I got to check out my first Korean professional basketball game today — SK Knights vs. the Samsung Thunders (both based in Seoul) — and it was a blast.
Be it baseball or basketball, Korean cheerleaders and mascots get A+’s for enthusiasm:
Like baseball games, one of the great things about professional sports in Korea is that you are allowed, if not encouraged, to buy grub outside of the stadium and bring it in. (I even saw people ordering pizzas at a baseball game, but not this afternoon.)
A beer and some gimbap for me, please. I don’t mind dried, salted squid (the white circles in the middle with the tentacles trailing behind) but it’s not my favorite either. Very chewy. The pot towards the back is for roasting chestnuts, the brown things back toward the water bottles.
The Jamsil Students’ Gymasium was one of the venues for the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988. It’s nice to see the buildings still get put to good use. And that orange tent on the right? That’s a pojang-macha, which you’ll see everywhere in Korea. They’re basically mobile food stalls where you can duck in, order some food and some soju, and sit on plastic chairs while stuffing your face with your friends.
The game itself was fun to watch. The quality of play was better than I expected, and Samsung came from behind to beat Seoul rivals SK. (You typically refer to Korean teams by their corporate sponsor rather than their mascot.) While I could be wrong, it looked as if each team could carry three foreigners (typically Americans) on their roster, but only two could be on the court for a given team at the same time. The Korean players were smaller, but their fundamentals looked strong. But if a foreign player got some room in the key, a dunk was pretty likely.
The half-time and time-out festivities were almost as fun as the game. This poor guy is about to miss a basket and a prize:
And here’s our friend the dancing Kraze Burger:
Overall, it was a fine afternoon in the land of the morning calm. My friends and I agreed that what might be lacking a bit in terms of quality of play is more than made up for in terms of spirit. And all for a meager 8,000 won.
Better luck next time SK!
Chuka hamnida Samsung Thunders!
