Category: Sports Related

With Korea’s loss to Japan in the World Baseball Classic the conspiracy theories are already beginning and most of them have to do with why Korea gets eliminated after only one loss:

Some of the players were still not content and the reasons for that included a weird bracket of the tournament, where the top two teams in the second round group meet again in the semifinals.

“We aimed to go to the semifinals and made it in the end. I’m satisfied. We’ve already won twice so I don’t think we lost to Japan,” Lee Seung-yeop of South Korea said. “We did our best but I’m afraid there has been something not proper about the rules in the event, as long as we went 6-1 and still have to be eliminated.”

This has been a common sentiment not only with players but also with Korean fans:

“It is a pity to lose the game, but I highly recognize the national team’s efforts. It is also regretful that we could not gain a good result despite fine plays because we had to fight the Japanese team three times due to the U.S.’ abnormal game schedules,’’ Park Sung-soo, 31-year-old Seoul citizen, said.

It is called single elimination people. Your pool play record means nothing when in a single elimination game. Koreans should know this from watching the World Cup every 4 years where the same system is used. It is not a black helicopter US CIA conspiracy to hold back Korea.

I will use an NFL example to better make my point. You do not see the Indianapolis Colts complaining about losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL Playoffs even though they had a better season record and beat Pittsburgh during the season? The fact is that it was single elimination and they get beat, that simple.

Some people think the semi-finals should have been a three game series, but all the teams that entered the WBC new the format and rules and signed up for it anyway. I don’t think it is proper to complain about the rules and format publicly afterwords after you voluntarily signed up to play in the tournament to begin with.

The Korean team had a great run and have a lot to be proud of. I expect the WBC will make some format changes in 4 years, but the black helicopter CIA conspiracy theories have got to go.

Of course head over to the Marmot’s Hole to hear all the latest conspiracy theories.

It’s over, the Japanese pitcher struck out the side in the 9th to put Korea away 6-0. Ichiro seems really happy because he will not have to eat his words after all. Like I said before championship caliber teams can rise above bad calls like the one Japan had against the US and they did with a little help from the US by losing to Mexico.

So far no signs of outrageous nationalistic celebrations from the Japanese like the Koreans had after their second defeat of Japan. The Koreans did come out of the dugout and give a bow to their many fans in Anaheim though which was a classy thing to do.

The Cuba vs Japan final should be a great game.

It was a good run by Korea and hopefully the Korean media doesn’t ruin it by claiming that the WBC is flawed by having Korea eliminated after only one loss especially when they have defeated Japan twice already. I can understand the sentiment because the WBC’s format is a little strange but the Koreans signed up for the WBC and the rules format that comes with it.
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Ichiro just popped up to end the top of the ninth and the third baseman for Korea Jung who caught the ball just flicked it back at Ichiro. To Ichiro’s credit he did not react to the provaction. If I was him I would at least tell the guy to look at the scoreboard.

Well Korea has one more chance to put some runs on the board and the first batter has already struck out. Not good.
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The ESPN announcer just butchered the Korean fans chant of Dae Han Min Guk. Quick somebody call Vank on him. The rain delay is over and the Japanese bats are still hot with them getting yet another hit. Instead of planting the Korean flag on the pitcher’s mound the Korean team may want to plant a white flag now because it is going to take a miracle to make a come back.
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It is still raining out and the game continues to be delayed which is just prolonging the inevitable that Korea has gotten stomped by Japan. Any bets if Ichiro will plant the Japanese flag on the pitcher’s mound?
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Okay this is getting out of hand right now. The Japanese are hitting the ball all over the place now. Japan is now winning 6-0 in the 8th inning. It is now raining pretty heavily and the game is being delayed which is only prolonging Team Korea’s misery of getting stomped by Japan. It is looking like it is going to be a Japan vs Cuba WBC Final.
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I think it safe to say that Kim Byung-hyun is now the most hated person in Korea. He just threw a wild pitch advancing a runner and then gave up a double allowing the runner to score a third run off of him. Why in the world did the Korean manager put Kim in? You do not use Kim in a tight pressure packed ball game. Ask Tino Martinez.

