KOREA ON THE CORNER
Yeung, the man who runs the corner store where I buy cigarettes, beer, and Chili Cheese Fritos, is perhaps the neighborhood's #1 fan of Korean baseball. Over the years, despite the fact that I understand only 20% of what he says, we've been enjoying baseball together.
His simple little store sports three TVs. One of them usually shows Korean soaps. The other two he presses into service as sports boxes. Depending on the time of year, he may have soccer on one screen and baseball on the other. Because the high school is across the street, there are always kids around, or people completing their picnic baskets with a six-pack and chips.
Today, Yeung and I talked about last night's nail-biting Korea/Japan contest. Well, we talked at each other, laughing and emphasizing with our hands, until the point was made. He tried to explain to me that his shop was closed yesterday because he had a chance to watch the game on some kind of gigantic TV screen. Where it was or why he was there, I could not determine, but from his baggy eyes and slow gait, it looked like he'd tied one on for the boys back home.
What I like about Yeung, among many things, is that he's a vocal, excitable baseball fan who never tries to predict outcomes. Poking around on the web, I've inhaled all kinds of bloggy hot air about how USA stinks or how USA is poised for a dramatic smackdown or how Korea is going to surprise and humiliate everyone on their way to a Cup or Ring or whatever the hell Classic winners get.
Not Yeung. You can't goad or prod him into taking too much pride in his Tasmanian Devil of a team. He's modest and philosophical about the whole affair. I don't know if that's just Yeung -- or the luxury of a man whose favorite World Classic team is playing nearly perfect baseball.
In any case, I'm finding, as Erik has, that the World Classic does a great job of fulfilling the baseball jones. The Classic games coupled with an occasional spring training broadcast is getting me primed for the first of April.
His simple little store sports three TVs. One of them usually shows Korean soaps. The other two he presses into service as sports boxes. Depending on the time of year, he may have soccer on one screen and baseball on the other. Because the high school is across the street, there are always kids around, or people completing their picnic baskets with a six-pack and chips.
Today, Yeung and I talked about last night's nail-biting Korea/Japan contest. Well, we talked at each other, laughing and emphasizing with our hands, until the point was made. He tried to explain to me that his shop was closed yesterday because he had a chance to watch the game on some kind of gigantic TV screen. Where it was or why he was there, I could not determine, but from his baggy eyes and slow gait, it looked like he'd tied one on for the boys back home.
What I like about Yeung, among many things, is that he's a vocal, excitable baseball fan who never tries to predict outcomes. Poking around on the web, I've inhaled all kinds of bloggy hot air about how USA stinks or how USA is poised for a dramatic smackdown or how Korea is going to surprise and humiliate everyone on their way to a Cup or Ring or whatever the hell Classic winners get.
Not Yeung. You can't goad or prod him into taking too much pride in his Tasmanian Devil of a team. He's modest and philosophical about the whole affair. I don't know if that's just Yeung -- or the luxury of a man whose favorite World Classic team is playing nearly perfect baseball.
In any case, I'm finding, as Erik has, that the World Classic does a great job of fulfilling the baseball jones. The Classic games coupled with an occasional spring training broadcast is getting me primed for the first of April.
posted by Andrew at
3:24 PM
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