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The Korean national baseball squad has impressed fans of the sport in its home of the U.S., where it has the status of a national pastime. The Korean team¡¯s unbeaten record at the World Baseball Classic -- including a victory over Team USA -- gave Americans a different perspective of the Korean game. Korea in the second round beat Mexico, the U.S. and Japan in Anaheim, California, after winning three straight games in the first round.
When the Korean team made it into the semifinals by defeating Japan 2-1 after a heated pitching duel, MLB.com, the official website of the Major League, as well as fan sites on ESPN, the official broadcaster of the WBC, were swamped with posts from U.S. fans complimenting the Koreans on their game.
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¡°Korea Won, We Survived¡± headlines a U.S. newspaper the morning after Korea defeated Japan at the World Baseball Classic./Yonhap
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¡°This is true baseball. It was such an interesting game,¡± wrote one. ¡°The Korean team has superb pitchers. They are good at fielding and have strong fundamentals,¡± said another. ¡°Such a great game that I haven¡¯t seen for ages. It was the best-ever!¡± said a third. At least one Netizen also paid tribute to the Korean team¡¯s appearance saying, ¡°Koreans are so handsome and cool,¡±
The response may owe something to the high hopes U.S. fans at that point had for their own legendary team, believing that Korea¡¯s victory over Mexico would open the door for Team USA into the semifinals. Even after that hope was dashed, U.S. fans still compared their luckless heroes unfavorably with the Northeast Asians. ¡°The US team is such a loser compared to Korea. They are overestimated,¡± wrote one disgruntled fan.
The U.S. media has also been frank in its admiration. The New York Times cited Buck Martinez, the U.S. team manager, as praising the Korean team¡¯s talent, spirit and preparation. MLB.com went further, hailing Korea as the best team in the world right now, a ¡°Classic¡± formation -- high praise in a country that has been living with baseball for more than 130 years. Thus the World Series is known as the ¡°Fall Classic,¡± the All Star Game as the ¡°Midsummer Classic¡± and, of course, the present competition the World Baseball Classic.
Clearly, Korean baseball has left a strong impression in the home of the sport, impressing with its beauty as well as its undeniable success over opponents.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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