WORLD CUP FEVER

Once again, I suck. I do intend to write but when I get home it seems that I would simply rather watch the World Cup and all that it entails. For the most part I could give a shit about soccer but here people are absolutely nuts about it. The Koreans came in fourth during the 2002 cup and for some odd reason they had this misguided notion that they were going to repeat the feat. However, I will give them one thing - they had the fan support in spades.

Pohang is not a very large city by Korean standards. It is simply 500,000 people living on the coast - fishing folk whopp scored a steel mill. The matches were televised here at 4 am. Now ponder what it would take for you to get up in the morning at 4am - or simply stay out drinking until the match started - and then wander downtown to support a team which has little chance of winning? Don't forget, as the supporters are the Red Devils, little flashing horns are in order. Lots of red. It is crazy! I was told that during the Korea - Togo match (It was at midnight) there was 20,000 people at the beach (the big screens were there) and another 30,000 at the Pohang Steelers stadium. Thus, 10% of the population was out watching the match.

For the last two matches they set up a big screen at the front of the train station and people started to gather there around two am - young, old, drunk, sober . . . all in red and all VERY excited. The following pictures are from downtown Pohang and at Mindy's. The main reason to watch the matches at Mindy's is that at the train station there was no way to actaully see the game on the TV. To get close enough to actaully see it one would have had to set up camp at about 1 am or so. At least at Mindy's you could see what was going on and get excellent commentary by the Brits as they really know the game. I don't know that these pictures will actaully convey the degree of hysteria that occured but add to this the notion that in Seoul there were upwards of 800,000 downtown and one can see that the entire country was consumed by the fever:













It was really exciting that they beat the not-so-mighty TOGO and that because the refs missed an obvious goal the Koreans tied the French. There was total outrage accross the country when the Swiss won - to the point that I had to explain what a "Conspiracy Theory" was to my class of college students - turns out the head of FIFA is Swiss. Ah, everyone loves the dark side of human nature and everyone knows that the fix is in when there team gets out classed. Watching these matches was a life and death event and the country was crushed when it didn't make it to the knock-out round. Regardless it was a fun ride.






I have never experinced that degree of nationalism coupled with a sporting event before. I have no idea what it would take for Americans to get that excited about something. Shit, we are at war and no one seems to care much. Here was a soccer match and and the streets are filled like it was the fourth of July. In Seoul the Olympic stadium was packed with live music and fire works and all of the trimmings . . . yet it was at 4 am!!!

Needless to say my sleep patterns have been screwed up for a month as I have seen a lifetime of matches. It was fun and I wish that America was excited about this as the rest of the world . . . The main problem is that the net works can't make any money off of a sport that must be shown in two completely uninteruppted 45 minute halves. No comercials and the loot don't stack up like it should . . . The networks love thier loot!!







So it was fun and now I guess we all must wait until 2010 in South Africa . . . I think that will mean that my sleep will be screwed up again . . . Now I can go back to watching the mighty Pohang Steelers play in their unfilled stadium - they give free tickets to cops simply too make it look filled up!!

Hope all is well!!

sh