My Inherited Nation

Well, it has been a weekend of upsets; Northwestern State over Iowa, Wisconsin/Milwaukee over Oklahoma, Alabama over Marquette, Montana over Nevada, Korea over Japan, Korea over Japan again and Korea over the USA.

That’s right, March Madness isn’t the only place to find a great game this time of year, but the World Baseball Classic (www.worldbaseballclassic.com) is hot stuff here in Korea. The unheralded Koreans have not only knocked off the powerhouse Americans in the tournament, but have also beat the “evil” Japanese, twice!

Here is the nice little touch to this one, which is particular to Japan (if you didn’t know yet, Korea and Japan aren’t closest of friends). After Korea beat the Japanese in Japan a few weeks back, Ichiro (Japanese) promised that Korea wouldn’t beat Japan for the next 30 years. So guess what happens when they play each other again the next week, Korea beats them again. Victory is so sweet for this country. It’s hard not to get excited watching these guys play, as the Korean’s weren’t expected to be this good. Here is the real bonus for these players, they may be able to avoid their mandatory military service, that is if they do well enough.

So if they win the whole tournament, they may be celebrating more than just a victory.

Do your best to get excited for these guys, get some kimchi, bipembop or kimbap and and watch them go.

I only hope this is a sign of things to come for the World Cup in June/July!

Then this place would truly go nuts!