In the 2010 PGA golf season, keep an eye out for Kevin Na. He finished 15th in Fed Ex Cup standings last year and is already off to a hot start, making the cut at the Sony Open and finishing in 8th place at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (a nice payday of $150,000). For those of you who don’t know who Kevin is, he is a South Korean born golfer whose family moved from South Korea to the United States when he was 8 years old. He was one of the top junior golfers in the country and was so talented that he ended up skipping his senior year of high school and turned pro in 2001. Since then, Kevin has had much success on the PGA tour proving he can play with the best and finish at the top. You can follow him on Twitter at @thekevinna or his facebook fan page.
University of Maryland basketball player Choi Jin-Soo is doing what many college basketball players have done previously and that is leave school to go professional. Choi Jin-Soo is entering the NBA…. uh, no. Correction: He’s leaving an NCAA Division 1 basketball program from one of the elite conferences (ACC) to play in the ultra-competitive professional league of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). That’s just a notch above the Korean church summer leagues that do fund raisers. He cited the difficulties of studying and playing basketball. I don’t know what his major was but he could’ve chosen what many solid student-athletes excel in and that’s the ever popular “communications” major.
“It is really hard to do both ― play basketball and study,” Choi told Korean basketball magazine Jump Ball.
“Studying causes me a lot of stress. I only want to play basketball, I don’t want to have to think about studying,” added Choi.
Good luck Choi Jin-Soo. You’ll be missed at Maryland. You could have been the second Korean person to play in the NBA.
As an avid snowboarder I am very excited for the upcoming snowboarding season. I love the whole experience of waking up at 5am to drive to the local mountain, taking that first frigid lift ride up and feeling the brisk chill hit the small patch of exposed skin between your nose and your upper lip, and riding down the trail with the “whoosh” of powder beneath your feet.
And I’ve noticed that in recent years more and more Koreans have taken to the slopes. It seems like every time I go there’s at least a half-dozen Korean church vans in the parking lot. Granted, the overall rising popularity of snowboarding has helped bring people of all races and ethnicities out to the mountain, but why does it seem that the large majority of Koreans I meet snowboard or have at least tried snowboarding? Is there something about the synergy of Koreans and snowboarding that just seems right?
“I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish a were a baller”
Unlike most other mainstream sports, snowboarding doesn’t require the genetic good fortune of being 6’4”, 240 lbs, and able to run a 4.4sec 40 yard dash. The large majority of Koreans don’t fit that prototype, and in snowboarding you don’t have to. In fact, having a lower center of gravity is quite advantageous. In this way, snowboarding’s actually pretty accessible to us.
“I said a hip, hop, the hippie the hippie dibby hip hop hop and you don’t stop”
Koreans love hip hop. We all think we can sing and we all think we can get up to get down to a fresh beat. There’s definitely a freedom of expression that’s shared in both hip hop culture and snowboarding culture that is endearing to most Koreans who typically come from a rigid social upbringing. Snowboarding ultimately comes down to you and the mountain, what you do from there is art.
“Blame it on the a-a-a-alcohol”
I like my booze and nothing says abuse your liver like a weekend at the slopes. Or as a friend of mine put it, “It’s like taking the best part of camping (the drinking part I mean) and not compromising on all that crap about being one with nature and hiking until you’re exhausted.”
“So fresh and so clean clean”
There’s definitely a fashion factor when it comes to snowboarding and Koreans don’t muck about when it comes to being stylish.
“I’m gon’ go call my crew, You go call your crew, We can rendezvous at the bar around two”
The most common theme I found amongst my informal poll of friends, is that snowboarding trips allow you to meet up with people in a group setting, particularly in the winter.
We Koreans are a fanatical people. We love diving head-first into things with great passion. But we usually reserve full-fledge pandemonium and the pledging our first-born until there’s a Korean or Asian star to represent our hopes and dreams. So until there are a few Korean Shaun Whites, we might not come out in full force to the next Winter X-Games just quite yet. But get out there and keep shreddin’. Just don’t double-park the church van!
Y.E. Yang made a big splash this year by doing the impossible and that was take down Tiger Woods (when Tiger wasn’t with a lady of the night). When we mean the impossible, we’re referring to his unbelievable defeat of Tiger Woods at a major golf championship: The PGA Championship at Hazeltine. To put this into perspective, Tiger Woods had never lost a major championship when leading in the final round of a major golf tournament. However, it was Y.E. Yang of all Korean golfers (Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi) that stared down the greatest golfer of our generation and maybe of all time, and executed one of the greatest shots on the final hole (72nd) of a major golf championship. He perfectly landed a hybrid shot that set up the birdie to bring down the hammer on Tiger Woods on the 18th hole. No one east of Hawai’i would have predicted that Y.E. Yang would be the first Korean golfer to win a major golf tournament and no one in their right mind would have bet on Y.E. Yang beating Tiger head to head in the final group of a golf major. Y.E. Yang is #7 on our top ten list of most influential Korean-Americans because he not only broke through to victory on one of golf’s biggest stage, but he showed the whole world that Tiger was beatable and that you could go toe to toe with the greatest golfer in the world. And now the rest of the golf world knows that you can beat Tiger (on the golf course . He made believers out of everyone!
