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Published: April 28th 2007
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A baseball game Taiwanese style.
What can I say, I love baseball. Or a more appropriate sentence should be, I love baseball players. That’s more like it. Everyone knows this and I’m not ashamed to admit I go to baseball game solely for the enjoyment of cute boys in tight pants. So needless to say I was pumped for the Taiwanese baseball game.
We were not sure what to expect when we arrived at the stadium. First of all we parked our scooter a mere 50m from the entrance. That would never happen back home. Secondly there was a beautiful gate as the entry. Just adding to its Taiwanese appeal. We checked out the vendors selling the normal baseballish things. Noise makers, key chains, phone charms, shirts, fans and what not. We wandered around looking for the place to buy tickets. This place was not so English friendly but a baseball stadium is a baseball stadium no matter where you go. So we got in line and when it was our turn we were like, "uhhhhh" and the girl said, infield or outfield. Of course we picked the big buck tickets along the first base line. This set
us back a whopping $300nt (or $10us). We ended up moving seats to the first row too, so we could have a better view of the boys...I mean game.
We sat down and surveyed the scene. I began to run down the comparisons in my head. Two teams....check. Four bases.....check. Dugouts....check. Jumbo tron...half check. Cute boys...CHECK! We decided we had to check out the concession stand to see the differences. Well not really to our surprise there was a vendor selling brown tea eggs, tofu and various animal parts. We didn’t find that so appealing so we ventured on to the "real" concession stand. Here's what it consisted of. One place selling various drinks and cans of budweiser, then nest place selling popcorn, pop, and ice cream with souvenir items. And the last place selling fried chicken. Overall somewhat normal, and the popcorn was even kettle corn to our delightful surprise. We purchased some beer and popcorn. Just with this being said in the States that could set you back about $15, but not in Taiwan. Just $35nt ($1us) a beer and $80nt ($2.50us) for a huge bag of popcorn and a souvenir hat to boot. We were ready
for the game.
We conveniently picked seats close to where the pitchers warmed up and well the catchers were there too. Within minutes of sitting down we spotted some cute players. Of course they noticed us as our hair and skin does not allow us to blend in much here. So let the games begin!! To our dismay baseball pant in Taiwan are not like the ones in America. Meaning they are not tight, bu hao. I think they need some uniform help, Mary and I are just the girls to help! But baggy uniforms aside they were still cute and the fun was just beginning.
Taiwanese baseball games appear normal for the most part until the game actually starts. The fans all had these shorty plastic bat things, resembling old school whiffle ball bats, only midget sized. They also have these horns. I was worried when the family behind us bought their little kids the horns thinking I would have a headache in no time. But do not underestimate the 3 year olds of Taiwan, they know when and how to use the horns appropriately. There are a series of cheers that involve one big drum, some
guys waving giant flags, and every one hitting their bats and blowing their horns together. They also do cheers. The only part I could get was "ji yo, ji yo" which means go. I eventually got good enough so I could say the words at the right time. I found it funny when they would play the song and at the end you are supposed to say "CHARGE", well I think Mary and I were the ONLY ones there who said "charge" or even knew what to do when the song played. Even with no one else saying it i couldn’t help myself, it has been chiseled into my brain from years of going to baseball games. Another thing they don’t do here is talk trash. That may be another American trend. I just feel a baseball games needs to have someone talking trash, it makes the atmosphere.
So the game started with someone important throwing the first pitch, but no Taiwanese National Anthem. The just got to it. The American pitcher started the game and well, he was pretty bad. He gave up 4 runs in the first inning, and they even had to have a pow wow.
He eventually was taken out in the 3rd, thank goodness, i couldn’t handle watching him anymore. After that I pretty much stopped watching the game, except for occasionally. As our attention became focused on the very cute catcher right in front of us. We pretty much stared at him the entire time, he would look up and smile and we would wave and smile back. This pretty much continued the entire game. I was convinced he would make someone warm up so he could look at us. And how could he not want to, we are pretty flippin cute! One of the best things about the ball park was the bathroom. Not for the obvious reasons but for the sheer fact that it had windows that looked out right onto the field and conveniently located right where the cute catchers were standing. I think I may have made more trips than necessary to the bathroom just to have a closer look. (my dad mentioned it may be time for me to come home, due to the measure of my desperation) We even wrote our numbers on a piece of paper for them, but I was too chicken to give it
to them. So we actually stayed for the whole game even though the UNI Lions were losing horribly. We had to stay and watch our man. After the game was over all the players from both teams bow to the crowd, then they were out. I tried to convince Mary to hang around until they came out of the locker room but she didnt want to wait. I have done this before, I am not a novice baseball player lover.
But oh well, we were hungry so we headed to find somewhere to eat. We ended up finding a really good Greek restaurant. We ordered humus and pita bread and I had lasagna. It was pretty delicious, but Mare had an allergic reaction to something and my stomach was in turmoil from the massive amounts of cheese. So we headed out to see what else was around. We had some time to kill. Eventually we headed back to the scooter rental place. On the way there we had to go through a police check point, of course they waved us through once they saw what we looked like. They didn’t want to deal with foreigners. So we dropped off
the scooter and headed to the station to catch our trains. My train was a 12:01am, so I slept the whole ride home. I got home at 3am and went to bed only to wake up earlier than i wanted to partake in the day of festivities for Matzu's return. I bet you thought it was over, right? Well it was more intense than her departure.....
Here is a link to where I have posted all my Tainan pictures! Copy and paste the link!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2062545&l=21638&id=39101322
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Doug
non-member comment
Am I wrong?
Do I understand that baseball players use a crotch deodorant called "Umpire"? It's for foul balls. It would be hyprocritical of me to berate you for going to a game to ogle the opposite gender. From time to time, I have been known to do the same. As a matter of fact, I met my old girlfriend at a tennis match. We broke up, because love meant nothing to her.