I have long posted on how much Kim sucks and I have been proven right again. They finally took him out. Why did he take Seo out? Seo was cruising and had only given up three hits. Hopefully this next pitcher can stop the bleeding and at least keep it from becoming a blow out.
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Japan is now threatening with a runner on second with no outs. The starting Korean pitcher Seo was taken out for I guy named Jun who pitched one good inning before giving up the double. Kim Byung-hyun Kim is now in and he just struck one batter out. Now Kim just did his best 2001 World Series imitation by giving up a two run home run. Japan is now winning 2-0. Is anyone now wondering why Seo was taken out of the game now?
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Peter Gammons just got done interviewing Hines Ward who is at the game supporting Team Korea. Ward just commented on how well the Korean community supports there sports teams. Gammons did ask him how he thought he would be received when he travels to Korea for the first time in April. Ward thought he would be treated well and was looking forward to going.
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It is now the 5th inning and the game between Korea and Japan is still stuck at 0-0. Both pitchers Uehara from Japan and Seo from Korea are pitching well and both teams have made some great defensive plays to keep the game scoreless. Ichiro has made a couple hits and stole two bases, so he has gotten off to a good start but has nothing to show for it yet.

The Korean national baseball team played another outstanding well pitched game to defeat Japan 2-1 and advance to the World Baseball Classic semifinals. Here is my favorite quote from the article:

Lee Jong-beom, the hero of the game, said: “On hitting the decisive two-base hit, I thought how lucky I was to be born in South Korea.”
“My colleagues and I were excited throughout the game, listening to the slogan ‘Dae Han Min Kuk (Republic of Korea)’ from the cheering squad.”
Despite the win, he said Japanese baseball remains a notch above the level seen in South Korea.

I don’t know what being born in South Korea has to do with the decisive two-base hit but I don’t agree with his sentiments that the Japanese play better baseball than Korea. The Japanese appeared to be trying their best to beat Korea and they had two opportunities to do it and couldn’t get it done.

The Korean victory in turn will help the US enter the semifinals if they can beat Mexico, which the way the US is playing (crappy) is by no means a sure thing. Of course the Korean media is hyping up the fact that the Koreans have helped the Americans again like they did during the last World Cup, the Marmot’s Hole has the inside scoop on that. Than of course the Korean media has to bring up all the times they were “cheated” of glory to the Korean race by the wicked Americans:

In the Sydney Games of 2000, the Korean team failed to make it into the finals from the round of four because of a bad call, and in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, short-track skater Kim Dong-seong was deprived of his gold metal because of the “Ohno Incident.” And two years ago, during the 2004 Athens Games, gymnast Paul Hamm took away Yang Tae-yeong’s sure “gold.” At each turning point, the party that tripped up Korea for doubtful reasons was none other than the United States.
Despite this, Korea has played the role of rescuer each time the United States has faced crisis. A typical instance was the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

Interesting, no mention of the help from the referees in the last World Cup that allowed Korea to advance in the first place. Plus nothing about the Roy Jones Jr. boxing match scandal during the Seoul Olympics. It was a great win by the Korean team and they should be excited about it, but the in your face hyper nationalism has got to go IMHO. Could you imagine what would happen if the US team planted the American flag on a pitching mound in a Korean stadium like the Korean team did in Anaheim?

I’m actually happy that the US team lost to Mexico today eliminating them from the World Baseball Classic because I think the Koreans would have whooped them again in a rematch. The US team was a joke and an embarrassment. I said it once and I will say it again give me amateur athletes that care about the game. These professionals are a disgrace.

Instead of playing the US again the Koreans will be matched up against Japan for the third time. Will the third time be the charm for Japan? I guess we will find out. If Japan wins do you think they will plant their flag on the pitcher’s mound?

Team Korea has handed the US baseball team a thumping in the World Baseball Classic:

Power hitting and steady pitching from Korea’s national baseball team lead a stunning 7-3 triumph over favored Team USA on Monday in Anaheim, Calif.

Lee Seung-yeop of South Korea belted the first inning solo homer off Dontrelle Willis, the National League’s pitcher with the most victories last season. “Big Choi’’ Choi Hee-seop, who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers, followed with a fourth inning three-run homer against the Americans. Reliever Koo Dae-sung threw scoreless 3 innings.

Go over to Robert’s site for many great comments about the game, but the consensus is that the US team sucks and the Korean team deserved to win. Robert declares a day of national shame but I don’t really see anything to be ashamed about. The US team is a bunch of overpayed premadonas that got beat by a better Korean team. End of story. It is not the end of the story for the Korean media as Nomad pointed out in this posting.

These “all-star” (I use the term loosely) teams used now in international competitions are not working for the United States. Basketball, Hockey, and now Baseball all-star teams are failing because of these big money players not showing any team work, not playing as hard as they should, and just the fact they don’t appear to really care if they win or lose because they got a long season ahead of them and millions of dollars at stake if they get hurt before the season thus they do not give maxiumum effort.

Compare this to the Korean team that demonstrated lots of teamwork and was going all out and playing hard to beat the US and deserved to win.

Maybe it is time for the US to go back to amateur athletes who actually care about winning the game as much as Lee Seung-yeop, Park Chan-ho, and company displayed against the US.

