4th and a Mile With Paul Muth

How Korean baseball came to save me. Again.

How Korean baseball came to save me. Again.
Korean Baseball is a welcome sight for sports fans. Photo by Paul Muth.

On Monday ESPN announced that they would begin broadcasting games from the Korean Baseball Organization. With COVID-19 under greater control in the country, it was deemed okay for baseball to begin without fans. For the sports deprived fan worldwide, this became a welcome, if not unexpected reprieve.

This, however, was not the first time the KBO saved me.

So no joke there I was, 7000 miles away from Houston in The Land of the Morning Calm. I was six months into my one year of being stationed in Seoul, South Korea when I decided I wanted to go branch out into the local sports culture.

I explained to my Korean soldier roommate that I was interested in seeing a local soccer game, blindly assuming that because I wasn't in America that everyone would be really big into it.

"Do not go to football," he instructed.

"You will fall asleep."

Oh. Well then.

"I guess in that case, I was also kind of interested in checking out a Korean baseball game?" I acquiesced.

"YOU WILL LOVE KOREAN BASEBALL," he declared.

My interest was piqued. It was spring of 2011 and I hadn't seen an Astros game since the summer of 2009. I was overdue.

"Ok. Sell me"

"The tickets are cheap, and you can bring your own beer," he explained.

"SOLD. Who's your favorite team?" I asked.

"The LG Twins."

"And their rival?"

"The Doosan Bears."

That was the moment I became a Doosan Bears fan.

Soldiers are obnoxiously notorious homebodies for the most part, so finding someone willing to make this maiden journey and take the subway with me across town on a weeknight to go check out this suddenly intriguing event was no easy task. When my buddy Ricky agreed to go, we were off.

We stopped at a convenience store and bought one liter bottles of Powerade, dumped a quarter of it out and refilled it with Korea's devilishly sneaky native liquor known as soju (think a 30-proof vodka. Doesn't seem like much, but she creeps up on ya). Even with the full go ahead from my roommate to bring in booze, our American stadium-going brains just couldn't process the idea of walking it in without sneaking it or making it at least somewhat inconspicuous.

From there we hopped on the subway and made the hour long ride across the Han River to Jamsil Stadium, whose stopping point on the rail was cleverly identified as "Baseball Stadium."


Traveling over the Han River on the way to the game. Photo by Paul Muth.


Very clever station name. Photo by Paul Muth.

We exited the subway, and soon approached another convenience store at the foot of the staircase leading up to the stadium. As we continued discretely drinking in public, we watched and witnessed as groups of obviously well seasoned college-aged Korean fans instinctively headed straight to the store from the subway car. As six pack after six pack of Cass beer (essentially Korea's Bud Light) were scanned, they were immediately dumped into previously empty backpacks. These guys knew what they were doing, and my roommate was very obviously telling the truth. You can literally bring whatever you want into these games.


Jamsil Stadium entrance. Photo by Paul Muth.


The next step was to actually get some tickets. We waited in line and found row 5 field level seats along the first base line for a whopping 12,000 won. I'll save you the math; it was about $11 each.

Heading into the stadium itself we weren't exactly greeted with peanuts and cracker jacks as we had been raised on at the ball park. Instead, we were offered an enticing spread of dried squid jerky and fish cakes.


You know, normal baseball treats. Photo by Paul Muth.

Suffice it to say, we passed on the concessions and headed to our seats.

The stadium was by no means packed out for the weeknight game, but those who were there made their presence felt. Led by a male MC and five cheerleaders of sorts, the entire crowd joined in in unison, performing chant after chant as raucously as possible. It was a baseball game with a crowd that was simultaneously reminiscent of something you would hear during a Premiere League match. We had no idea what they were saying, but the environment and the energy was incredible.


Blurry Doosan Bears cheerleaders. Photo by Paul Muth.

To be honest, I couldn't tell you who won the game that night. I was too drunk off of soju and euphoria to even care. My roommate had vastly undersold the product he had introduced me to, partly because he didn't know what he was selling. I was hooked, and would continue going to games for the rest of the summer.

Much like it was nine years before, Korean Baseball -- as foreign and odd as it may seem -- represents today that shockingly scarce feeling of normalcy that has practically evacuated our lives. Back then I didn't care who the players were, or what their record was. I was content just being in a stadium, hearing a crack of the bat, and spending time with friends in the muggy spring and summer nights. Those three or four hours every other week or so were the closest I could get to a home that was on the other side of the planet.

