SA: (ball bouncing sound) I got them Allen Iverson moves, son!
PM: (ball bouncing sound) Your last successful crossover was 15 years ago… dawg. Damn I really suck.
SA: (ball bouncing sound but faster) Oh yeah, well I still got it! Huuk! (Bricked shot sound) BRUH!
PM: I see you also got AI’s 31 percent 3 point shot too! But just one problem (made shot sound). We’re playing horse, not half-court. You’re supposed to take shots you can make.
SA: And that’s a good place to start today’s episode on basketball. As usual we’ll talk about the history of the sport in Korea, famous players, and we'll finish with the season preview.
PM: Try and make this shot! (Made shot sound)
SA: BRUH that’s from the other free throw line! Are you Steph Curry now?
PM: I’ll take that as your concession, and I’ll start the episode this time.
History of Basketball in Korea.
PM: Like ice hockey, basketball was brought over by missionaries and became one of the main sports at the first YMCA’s in 1903. Incidentally, the Y has been intrinsic to the game. It was at a Y in one of the Springfields that it was invented; I’m not sure if it was in Illinois or Massachusetts or New York but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in Springfield, New Mexico. And because James Naismith happened to have been born in Canada this gave some of my misguided countrymen the idea that it’s a Canadian sport. There’s a classic Canadian Heritage Minute about how it came to be with one of the players saying “is this some sort of Canadian joke?” which he totally never said in real life. The Y was also where yours truly learned the game. Those volunteer coaches were super nice and dedicated but I wish they hadn’t put me into the “he’s tall so he’ll be a great centre” hellscape that I could never extricate myself from. After the occupation the Korean basketball association started up and it was mostly an amateur and college sport for the bulk of the century.
SA: The Olympic women’s team won silver in 1984. They beat Canada, Yugoslavia, Australia, and China to get to the gold medal round. They pushed, they blocked shots, they TRIED THEIR BEST! AND….they got squashed 85 to 55. Yeah, they never stood a chance.
PM: You make it sound like they played against the Jordan dream team!
SA: Might as well have! The US had Teresa Edwards, Cheryl Miller the famous sports reporter…
PM: …as well as the individual NY Knicks fans enjoyed taunting little brother Reggie over “Sher-yl!, “Sher-yl!”…
SA: …Kim Mulkey who’s now a legendary coach, Denise Curry and Pam McGee the mother of two league champions. These are just the names I recognized when I saw the player list. Nobody had a chance in ‘84.
PM: You sound like they could’ve beaten the Samsung Thunder.
SA: Have you seen the Thunder play before? Yeah, they’re getting dogwalked off the court by the women’s team. It wouldn’t even be close.
PM: But that’s pretty much been the apex of Korea’s international basketball prowess. Meanwhile, in Korea itself, basketball became popular enough that a national basketball festival was held. Company teams played college teams and city teams. In the 90s basketball became really popular thanks to the Japanese hit show Slam Dunk and the Korean drama The Last Match. This gave the KBA the chance to start the Korean Basketball League in 97 and the Women’s KBL in 98. And of course, what happened, Mr. S?
SA: The Asian Financial Crisis hit. See a pattern here? Sports get popular, leagues start in the 90s, then everyone goes broke and the league struggles but survives.
PM: Despite these struggles, the league was really popular back in the early days. Just ask Koreans, male and female alike, who were in elementary and junior high school back then. A great deal of them would watch basketball on TV every weekend. Those dramas were no doubt a big part of what drew them in but I suspect that they stayed for the action that they hadn’t been getting from either association football or baseball. And you know what? They’re correct - or I am. Basketball is the ultimate thing to watch on a boring Saturday afternoon when you have nothing to do.
SA: So what happened?
PM: Sic transit gloria: Glory fades. The same thing happened at around the same time to action movies from Hong Kong were at their zenith of popularity in Korea. Sic transit gloria: Glory fades. I’d say the league weathered the storms of the past, but hasn’t gained too much of the public eye since its inception. Why is that, besides the obvious reasons?
SA: I think the league itself has had too many issues with officiating, match-fixing, and the foreign player height limit which got scrapped in 2019. Some writers speculate that the players are not interested in it because they got forced into playing due to their height.
PM: Hey if you’re over 5 feet 10, you’re on the team!
SA: Pretty much!
PM: But lately, there’s been more interest in the leagues. Another Slam Dunk movie came out, an LG Sakers player was a troublemaker on Singles Inferno, and Busan got a team again. It’s worth pointing out here that franchise relocations have been a fact of life in the KBL with seemingly little regard for the size of the cities teams play in.
