Duke Tango

A few weeks ago, my friends and I went to see game 5 of the Korean Basketball League finals. Seoul's SK Knights were down 3-1 in the series against Jeonju's KCC Egis. I have no idea what an Egis is.

For a finals game, tickets were amazingly cheap. I paid about 5 bucks. Granted, our seats were high up and I'm pretty sure we were sitting on top of the heating pipes so it felt like a sauna. The game was exciting and finished off with some clutch free throws and an amazing last second shot. Seoul got lucky and was able to extend the series all the way to game 7, bu KCC finished them off convincingly in the end.

Ha Seung-Jin is KCC's star player. He's 7'4", and had a short stint in the NBA playing for the Portland Trailblazers. His height is an incredible game changer as only foreign players can defend against him. Apposing teams struggle to manage their fouls with him on the court, and so often lose their foreign players early. He's also really really ugly.

The difference in athleticism between the KBL and your typical televised game in the US could really be seen in the number of bodies hitting the floor. Korean players are fast, but definitely go flying around and have less control of their bodies. This guy had to be taken off on a stretcher.

The tickets were actually meant for a double date. My friend Beck and his girlfriend were there, but my other friend Wonjin's girlfriend couldn't make it because she had to study for an exam.


Wonjin and I took this uncomfortable picture. He commented that we look really sketchy. Like two guys just hanging out....in prison. I think the heat from the steam pipes didn't help.

The cheerleaders were fun to watch. Beck's girlfriend is actually a dance major, so I made sure to pick her brain about what was going on technically. Since my prior knowledge of dance moves only really extends to jazz hands, I think she eventually got sick of me.

I got the drift. So the costume change was more than enough to keep my attention. Good times.