Apolo Anton Ohno is now officially the most hated person in

Korea once again after winning a controversial gold medal in the 500 meter short track race. Let the CIA black helicopter conspiracy theories start yet again:

Ohno made this another Olympics to remember on the final night of short track speedskating Saturday, winning his second Olympic gold medal — and even crossing the line first for a change.

Unlike his disputed victory in Salt Lake City, Ohno didn’t have to wait for the judges to disqualify the skater in front of him.

Sensing victory was his in the 500-meter race, he threw up his arms and screamed, “Yesssss!” A look of pure joy and relief spread over his face.

“To lead from start to finish doesn’t happen very often,” he said. “For me, it was the perfect race.”

Here is where the conspiracy comes into play:

Ohno got to the final on a disqualification, moving up when a Chinese skater was called for impeding.

“Both should have been disqualified or neither should have been disqualified,” said Feng Kai, the Chinese men’s coach. “My mood’s not good.”

Then, after two false starts by other skaters in the final, Ohno either got the ultimate start — or got away with one. Television replays showed him tilting forward ahead of everyone else, and getting to the crucial first turn with a clear lead.
“I thought I timed the start just perfect,” Ohno said. “It worked out well for me.”

It will be interesting to see what the Korean media will do to demonize Ohno and encourage anti-Americanism in Korea over this Olympic race.

Joel already has an early report of the Korean media’s reaction on his site. Here is a sample:

Ohno hung a “gold medal of luck” around his neck in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics after acquiring a gold medal through “Hollywood Action” and yet another when he acquired his first gold medal of this competition by holding his advantaged start and leading from start to finish in the 500 meters.

Read his posting for more.

I could be wrong, but I think it is to bad that the Korean media will probably focus on demonizing Ohno instead of focusing on the fantastic Olympic Games that Korea has had by picking up two more gold medals and one bronze today to move them all the way up to 6th on the overall medal count.

Let the Ohno death threats begin.

Korea now has some new sport’s heroes to celebrate after their short track skaters beat arch rival, American Apolo Anton Ohno:

Jin Sun-yu and Choi Eun-kyung swept the top two spots in the women’s 1,500-meter while Ahn Hyun-soo and Lee Ho-suk, whose combination earned them a gold and silver in the men’s 1,500-meter, followed suit in the 1,000-meter race.

Ahn, 21, crossed the line first at 1 minute, 26.739 seconds for a new Olympic record, holding off teammate Lee and American archrival Apolo Anton Ohno, who placed third.

He became the first Korean male multi-gold medallist in the Winter Games in 14 years since another short track skater, Kim Ki-hoon, won two gold medals in Albertville, France, in 1992.

Ohno had this to say in defeat:

Ohno threw up his hands in a similar move in Salt Lake City in 2002, where he claimed a controversial gold medal in the 1,000-meter over South Korean Kim Dong-sung. However, it had different meaning this time.

According to Associated Press, “That was like a `Wow, couldn’t believe it,’’’ Ohno explained after the race, saying he had no place to get ahead between the two Korean competitors. “It was … like, `Man, there was no room to move.’ That was kind of my emotion.’’

“There were a couple of opportunities for me to move up on Ahn,’’ he went on to say. “They were just skating so tight and any type of move would have probably resulted in disqualification. I didn’t want to risk it.’’

I have maintained for a long time that Ohno has been treated unfairly by the Korean media because in both victory and defeat he has demonstrated good sportsmanship and his third place finish in this year’s Olympics has been no different. Notice he didn’t make any accusations or excuses and in the above picture he can be seen shaking the hands of the Korean skaters and congratulating them.

I have never seen Ohno gloat when he has won past races over the Koreans, but as the Party Pooper has pointed out the Korean media is quick to gloat when Ohno loses. I wonder if the Korean media will grant Ohno media access this time since he lost? Last October Ohno won two golds at a competition held in Korea and he wanted to hold a news conference to set the record straight about how he is portrayed in Korea and he was denied. He had this to say at the time:

There was nothing hostile about the fans, they were just happy watching the races,” said Ohno, who regained the world No. 1 ranking from local skater Ahn Hyun-soo on Sunday with golds in the 1,000 and 3,000 finals.

Ohno regretted being denied any opportunity to hold a news conference in Seoul last week to show people another side to his character, which he figures has been largely demonized in the local media.

“A lot of media was shut away. I’m not sure why,” he said. Maybe “certain people wanted to keep that false image.”

I suspect Ohno probably will still be demonized in the Korean media, but maybe next time when he comes to Korea he won’t have to be escorted by riot police the minute he steps off the plane like he did this last October.