SA: There are a few Korean players in other pro leagues. Park Ji-Su played for the WNBA and won a title with the Las Vegas Aces, then came back to Korea and won a title with the Cheongju KB stars. Lee HyungJoon played for US college Davidson like Steph Curry and now he plays for the Hawks in Australia. But there are some famous players in the league. Heo Ung is the son of Heo Jae the famous coach and he’s kinda like the league’s best player, winning Finals MVP with Busan last year. There are a few naturalized players like Ra GunAh who came here from the USA and played with the national team. He won the title last season as well. Another famous player is Jeon Tae Phoong, a mixed race american who played with KCC and SK and became a fan favorite with his Youtube channel after retirement.
PM: There’s also the guy who plays for Gonzaga right now. I think that wraps up the history portion pretty well. Let’s talk about the teams!
Who are the teams?
SA: There are 10 teams spread unevenly throughout the country. It used to be more even as part of the same team spreading rules that the K-League had to deal with. The Red Boosters play in Anyang, next to the ice hockey team!
PM: When their schedules align, you can go to both teams' games in one day! Not sure if both would be playing at the same time, but I wish they would. If one team stinks up the joint, you could pay another 15k and watch the other team instead!
SA: *laughter* It’s certainly convenient! Anyway the Red Boosters used to be very good but since they’ve changed their name they’re ass, so they’re the equivalent to the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Houston Rockets.
PM: You’d think that having a strong hockey team right next door would shame them into trying to improve but, that said, I like the idea of them being HL Anyang’s feeble little brother.
PM: Next up is KCC Egis, they play out of Busan but used to play in Jeonju. We talked a bit about that move in the relocation episode. They’ve won 6 times and they have a lot of star players so they’re the LA Lakers of the league. With just about the same number of scandals too I might add. The move from Jeonju to Busan even mirrors the Lakers and their relocation from Minneapolis to LA, though I don’t suppose the nickname ‘Egis’ is as nonsensical as ‘Lakers’.
SA: British basketball fans…
PM: Is there such a thing?
SA: Okay, theoretical British basketball fans must enjoy taunting them by calling them “Ee-jits”.
PM: I bet they do. Theoretically at least.
SA: Next up are the LG Sakers of Changwon. A saker is a kind of falcon. Yeah I had to look it up because it’s been bugging me for years. I don’t even think they’re native to Korea- at least I’ve never seen one here.
PM: No I don’t think they are. Perhaps the falconry groups have them flying around. As a Calgary boy, I’ve seen many a newspaper headline reading ‘FLAME OUT’ following some big losses; with that in mind, what do you think of ‘SAKERS ARE FORSAKEN’?
SA: ehhh, it doesn’t quite work in Korean. 세이커는 버림받았습니다! That don’t sound right.
PM: So, I’ll just have to knock the Sakers for being the team bloody 이관희 plays for then. He’s surely the biggest douche in the KBL.
SA: Anyway they’ve never won a championship and only made the finals twice. So they’re like the Orlando Magic or Indiana Pacers because they occasionally make the playoffs.
PM: Next up are the Pegasus of Daegu, sponsored by a gas company. Can we make fart jokes? *joke sting*
SA: Not if we wanna get on SiriusXM. They’re rather strict.
PM: The sacrifices we make for the show. Anyway, they’re the team that constantly changes their name so we’ll see how long this Pegasus name lasts. They’ve never won either and hardly are any good so they’re the Brooklyn Nets of the league.
SA: Coming out of Goyang are the Skygunners. They’re another team that frequently changes sponsors and names. They used to be called the carrot jumpers and before that the Orions. I’d say they get their team names from discarded minor league baseball team name contests.
PM: Can you imagine having a name like ‘Carrot Jumpers’ and thinking, “Nope, not good enough!”
SA: They probably thought it sounded too cutesy.
PM: Yeah probably, the silly sods. In a few years, they might be the Justice Avengers or some lame shit like that.
SA: Only because the name Trash Pandas was already taken *joke sting*. Anyway they’re hardly competitive but that might be changing now that ownership issues are settled but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They’re the Detroit Pistons of the league. I would call them the Bobcats but unlike the cats they’ve actually won a title.
PM: The Bobcats? Don’t you mean the Hornets? Or the Pelicans? Or are you trying to suggest that ‘Pegasus’ will soon be dumped and our collective memory of them will vanish before long?
SA: Pegasus doesn’t really roll off the tongue like Bobcats does.
PM: In the same neighborhood of suck are the Samsung Thunder out of Seoul, sponsored by, checks notes, Samsung! Apparently all that chaebol money is not flowing to the team as they’ve been terrible in the past decade due to various presidential scandals with the CEO. They’re a hard one to match because they’ve won in the past 10 years but haven’t been good lately. I wanna say they’re the Knicks since they play in Jamsil, but the Knicks have been good lately.
