We all know baseball started out as America’s favorite pastime, but did you know it’s also extremely popular in South Korea? It’s also more intense. We actually lucked out because Jill’s city’s team, the Kia Tigers were playing one of Seoul’s teams that day, the Nexen Heroes. Of course, we had to cheer for the Tigers. They actually were in first place too. We took the subway to Gocheok Sky Dome on station 
Guil (line 1, exit 2); it’s an
indoor stadium. In Korea they let you bring food and drinks into the stadium. It was bizarre seeing beers being allowed in. Workers were handing out fans as we walked up. We bought our tickets at the gate and had absolutely no idea what kind of tickets they were since we couldn’t communicate with the ticket lady. Thankfully we had a pretty good view.
Once the game started the crowd never stopped yelling. I am not kidding. When the Tigers were up to bat, the whole Tigers crowd sang and yelled chants the entire half inning. When it was the Heroes turn to bat, their fans cheered right back. They sounded so loud in that indoor stadium. Both crowd sections were led by cheerleaders and a chant leader, I guess you could call him. Thankfully we were not sitting in the section that was nonstop cheering since we were on the higher level. I was shocked though that they kept up their energy through the whole game. I don’t think I’d have it in me. Most of the chants and songs we couldn’t understand.
All the rules on the field were exactly like the baseball rules back in the States. They sang their national anthem before the game started, but unfortunately, we didn’t have a 7th inning stretch (that’s my favorite part, haha). The merchandise was even pricey like how it is in the States. Hats and jerseys were definitely not as cheap as other items in Korea are. Their stadium food, on the other hand, was not as good as the food back in the US. When we ordered they didn’t even try to make it look like it was fresh. Before we even finished our order they were handing our food to us. I tried to order water from the same booth, but they said they only had Coke, which is funny because they actually gave us Pepsi. We ordered a combo meal, which we thought was two burgers with onion rings, fries, and chicken nuggets. It was actually one burger and one chicken sandwich and the “chicken nuggets” were actually popcorn shrimp. I had definitely felt dumb after confirming that the nuggets were boneless, haha.
Something weird happened during the first half of the game. This guy sitting in front of us was face timing someone for the first two innings. Then he got up with a pair of shorts in his hand and it was plain as day that he had had an accident. He was busy trying to cover up the front of his pants, but the back of his pants looked awful. His seat was also dirty with whatever it was. He was gone for awhile and when he returned he was wearing the shorts he had been holding. He had left so fast that he couldn’t remember where he was sitting. Took him a little while but he finally got back in front of us. We for sure thought he would leave then, but he sat back in his seat and started going to town on some chicken wings he had. It was the strangest thing.
The Tigers had started off losing early in the game, which was pretty disappointing. They started to catch up but in the 9th inning, it seemed as if the Heroes were going to take it. As we yelled with the Tiger crowd, the only English chant, “WE NEED A HOME RUN,” a miracle happened and we did get a home run. We were on our feet! The crowd was going wild! We were going into extra innings! Thankfully in the 10th inning, the Tigers won and the Kia Tigers were still the champions.
Getting a seat on the subway going back to our hostel was like Black Friday shopping in America. Everyone was running for those seats. Thankfully Sarah and I got seats and I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. My first baseball game of the summer was one to remember.