The Korean World Series

Okay, so it's not really called the "World Series" here in Korean. They are not so presumptuous, although Korea did win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The SK Wyverns (wyvern?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern) are playing the Doosan Bears in the Finals of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). If you're not familiar with Korean professional baseball, each of the eight teams is owned by a chaebol, a Korean conglomerate, e.g. Samsung Lions, LG Twins, Hyundai Unicorns, etc. Whenever there's a big game, the chaebol dismiss employees from work early, so that they can attend the game. It's like school spirit meets corporate competition, and it comes out most visibly in the group cheering. There's a home side and a visiting side in the stadium. Employees and fans are armed with thunder sticks and homer-hankies and support their team with a half-dozen team songs and chants, all belted out in unison.

My friend Melissa works for SK Telecom, and she was able to score some free tickets to Game 4 for me and a few friends. Score! I was pretty excited. After all, this is the Korean "World Series". And I got to sit in the employee section, which means I got to join the group cheering. Needless to say, I had a blast. Wish you were here!

P.S. The Wyverns won to build a 3-1 lead over the Bears, and the Wyverns closed out the series with a Game 5 win the following night.









We got there early to make sure we got good seats (there's no assigned seating in the employee section).









Jamie (left) and Melissa (right) armed with thunder sticks and wearing their homer hankies!





A practice session! Yes, we did rehearse before the game!





Game time!





The Doosan Bears side





What fire hazard??