Once we arrived at the stadium, we discovered a pretty solid crowd outside and we got in line for tickets. Unlike America, baseball tickets in Korea are actually affordable, so we got the seats you see in the pictures for 6,000W. Also outside the stadium were a bunch of people selling packaged rice cake treats and other stuff, but Graham preferred to get the tickets and get in and sit (first come first served) and then worry about food.
Also unlike America, inside the baseball stadium you aren't getting a $4.00 hot dog and fries for $3.00 and a coke for $3.00. You can just go to KFC or Burger King and get a meal from them for about 6,500W (I got a Whopper with cheese set is why it was so pricey). Also, when you want a beer, instead of buying it from the walking keg you can just go to the convenience mart and get a tall-boy of Hite for 3,000W. Which means that for a total of about 15,000W you can get in the stadium, eat a full BK meal and have a beer. Whereas in America, you probably aren't getting in the stadium for less than $20.
The really great part about this is not the inflatable thundersticks they bang the whole time, but the amazing songs and chants they do. One song they had was to the tune of "It's a Small World," another was the "Boom de yada" song, a third was the "Macho, macho man" song, and another was the Macarena. The Macarena was special though, because it was only for Petagine (rhymes with fetuccini), one of LG's two foreigners.
I
have some more video below, and one thing you'll notice is that
Petagine is a god of baseball in Korea. Because he hits home runs. When
Petagine comes up to bat, the cheers start with the Petagine macarena
(ohhhh Petagine) and then move on to one of three or four other
options. The one that I like is in the video below, and goes "Hey, Hey,
Petagine! whoa! whoa! whoa! whoa oh!" and repeat. Then there's the
fairly simple one where you just bang your thundersticks together and
yell "Petagine" or "homerun" or the two together. The greatest thing
about this cheer is that nobody else on the team gets the homerun yell.
When a non-Petagine batter is up for LG, they get their name yelled follow by "anta" which means hit. So for everyone they want them to get hits, but only Petagine gets the homerun cheer. Another good cheer they have goes "supersonic! (player name) anta! whoa ohh oh oh oh oh oh oh anta!" and then repeats. Experiencing thousands of Koreans yelling things like "supersonic" "homerun" and best of all "Petagine" is truly a treat that everyone should try.
In the end, Lotte won so our cheering was a little toned down, but you can't beat it for price and ease of access. Check out my pictures and more videos on flickr.
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