Dokdo--->Takeshima

Well Korea lost. Dokdo is no more! I will never call the above island Dokdo again. It is now Takeshima. Japan won it fair and square. Unfortunately I had to teach right at the crucial moment. It was about 2:10 when Korea pulled off their improbable comeback in the ninth inning. I had to see if they'd make it so I showed up late for my 2:00 class. But I didn't get to see the 2-run game winning single by Ichiro. Although my students got updated, on their cellphones, DURING CLASS, and told me. I didn't mind that much.

I was sad to see Korea lose. At first. But now I'm finding out exactly what happened. Men on first and third, Ichiro at the plate and a .220 hitter coming up next. ICHIRO who has more hits in a season than any ball player ever. More than Ty Cobb, Wade Boggs, Paul Molitor, Pete Rose! And he was already 3 for 5 in the game! THEN the guy on first STEALS!!! The American announcer was saying that the guy shouldn't steal cuz it takes the bat outta Ichiro's hands. Only if your manager and players haven't been told their whole lives how evil Japan is. Only if the batter isn't the guy who has been most vocal about how he enjoys beating Korea. Although I think that's been a bit blown out of proportion too. As things ALWAYS are here involving Japan. The worst I've heard that Ichiro said about Korea is that it smells like garlic. Have you been here? It DOES! They have chewing gum commercials on TV here where garlic/kimchi breath knocks people over until they pop in a piece of Zylitol.

Anyway, I will tell you I am absolutely not a fan of walking the bases loaded but in this case it would have been the smart thing to do. The obvious thing to do. It makes me wonder if the Japanese team was clever enough to actually TRY to take advantage of the emotional Koreans. I had been noticing signs throughout the tournament and actually blogged about some. Korean batters swinging at 3-0 pitches. That's a cardinal sin! Trying to stretch singles into doubles and steal bases when it just isn't smart to do so. These were all blunders committed against Japan. And in 4 games you notice things like these. Maybe the Japanese team had the brilliant strategy to try to use this over-emo against Korea. Kudos for them if they did! It worked.

After seeing pictures like this:







I said to myself, "Self, if Korea isn't going to man up and put their money where their stupid slogan chanting, flag-planting, sport-politicizing asses are, I'll do it for them!" and I determined that in MY mind the winner of the WBC would get ownership of what I knew then as Dokdo. And it seems fitting that Korea lost it by being overemotional, the way they have chosen to spearhead their campaign to get someone, ANYone else to recognize their claim to this island.

So I'm sorry, Korea. Dokdo is not yours. Takeshima is theirs. Try to take something positive from this. Geez, that's a laugh. Like asking them to see a sporting match between Korea and Japan of ANY kind not as another battle in a war but as a chance to improve relations between two historically opposed nations. Might as well ask them to stop breathing.

For anyone interested in a more detailed, VERY VERY detailed investigation of the Liancourt Rocks you can go to this amazing blog. From what I've read there it looks like Korea's case is pretty weak anyway. But I guess they're using it to unite Koreans, (like they need that), and test the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" theory simultaneously.