The internet is a fantab tool. We Googled “Korean baseball” and came up with several sites that led us to Jamsil Stadium (aka Olympic Park stadium from the 1988 olympics) and the schedule. We discovered that Kia was playing LG THAT afternoon, so we grabbed our cameras, ipad with the subway app so we could get over there, and our wallets. We had no idea what to expect…such as did the ticket lady/man speak English?....did they have any seats left?....how much would our tickets cost? (even though we read that they were fairly reasonable…like 10 bucks…which turned out to be true!)….and how would we find our seats?
All that stress for nothing.
First, I must say that the Olympic committee of 1988 did an amazing job of placing subway exits in
convenient locations. Our exit brought us out EXACTLY in front of the ticket counter. I mean, they couldn’t have placed it any closer unless they put the ticket counter INSIDE the subway station. We knew we were in the right place in the subway station itself, too, because vendors were everywhere selling these long plastic air filled tubes that
fans smack together to make noise along with team tshirts and jerseys. We could feel the excitement before we
even exited the subway station! The only things missing were tailgaters, drunk people, and the smell of b.o..
When we got to the ticket window, there was a line forming. We didn’t know 100% for sure if we were in the right place because signage was all in Korean, but assumed it because of the line being there outside of a closed ticket window. For all we knew we were in will call…but luck was on our side. We stood and waited in line for about 15 minutes until we spotted a tall western guy. Me in my boldness asked “Do you speak English?” to which he acknowledged that he did. His name was Adam and he was with his mom, dad, and girlfriend. He and his girlfriend are teachers in Korea. Adam stuck with us during the entire ticket buying process…even though it turns out we didn’t need him. The ticket girl spoke English. I have to admit I was seriously stressed about buying tickets while waiting in line. I hate not knowing something. Fear of the unknown is like, REALLY stressful. Thank God for Adam that day, and thank God for the English speaking ticket girl. I had an app on my ipad that has popular Korean translations, and I had the phrase for “2 tickets please” all lined up, but if she had asked me where in the stadium I wanted to sit or how much I wanted to pay, I would have been screwed. Once again, thank God for Adam, and thank God for the English speaking ticket girl. Maybe I should be thanking Buddha? Oh well.
Getting up to our seats was a bit of a challenge, as we were behind home plate, but once we figured it out, we kicked back and enjoyed the experience. Fans were REALLY loud and into the game. There were different chants for different players too, and everyone knew them. I can’t remember the words to one song on the radio, so how they remember
24 different song/chants is beyond me. It was really fun to see that kind of passion at a sporting event. I expect that kind of passion at a soccer game in Britain, but in South Korea and at a BASEBALL game? I haven’t seen anything like it at a baseball game in the states. Perhaps it is because the stadium is much smaller and intimate than American stadiums? I don’t know, but the fans were REALLY into the game and that made us happyJ
Another observation was that almost everyone was eating KFC and Burger King. Both food chains had restaurants inside the stadium and they were quite popular. Fans were also allowed to bring in their own food and beverages,
including beer. Fans could bring in anything it seemed. I walked in with a rolly suitcase full of camera equipment and they never searched me. I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. I was all prepared to strip down to my underpants for a good ‘ol American search. This is another nice perk of South Korea. There doesn’t seem to be bomb wielding, gun slinging, heat packing, child molesting, serial rapists anywhere, and if there are, people don’t seem to fear running into them at a baseball game. I felt safe in South Korea, not just at the baseball stadium, but everywhere.
Might I mention the weather? Living in Atlanta, I never attend a daytime baseball game because the smell of cooked human is not pleasant. Nor is the unavoidable swamp ass one finds in their drawers. It is simply too hot and uncomfortable to stay in one’s seat for 3 hours in the Atlanta sun. The weather during our game in Korea was so beautiful that I almost couldn’t believe I was watching a daytime baseball game. If you are a baseball lover, then you really must make an effort to get to a ball game in Seoul. The experience won’t disappoint and you will get to keep your clothes on at the entrance gate…and bring your own beer!
The photos below are from pre-game warmups. The stadium was packed by game time.