The Taiwan Series

Since before I arrived in Taiwan, I wanted to go to a baseball game. Being the big baseball fan that I am, and seeing that baseball is one of Taiwans favorite sports, it just made sense. Reading the news paper I discovered that the Taiwan Series was underway which, as I found out, is basically the Taiwan World Series. It was game six that afternoon, so I grabbed my baseball hat and headed to the ball diamond. Well, that isnt as easy as one would think, so I had to stop about 12 times to ask for directions. This is always an interesting experience considering no one here speaks English....so there are lots of animated hand gestures, pointing and very slow talk with the locals - which when you think about it is the most ridiculous thing ever - but for what ever reason, I guess universally we think that if someone does not understand you when you are talking at a normal pace, they will magically understand you when you are talking slowly!!!

Anyway, I get to the ball diamond, the first inning has just begun and I hear a loud roar from the crowd - I start to get really excited! I find out, after about 15 minutes of confusion and then finally finding a Canadian guy who has lived in Taiwan for 3 years, that you line up in one line to buy tickets if you are cheering for the home team, or the other line if you are cheering for the away team. Having no die hard loyalty either way, I decide to go in the away teams line up because it was much shorter!

I entered the corridor and immediately realised that actually finding my seat was going to be a process....and it was! I went to one person and they pointed me in the basic direction, then to another and they would get me a little closer, then to another and so on. From the time I entered the door to the time I found my seat was roughly 45 minutes of being lost - mind you I stopped to get a little pop corn too! I was now at the ball diamond for 1 hour and 15 minutes and had just entered my seat...welcome to a foreign a country where you dont speak their language and they dont speak yours I thought to myself!

I sat down in what was the bottom of the third inning - not too bad! The fans were loud! But, as is Asian culture, incredibly considerate and very structured. The stadium was divided perfectly in half, with each teams fans sitting on their respective sides. Each team had cheer leaders, which included actual cheerleaders - who actually sang while they did their little dances in between innings ( they love the Karaoke here - they love it ALOT!!), they had full bands with drums and trumpets and they had chant leaders. The truly amazing part of it was that each sides fans took turns doing their chants. There was no contest in who could chant louder then the other, they waited their turn and chanted their little hearts out. When one team was batting then their fans, and only their fans, would chant. When the other team was up, then their fans would chant. And chant they did. They must have had a dozen different chants and every single fan would yell in PERFECT unison....Perfect. They each had a different beat and each person tapped their noise makers together with flawless precision. It was truly something to behold. I didnt think it could go on for the entire game, but it did - and seemed to get louder! I had a head ache by the end, but it was soooo worth it and one amazing experience!

Oh yah, the game was really good too!!!!!