I wonder if Toby Dawson will become the latest darling of the Korean media following the post Super Bowl Hines Ward phenomenon:

But two hours and a perfect performance in the finals later, Dawson crossed the finish line with both arms raised in joy. He had scored high enough to win the bronze. Only then did his face break out into a smile.

Dawson began a new life on March 31, 1982. Dawson, a three-year-old orphan and scared out of his wits, arrived at Denver Airport in Colorado to meet his new foster parents.

His mother Deborah Dawson recounted their first meeting. “I fell in love with him immediately. It was like a dream come true,” Mike and Deborah were both ski instructors. So it was natural for Toby to take up skiing. Soon after his arrival, his parents took him to a ski resort, and Toby Dawson lived on the snow for the following 24 years.

Unsurprisingly, the Korean media is following Dawson’s story:

The Korean media began following Dawson when his search for his birth parents began to make news. “I’ve received a few calls from people who claimed to be my birth parents, but they all decline to be DNA tested. I will take my time looking for them,” said Dawson.

Here is an instance that the Korean media could be of use if they can find Dawson’s birth parents. Fortunately I have not seen anything about Dawson bringing “Glory to Korea” at least, unlike the Hines Ward phenomenon.

Here is another update from the story that refuses to die. Hines Ward has now said that he is going to set up a scholarship fund in his mother’s honor and maybe meet President Roh:

Korean-American Super Bowl hero Hines Ward said Friday that he hopes to create a scholarship named after his mother, Kim Young-hee, to help ethnic Korean students in the United States.

Ward said it is a blessing for him to be half Korean, and he wishes to meet with Korean government officials and youth during his upcoming trip to South Korea in April.

I think it is great that he is setting up a scholarship fund, but I would recommend to him that it would be better to set up the scholarship fund for mixed race children in Korea as well. They are the ones who need it more than anyone. Also when he talks about visiting Korean youth, I hope he visits some of the youths in the orphanages as well as average Korean youths.

I got to give Hines Ward credit, he definitely does know how to say the right things to the Korean media:

Even today, his mother tells America’s Super Bowl MVP, “I don’t care how much money you have. Never treat people like you’re better than others.”

Now, Ward wishes to pass down the values he learned from his mother to his son. “I hope my son will grow up honoring his heritage,” he said. “I want him to be proud to be partly Korean,” he added.

His son was dressed in Korean traditional clothes on his first birthday, and following Korean tradition, picked a ring from an array of items such as money and a pencil, which is said to determine a child’s future career.

Ward, who has a few Korean language books himself, regrets that he did not have a chance to learn the language when he was younger and living apart from his mother.

“I wish I could turn back time and learn Korean so that I can converse with my mother better,” he said. Ward pledges to teach the Korean language to his son.

Oh yeah, this is going to be a lovefest by the Korean media when he arrives in the “motherland” in April.

By the way for those that don’t read Korean the tatoo says Hines Ward in Hangul. Could you imagine what people would say if he walked through downtown Seoul dressed like that a month ago compared to now?

UPDATE: I don’t know if people are happier that Korea got a gold medal or that Ohno lost:

Articles on online editions of major dailies followed the same line as the TV networks.

“The final race was Korea’s celebration party,” the usually staid Maeil Business Newspaper wrote.

South Koreans in the world’s most wired country also showed their joy over the Internet.

“The race without Ohno showed what clean play is all about,” one South Korean wrote on a message board on the popular Internet portal Naver.

“There was no Hollywood ending for Ohno in Turin,” read a separate commentary.

I still find it interesting that Koreans hate Ohno so much when in 2002 it wasn’t his fault the referee made the call that disqualified the Korean skater. Ohno just benefited from the call. I don’t know enough about skating to say if the call was right or not, but bottom line it wasn’t Ohno’s fault but yet he is demonized and not the referee who wasn’t an American. Yet Ohno is demonized in the media and the Korean media is an orgy of joy after his fall. Why can’t the media just celebrate the fact the Korean skaters skated well and won instead of celebrating more, the fact that Ohno lost?
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Maybe Ohno can come to South Korea without death threats for now on, after losing the 1500 meter short track speed skating event:

South Korea’s Ahn Hyun-Soo won the men’s 1,500m short-track Winter Olympics speedskating gold medal while defending champion Apolo Anton Ohno blew his chances with a semi-final stumble.

Three-time world 1,500m champion Ahn finally captured gold after he had been disqualified in the 1,500m semi-finals at the 2002 Olympics and was leading in the 2002 1,000m final when he was caught in a four-man crash and placed fourth.

Ahn won in 2 minutes, 25.341 seconds with 19-year-old compatriot Lee Ho-Suk second in 2:25.600 and China’s Li Jiajun third in 2:26.005, taking his fifth Olympic medal but still unable to grab a gold.