 7-5 in 9 innings. For a guy who has loved sports since birth, taking part in my first couple Korean baseball games was truly an unbelievable experience.