SA: They’re more like the Trail Blazers or the Raptors. Anyway, they’re not the only Seoul team. The SK Knights also play in Jamsil but in the much smaller students arena. They’re also very much a flash-in-the-pan team. They’ll win then drop off the radar then come back and be competitive. I’d say they’re like the Dallas Mavericks or Miami Heat.
PM: That’s being charitable, to compare them to the Heat. Anyway, the next team is last year’s runner up the KT Sonicboom. They used to play in our neck of the woods going from Gwangju to Yeosu then to Busan before moving to Suwon where they’ll no doubt depart again before long.
SA: How about back to Gwangju?
PM: Or Daejeon. It’s amazing that two of this country’s half dozen biggest cities are without professional men’s basketball. And this has been the case for a while now. But back to KT, the Sonicboom Boys have never won it all. In fact their most recent season was their closest they’ve ever come. But this could be a sign of improving times, so I’d say they’re like the Phoenix Suns.
SA: Or the LA Clippers.
PM: Or the Minnesota Timberwolves.
SA: Or the Utah Jazz.
PM: In other words, perpetual bridesmaids. You can’t be a self-respecting pro basketball league without ‘em!
SA: Pretty much. Now we’re talking about the big boyz of the league. The heaviest hitter in the league has been Mobis Phoebus, I know I ain’t say that right, of Ulsan, sponsored by Hyundai. Now here’s a company that puts money into their team and it shows in the results. They most recently won in 2019 but made the playoffs recently so I’d say they’re still a threat. They’ve won the chip 7 times including a 3 peater so I’d say they’re like the Chicago Bulls or San Antonio Spurs.
PM: The last team in the league is another good one. The DB Promy of Wonju, which wait a minute, what the hell’s a Promy?
SA: Promy’s the name of the insurance company and they have 2 mascots- one that looks like a big #1 glove hand you see fans wear at games, and a green monster that looks like a rejected Space Jam tasmanian devil. So…it’s…uh, one of those.
PM: Of course it is. They’ve enjoyed a lot of fan support because they’ve never left Wonju, a city that isn’t exactly stacked with other pro sports. Some fans did depart following the match-fixing allegations levied against their head coach in 2013 but since then the team’s been on solid ground. They’ve won the regular season title but haven’t won the chip in almost 20 years. So I’d say they’re like the 76ers or the Hawks in that regard. Could this be their year?
SA: Some teams remain due for a reason. Anything else to add?
PM: Yes, the absurd regionalism. Like in baseball, there’s 5 teams in metro Seoul with a 6th in Wonju in Gangwon-do not too far away as well. The other four are down in the southeastern corner. Things need to be spread out better.
SA: The obvious solution is expansion and/or relocation to Daejeon and Gwangju.
PM: Absolutely. I think that the silver lining in Jeonju’s move to Busan is that it might just pave the way for them to once again get teams. My solution? Move the SK Knights to Daejeon and the Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters to Gwangju. Goyang can keep their team on the condition that they revert back to Carrot Jumpers. Sound good, Mr S?
SA: Fine with me but I don’t see it happening.
PM: Neither do I. But if it does indeed happen, we pledge here and now to attend games in Gwangju regularly.
SA: Even if they’re miserable. Hell I root for the Peppers.
PM: I’ll stop rooting for KCC Egis. Book it.
The WKBL
SA: Like the other big 4, there is a women’s league. It’s smaller than the men’s because of course it is.
PM: And like the men’s the teams are not well distributed around the country.
SA: You can find teams in Yongin, Incheon, Asan, Busan, Cheongju and your old haunt of Bucheon.
PM: We should do a Bucheon sports day at some point while we do the podcast.
SA: A pity both teams don’t play around the time of the BiFan Festival. Now that would be a fun weekend. Anyway, astute listeners would’ve noticed there isn’t a Seoul team.
PM: Yeah, why is that? Has there never been a women’s club in Seoul?
SA: Not according to the team’s history in Wikipedia! I guess the gyms were booked solid in the old days? But as you know, Gwangju once had a team called the Shinsegae Cool Cats. There’s a name for ya! I wonder if the Cheetos cheetah was their mascot?
PM: Any chance the league would bring a team back to Gwangju?
SA: Doesn’t seem likely. I think the league’s doing OK but I haven’t been to a game in-person. According to the league website their attendance numbers are down compared to pre-covid but since the league shutdown the fans have been coming back. I’d say they’re 10% lower than before but last year was a marked improvement. Let’s say there are more sellouts and more fans per game, then I believe there might be enough momentum for expansion.
PM: Who’s the top team?
SA: Most of the time it’s Asan Woori. They’ve won the chip 13 times. I looked for their arena and guess where it is?!
PM: Next to city hall like any sensible city would be?
