Baseball: Something Korea Does Right

Being in Seoul my friends and I often find ourselves saying things along the lines of, "Korea just does it better than America", "America could never", or "I wish we had this in America". While in Americas definitely does some things right, the thing Korea absolutely tops them on is, Baseball. 

I first heard about Korean Baseball through my parents when they visited me in May. They heard about how popular it is and how fun it can be. But that is all I knew, I did not expect to be greeted by screaming and dancing fans, platforms with dancers, and blasting music. This was one of my biggest culture shocks. My family and I went to a Doosan Bears vs KT Wiz game and the stadium was just electric. Fans of each team were separated on each side of the stadium with their own stages in the middle of the stands with dancers and an MC hyping up the fans. We sat on the KT Wiz side and could hear the Doosan Bears MC and music from across the entire stadium. When each team has their batters up, the fans have a song or chant for each individual player. For example, one player Jung Soo-bin, a song will play and his name is remixed into the song and chanted by the fans. It is truly amazing how the fans on both teams have each chant memorized and are constantly energetic and ready to support their players. The players names are shown on the big screen so people, like me and my family, who did not know anything about either team, could read the players name and actually chant the names with the other fans as if we have been one of them all along!

Another enjoyable aspect of the games are the foods and drinks. There is a wide variety of foods fans are able to buy inside and outside of the stadium. Before even entering, there are vendors outside the entrances selling dried squid and alcoholic beverages for people to purchase and bring into the stadium. This again was a huge culture shock. In American sports games, people are not able to bring in any food or drinks in without being confiscated. But in Seoul, you could bring a whole buffet in and it would be perfectly fine. Inside the stadium the food is cheap and fun to eat. You can purchase whole meals and bring them to your seats, or you can go to one of the convenience stores inside and get a snack and drink. I decided to buy the super cool, upside down baseball helmet fried chicken and fries combo with a drink connected to it. At least that is what I call it, but it is seriously cool. You are given a cup of your desired drink and on top is a bowl that has the chicken and fries in it with a straw going throughout the middle to the drink. 

Overall, Korean baseball is truly an experience everyone visiting should do. It is great fun even if you know nothing about baseball or about the players. This is one of my biggest recommendations to do and it will unforgettable.