Thank you Doosan (but I still don't like you)

If it weren’t for the Doosan Bears I wouldn’t have been published in the Winnipeg Free Press last April, despite the fact that I hate the Doosan Bears. As a fan of the LG Twins I feel compelled to despise them with every part of my being.

(A little background information)

The Doosan Bears and the LG Twins are professional baseball teams in Korea. They both share the same home stadium in the Jamsil Sports’ Complex. (the same complex used to host the 1988 summer Olympics – the Olympic Stadium in the complex hosted the famous showdown between Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis, won by Johnson who was later disqualified when he tested positive for steroids.)

One of my favourite Korea stories took place at the baseball stadium in the complex. My parents were visiting and staying at my apartment. It was my place and my rules so my Dad was upset that he had to do my chores and wasn’t allowed to smoke.

We were at Burger King and my Dad had just finished so he went outside, as he often had to do, to go for a cigarette. As I talked to my Mom inside the restaurant in the baseball stadium, I saw my Dad turn and start to talk to a stranger, only to me it wasn’t a stranger, it was Norm Jensen, someone I had gone to University with (in the 90s), knew was in Korea but hadn’t seen yet.

During my first semester at Red River College I happened to spot someone in the Atrium wearing a Doosan Bears hat. Instantly I knew he was from Korea. I went up and introduced myself as a former English teacher who had lived for three years in his home country.

Back in April when news about Korea was in the papers and on the news casts everyday I pitched a story to the Projector. Because of my experience I knew there wasn’t very much to the stories and that nothing would happen (no war yet and as a further side note, this summer I conducted an interview with my friend Trevor who spent a week in North Korea in April)

Luckily I ran into Peter again in the Atrium. He wasn’t wearing his Doosan Bears' hat. I started up a conversation and he allowed me to interview him about the situation between North and South Korea.

He told me he was a captain in the Korean reserves and would have to go back to Korea if a war broke out. If he didn’t go back he could face jail time.

As a journalist this got me excited.

As a human being, I felt a little bit guilty.