Ok... so we lost to japan in the end. i really tot we had a chance, but given the kind of performance we put up, we really dun deserve it. was it panick? was it inexperience? or was it just fate? well, probably all, probably none. but we lost, and tat is sad. so sad that even the taiwanese flag i hung up on my wall dropped down. yup, it was tat sad. but still, it was worth staying up all nite just for it. worth every minute of it, no matter the frustration, the matter the sorrow and no matter the blardy econ 401 midterm which is gonna take place one hour from now and i barely have a clue of wat is going on still... well done.
i am a sports freak. and i think freak is a very nice word to use coz my relationship with sports is really damn weird. used to play Bball like mad while in primary sch. was really good at it. was good in swimming too. in sec 1, made into bball team in RI but not the swim team coz i dunnoe how to do freestyle.... bleah... silly... hahha... but anywae, has fate would have it, i just stop these two sports all together and started to pick up soccer. now, when i was good in bball and swimming, i have NO IDEA wat was going on in the big sporting arena of these two sports. i.e. i dun follow basketball or swimming i dun learn from any ppl, dun read books, no idea how they aredone in the prof world, but yet, put me against most ppl, and i can beat them. simple as tat. or should i say, as weird as tat. MUAHAH, then soccer, was really into it. could name every player in the english premier league and all those teams in world cup blah blah blah... understand all the technical stuffs, rules, regulations and wat not... but i really suck at tat game. and i mean REALLY suck... so the relationship is hor, the more i understand about a sports, the more horrible i am in playing tat game. which really dun make much of sense... but oh well...
so what has tat got to do with baseball? see... even though ppl always laugh at me when i say baseball is a national sports in taiwan and taiwanese has baseball flowing in their blood, i truely admire tat sports. but in singapore, there is no baseball, only softball. but still betta than nth, in fact, softball was the onli interhouse sports which i dare to invite my dad over to see me play (of course the other sports which my dad dun see will be rugby and all tat "nonsense"... hahah) and my dad even train with me on the day itself and play catch with me and stuff. it was really fun, really love those times. and yeah, did i mention i played first base and was that MOFO tat struck out Alex Ho and Ezekiel Sim (well... they are only like the 2 fastest sprinter in our school... MUAHAHHA) and i was one of the heavy batters. it was a fun game. can't say i was damn zai in them as compare to my peak for bball and swimming in pri sch. but playing the sports make me feel so good. wheneva i slip on tat smelly glove from the basement of the PE storage, it feels like i am COMPLETE. and when i play the sports, it feels like something that hasn't been there came back and made me whole again. yup. it was tat shiok. really shiok!!
the first touch i had with so call real baseball thing was in pri sch when my uncle gave me a autographed baseball (which i still have) tat was signed by Lin Han and this other dude (some Ke Lin or Lin Ke guy which were foreign players playing in the baseball league in taiwan then...) love it like crazy and it was my baby, but still dun dare to touch and play too much with it coz dun wanna smugged the autograph. the second REAL experience was i think in 2001? when taiwan hosted this international baseball tournament. was in nov-dec tat time so i was naturally back in taiwan. remembered i went to the nite market by myself tat day when taiwan was playing. it was so fun. imaging me squatting by the roadside with a bowl of taiwanese o-wa-mi-sua in my hand, sipping and chewing and cursing away in taiwanese with one whole bunch of strangers in front of a BLACK AND WHITE tiny portable monitor and watching the game. and in tat game, Chen Jin Feng blasted two homeruns and the whole atmosphere in the nitemarket was CRAAAAZY. imaging. one whole street packed with ppl cheering and chanting "HONG BU RAN! HONG BU RAN!!" man i tell you... it felt so good. and i guess from then on, i try to catch taiwanese baseball news as much as i could. but still, reading all those news report of wat happened is NOTHNIG like watching the real game itself... so imaging my ecstasy when i came over to US when i get to watch some real baseball match. but i guess all tat reading was good. coz now, after being so familiar with wat slider ball, curve ball, blah blah blah and all tat foreign technical terms. i can now apply them easily and analyse the game play really well as i see them unfold in front of me. muahhaha... it was so fun
so essentially the Taiwan VS Japan match i saw this morning was the second match i seen tat Taiwan is in action. so imaging the excitement when i was again able to hear the national song and see Chen Jin Feng in action again. so wat it was a bit disappointing and the guys like Chen Zi Yuan did not perform like all those news i read about him which made him so god-like. but still, it felt great. really great. but i guess onli a fan with such weird long relationship with this sports and this national team can ever truly understand the emotion here. so seriously, dun care about 401. dun care about sleep. i have a patriotic duty and life time passion to fulfill and nothing is gonna stop me. MUAHAHAH!!!
but even tat said, i think the first and onli major criticism i want to make for the Taiwan team yesterday was the choice of the starting pitcher. seriously, i think ANY other pitcher in the bullpen would have done a better job.
why?
coz tat dude is playing in the pro league in japan which is where most of our opponents drew their squad members from. and if tat guy had a terrible season this year pitching against these dudes, psychologically speaking, how tough do you think he can? and the amount of pressure he is facing? nah. cannot deny he is a good pitcher. the balls are all in the 140km region. means got standard. but, the lack of control of the ball shows just how messy and uncontrol he is. the first comment when i saw the starting lineup was, y this guy. i am serious. this is all i wanted to say. it really made no sense to me. but then again, i am not the coach, but i dun think my arguement is invalid in any sense.
the opposition pitcher really too power liao. really good. hope he can go to Major League. think he can make it. his control of ball is dead on. i mean they are actually just the same thing over and over again. drop ball and fast balls. but they are just so dead on and fast tat we just cannot strike it. so full credit to the japan starting pitcher. Chen Jin Feng was living up to his worth. beautiful strikes. oso hope he go onto Major league next season. taiwan defence really dunnoe wat to say. like i mentioned earlier. unlucky? inexperience? or just panicked? oh well... i am an offensive guy. so i am most concern about the pitcher. i think our bad choice of starting pitcher was very very bad decision.
posted by David at 11/06/2003 07:17:00 PM