Thursday, September 2, 2010

Baseball is my favorite sport

Well, that's not technically true, I enjoy baseball back home, but its far from my favorite sport. Mostly, I watch Mariners games with Grandma, but I'm not a follower.

But, after going to a short Taiwanese professional game this past weekend, baseball has become my new temporary favorite sport.


I think, partly, this has to do with the lower quality of play than the major leagues back home. Everything's such a wild card! When there are more errors and mistakes I think the game is more enjoyable for me to watch. You never know what's gonna happen next. The Kaohsiung team is the La New Bears, La New is the shoe brand that is their major sponsor, and their caps look like a bull skull, but it's a pair of shoes, with horns. The team they were playing is the most popular team in Taiwan, the Taipei Brothers Elephants.


Sadly, the game got rained out halfway through the second inning, you know, typhoon season and all. But the short time I was there it was wholly enjoyable. The stadium was split into pretty even fan bases, decked out with their green clappers/horns, for the Bears, or yellow for the Elephants.

Drum line and flags
There is a drum line above each dugout. When that team is batting, the drummers lead audience wide cheers, encouraging their boys to victory, while the whole audience simultaneously claps their cones, or waves them towards the field. I'm all about cheering and shouting in general. Whenever there's a hit, members of the drum line pick up 15 foot flags and wave them for a few seconds before picking back up their chanting.

FLAGS
Umbrellas up Bears!
When it did start pouring, my boys, the Bears were up 2-1. It was an enjoyable time for the short while it lasted, and I look forward to heading back out to the field for our make-up game!

2 comments:

  1. hrmmm.... Yakima Bears? Kaohsiung Bears?

    awesome.

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  2. Hey Mapes, just caught up on my blog reading. Looks like you're doing all kinds of fun things. I must say, I'm envious of your adventures, food- and otherwise. I start a job out in the Olympic next month, but remain a rambler until then. Expect a letter sometime after i settle down.

    Love you! Miss you!
    Micah

    ReplyDelete