Lotte Giants! This was one of the best
park experiences I have had. Much more fun than a game at
Coors.
First, I didn't feel gouged. Tickets were cheap --
$7. And, you can bring anything but bottles into the
park. There were vendors selling "take in" box lunches --
e.g. freshly grilled chicken -- just outside the park. But the
key thing: ballpark food and beer prices were the same as the
prices everywhere else. There was no ballpark
premium.
If you want beer or soju or snacks or diapers or anything else,
you can bring it or buy it from the 7-11 under the stands.
Though there were no vendors in the stands, not having to clench
my teeth and bankrupt myself to buy a beer was a relief.
Second, the experience was entertaining. The play on the
field was not so great -- the centerfielder was lucky to find
his way back to the dugout between innings -- he had no idea
where either he or the ball was. And the pitcher was an American
who washed out of the minors. But the fans who were
in the park (the Giants are not doing well and the the stands
were more empty than full) were into the game. As in
Japan, there are set cheers for the team and cheers for every
player, and people chanted them, sang them and did arm motions
to them.
Somehow this seemed easier to participate in than at
Coors. Unlike Coors where some guy in a booth pushes a
button to transmit recorded commands to the crowd -- all or the
vast majority of which are the same as in every MLB park
("Everybody clap your hands!" makes me want to wretch) -- at
Korean games there is a stage on the home side (also a small one
on the visitors' side) where a tremendously energetic, male
cheerleader leads the crowd in cheers and songs. He was
supported by five or six, skinny female cheerleaders who acted
rather like backup singers for a Motown band. Their images
were often projected on the big centerfield screen.
And no dot races. The Lotte Giants instead had some
entertaining between-inning contests. For example,
attaching pedometers to the hips of two people who competed for
15 or 30 seconds to see who could wiggle their hips the
most. It just doesn't seem terribly hard to come up with
contests that might surprise and entertain fans. Are dot
races so mightily entertaining to the fans at Coors that we must
have a couple different versions each game?
Finally, the ballpark staff was laid back and friendly. I
can't explain this well, but sometimes at Coors, though the
staff is polite and smiling, I feel like a criminal trying to
appease police officers rather than a customer to be appreciated
and aided.