That's what it continues to do. In two days of play, friendly wagers have already been made. My friend and I somewhat satirically created a Facebook group for ourselves and our fellow baseball starved degenerate friends (aptly named KBO (baseball starved) DIEHARDS). Team allegiances have been formed, and trash talking has commenced. It's a familiar attempt at finding that same sense of normalcy I had been trying to find once before.

So lean into it. Even if it seems weird, just let yourself be a fan again. Give yourself the opportunity to escape everything going on. Get your friends in on it. Names and stats and scores be damned. Sports are an escape, and for the first time in what seems like an eternity, if we allow ourselves to give something all too familiar -- and yet equally alien -- a shot...we might find just that once more.

Go Bears.

For a quick rundown of how the KBO works, how to pick a team, and when to watch the play, check out ESPN's KBO primer.

ESPN will be broadcasting one game daily. Local Korean broadcasts for each game can be found in the links below on Twitch and can be rewatched on demand:

https://www.twitch.tv/kbo1

https://www.twitch.tv/kbo2

https://www.twitch.tv/kbo3

https://www.twitch.tv/kbo4

https://www.twitch.tv/kbo5

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The Warriors beat the Rockets, 104-93. Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images.

Stephen Curry closed his eyes and rested his tired head on Jimmy Butler's right shoulder as the superstars shared another postgame moment.

This time, with Butler injured and wearing street clothes — a full-length fur coat at that.

“Well first, he had a fantastic coat on,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought he was going to be way too hot in that thing.”

Sidelined for Game 3 of Golden State's first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, Butler had a front-row seat to watch his teammate take over Saturday night in a 104-93 win that gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead.

Curry scored 36 points with five 3-pointers and had nine assists and seven rebounds in nearly 41 minutes. He had been determined to do more if Butler couldn't play after injuring his pelvis and suffering a deep gluteal muscle contusion in a hard fall during Game 2.

Butler and Curry can compare notes on their injured backsides, given that Curry has dealt with a bruised tailbone multiple times. For now, Curry appreciates the support, whether Butler is in uniform or not.

And the fur Butler was wearing?

“I almost didn't need a hot pack on the sideline sitting next to him. There was plenty of heat emanating from him,” Curry said before adding, “He's a savvy veteran, high-IQ guy, he's got a presence whether he's active or not where his voice matters, and we needed him to lift everybody up on the bench and give us that energy. His presence matched the fit for sure.”

Kerr wasn't ready to guess whether Butler will be able to play in Game 4 on Monday night.

“He’s literally day-to-day. We have tomorrow off. It will be helpful for him to have another day, and then it’s a night game,” Kerr said. “So he gets a few extra hours. So we’ll see. I have no idea right now if he’s going to play.”

Butler had been set to go through his pregame routine, which he does out of sight on the team's practice court and not the playing floor before games at Chase Center. He had an MRI exam Thursday in the Bay Area a day after he was hurt in Houston.

“We had to have Jimmy’s back while he was out,” said Gary Payton II, who scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter. “Hopefully we get Jimmy back for Game 4 and get back to our regularly scheduled program.”

Jonathan Kuminga, who didn't play for three straight games before rejoining the rotation in Game 2 when Butler got hurt, was in the starting lineup for his fourth career playoff start.

Butler went down hard when he was fouled by Amen Thompson late in the first quarter and then missed the rest of the Warriors’ 109-94 Game 2 loss on Wednesday night.

Butler tried to secure a rebound when Thompson undercut him and sent the Warriors star’s feet high into the air so that he came down straight onto his tailbone. Both players thudded to the floor and Butler grimaced in pain, grabbing at his backside. He stayed in briefly to shoot two free throws before going to the locker room.

Kerr appreciated Butler's insight on the bench.

“Jimmy is so smart. He reminds me so much of Andre Iguodala," Kerr said. “Incredible basketball IQ and then the ability to communicate what he’s seeing to his teammates on the bench. I thought Jimmy was important for us tonight in that regard. He was talking to guys throughout the game, and giving them advice, giving some help, and that was big.”

In the Game 1 win against the Rockets, Butler had 25 points on 10-for-19 shooting, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals in 42 minutes. The Warriors are 26-9 since Butler made his debut at Chicago on Feb. 8, including 23-8 in the regular season, a play-in tournament win over Memphis and the three games against Houston.

“We know they are still dangerous without Butler, so that doesn’t change anything as far as that," Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “We didn’t make them pay, especially with the paint shots.”

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