baseball

... is one of the most popular sports in Taiwan, even though there were some game-fixing scandals in the past which led to a decline in attendance. In the CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League), four teams are competing so that one team plays several times against the same team during a season. In April, we went to see a game in the Taoyuan Stadium with our language exchange group.

(In my case language exchange means I ask questions in English about the Chinese language and try to repeat some Chinese phrases which are commented by friendly encouraging nods of polite Taiwanese who pretend it is somehow possible to understand what I am saying.)

The game started around 6.30 pm and ended after three and a half hours when the Lamigo Monkeys finally managed to run around once – Well, in memory of my time in Australia, let’s say baseball is not as boring as cricket. 

But it is less about watching the game and more about cheering anyway. Motivated by an orange-haired guy and a bunch of cute cheerleaders, the spectators shake and clap little plastic baseball bats, scream and dance short choreographies. During the last few innings, the atmosphere before every single pitch was like during a penalty kick in a soccer match.

So in summary: an evening like a huge children’s birthday party.