SA: Hahaha you sweet summer child. Nope they stuck it at the very tip of the city, in between 2 subway stops of Line 1. But keep in mind this isn’t a common occurrence in the league. The Blue Minx play a few minutes from Yongin station. Busan shares with KCC in Sajik, the Stars play in the middle of the city, and the S Birds are in between 2 stations by Incheon Harbor. You’d figure that being Asan’s ONLY WINNING TEAM, hell they’re practically the New York Yankees of pro sports here, they’d be front and center in the city. But no, they’re the shining example of what we talked about in episode 5, about planning to bring your own food because you might not find anything open around the stadium.
PM: So going to a Woori game is more akin to camping? Should we bring a grill?
SA: Their gym’s a bit small. I’m afraid I’ll torch one of their championship banners.
PM: Ehhh they got 13. I’m sure they won’t notice one on fire.
Buying tickets
SA: And now we come to the important part.
PM: Ah yes, that’s right! Actually watching the sport. We can’t leave our audience hanging!
SA: No sir we can’t! Fortunately, unlike the Yon-Ko games, you won’t have to worry about scalpers as much. I’ve never had too much difficulty getting tickets, except for playoff games like our last game in Jeonju.
PM: It was literally the last game in Jeonju since the team moved after that.
SA: Anyway, you can book tickets on the KBL website by clicking Match and going to the game you want to buy tickets for. Ticket sales open up 1 week in advance so login early to get the seats you want. I think they go through ticketlink so you should expect to use your ticketlink login to book them. I’d say you should expect to pay 12,000. I tried to join the WKBL website to see their ticket prices but the website kept crashing. Or you can try the WKBL App. IF you really wanna buy tickets in advance, give it a try but don’t hold your breath.
PM: Just go to Busan because their stadium’s got 14000 seats. It’s almost a guarantee you’ll get a seat there.
SA: And if you’re not in the mood to travel, you can watch the KBL on TVing streaming this season. They’re usually on one of the sports channels like TVN Sports or CJ ENM. Usually the WKBL is on MBC Sports plus or on their Youtube channel. Link in the description.
PM: But the pro leagues aren’t the only basketball you can see in Korea. There are college teams playing right now, and a 3 on 3 league. And surprisingly a wheelchair league with a Jeju team.
SA: To get more women playing basketball, the WKBL is starting up a girls basketball league, so if you have daughters that like to ball, you’re in luck. Keep an eye on the sports website Jumpball dot co dot kr for more information.
PM: Gotta start ‘em young, right?
SA: Once you learn the crossover and the step-back 3, you can take on any challenge. Even algebra.
PM: Speaking of challenges, we didn’t actually preview the season.
SA: Well one thing I’ve learned from the league is to expect the unexpected. Except the Thunder being ass. That’s the thing you can count on the most.
Baseball Playoffs?
PM: Before we finish, Mr S, we ought to talk about the Korea Series for a bit.
SA: Good idea! It’s looking like the season wouldn’t be lagging into November but it’s gonna be close.
PM: Do you think they’ve talked about the possibility of shifting the games to Goseok Sky Dome, at least for the first couple?
SA: They might have to if the rains continue much longer. Plus, it would be the only way to include Seoul in this thing. (laughing)
PM: I know! Did you know this is the first time since 2006 that none of the metro Seoul teams are in the finals?
SA: I figured it had been a while.
PM: Also, did you know that Kia has never lost a Korea Series? Eleven appearances, eleven victories. That’s an Undertaker-level streak. Or at least the start of one.
SA: I’m more interested in seeing if this is Yang Hyeong Jong’s swan song. What a way to end a career, huh?
Ending:
PM: Thank you for tuning in today. Please share this podcast with your friends & family, anyone you think would be interested in irreverent takes on Korean Sports.
SA: Especially give this to rookies. They need alllll the help they can get.
PM: Don’t forget to rate our podcast, if the site you use has a rating system. But don’t do it if you don’t like us.
SA: You can email the show at hwatingsportspodcast at gmail.com or leave a comment on our various podcast sites. Hate mail will be read aloud on special episodes and ruthlessly mocked.
PM: Fan mail will be mocked but in a more wholesome way.
SA: Our next episode will be in two weeks and we’re covering the elusive, the mystifying, the hidden, the ice sports!
PM: There's some snow in your eye!
SA: Until then, sports fans! Have a happy and relaxing weekend!
PM: Guests of the Hwa-ting Sports podcast stay on Graeme’s floor in his tiny studio apartment. Old Graeme’s been in Korea for way too long and he’s grown bitter and resentful. He’s convinced that everything that goes wrong for him is Korea’s fault though he also happens to be outspoken against everyone else always playing the victim. Still, he will drink a lot of beer with you. Stay at Graeme’s and you certainly appreciate your time in Korea a whole lot more!
Notes:
Korean Basketball League scraps discriminative rules against foreign players
Samsung's sports marketing called into question after Bluewings' relegation - The Korea Times