Many Koreans and Korean-Americans only just became fans of the beautiful game in 2002 when the FIFA World Cup was hosted in South Korea and Japan. That year, Koreans everywhere came out in rabid support of their countrymen thanks in large part to the team’s historic semi-final run. In 2006, the South Koreans again qualified for the World Cup in Germany where the team battled valiantly, but were unable to recapture the magic of four years earlier as they were bounced out in the group stage.
That brings us to the upcoming 2010 World Cup which will be hosted on the African sub-continent for the first time ever in South Africa. “The Reds”, as the team is affectionately known, are primed and ready to make a statement to the international soccer community. After breezing through their qualifying matches unscathed, the team is confident that they can not only compete, but advance in the 2010 tourney. The squad is lead by dynamic midfielder Park Ji-Sung, who won a Champions League title with Manchester United last season. Hopefully his time served in the Premiership will elevate the level of play of his teammates. But if teams key in on him, a second threat will need to emerge. My dark horse player to step up also has a badass name: Cha Du-Ri. I remember seeing the potential in him from the 2002 tournament even when he didn’t start. Unfortunately he was derailed by injuries in the 2006 affair. Could he reemerge as a force, particularly on set pieces?
In Group B the South Koreans will square-off against some formidable opponents in Argentina, Greece and Nigeria. While this group hasn’t been labeled a “group of death”, they do pose some interesting challenges. Most expect Argentina to dominate the field in group play, but even they have question marks. If they do live up to the top billing, the fight for the second spot will be tightly contested.
• Argentina is the heavy favorite as they come in with the most talent of the bunch. The headlining stars are Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez who possess mesmerizing skill and will definitely draw attention from defenders. But this Argentine team is different from years past because national hero Diego Maradona is now at the helm and he’s brought volatility and controversy with him. Ultimately if the team struggles as they did in their qualifying matches, they could open the door for one of the other teams in the group.
• Greece is making only their second World Cup appearance ever. But which Grecian squad will show up? The team that was dreadful in ’94? Or the team that caught lightning in a bottle to win Euro 2004?
• Nigeria will undoubtedly be emboldened by having the Cup played on their (relative) home soil. They can also draw on their previous experience against Argentina in 2002. Although they rank third among the African squads, they could be poised to make a – dare I say – South Korean-like run.
The success of the team in 2002 not only drew fans to the soccer pitch, but also national attention and support. You can see the development of soccer in Korea by the improved quality of the K-league as well as the number of Korean footballers now playing on top European clubs. This impact also seems to have rippled through to the other national teams as evidenced by the medal count at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, in particular the gold medal finish of the Korean baseball team.
As long as South Korea brings their trademark toughness, grit and heart they should be able to compete with anyone in their group and earn a spot in the round of 16. And no matter the outcome, I look forward to this summer where I’ll go to my local K-town and have the chance to root on this team with my fellow “Red Devils” (moniker for supporters of “the Reds”).
Shin Soo-Choo was selected for the Cleveland Indians’ Tribe’s Man of the Year award. This honor is an individual award that is voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Pretty darn good because Shin Soo-Choo is a position player and not a pitcher, where many Asian players are usually slotted for on Major League Baseball teams. His stats are pretty impressive for just his first year in the big leagues and hopefully he’ll get better.
The BBWAA selected Shin-Soo Choo as the Tribe’s Man of the Year for the consistent production he provided in the Indians lineup. Utility infielder Jamey Carroll, who is now a free agent, was saluted as the Frank Gibbons/Steve Olin Good Guy Award winner.
Choo is a first-time winner of the Man of the Year honor. He batted .300 with 20 homers, 38 doubles and 86 RBIs in his first full big league season.
Asdrubal Cabrera was the runner-up for the award in the BBWAA voting.
Carroll won the Good Guy Award for the leadership he provided in the Tribe clubhouse and his approachability and accessibility with the media, in good times and bad. Travis Hafner and Aaron Laffey were also nominated.
Friday was the announcement of the drawings for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. South Korea is in Group B and they will play against perennial powerhouse Argentina, Nigeria and past Euro champs Greece. However, does the South Korean soccer team really matter to Korean-Americans? Who would they root for: the U.S. or South Korea? We know they’re not rooting for North Korea, who happened to make the World Cup as well. This is an opinion and there is no empirical evidence of this, but I would suggest that the Korean-Americans who end up watching the World Cup games will have a stronger interest in the performance of the South Korean team than the U.S. team. Though anecdotal, I take you back to 2002 when South Korea progressed to the semi-finals, its greatest performance ever in a World Cup. It not only captivated the Korean peninsula with masses of South Koreans watching games on massive TVs in public venues, but you could also see the excitement and support here in the U.S. Our parents were talking to us about it and not about school or marriage. They would share how proud they were of the South Korean team doing so well. Many of us are immigrants to the U.S. and the World Cup created a tangible connection to our Korean heritage. I personally remember staying up till the wee hours of the morning to watch the games at a Korean restaurant in Ktown New York. When the South Korean team won a game, West 32nd street would get flooded with people (at 5AM!) cheering. That was a cool scene and a moment to remember. In almost six months, the most popular game on earth will stage its biggest event and I hope you all can root for both South Korea and the U.S. I paraphrase a famed Korean senator by saying that South Korea is our mother and America is our father. We can have our cake and enjoy it to so have fun rooting for both South Korea and the U.S. when the World Cup arrives in June.
Kim Yu-Na, the delicate woman’s figure skater from South Korea came from behind to win the Grand Prix finals title in Tokyo, besting her rival Miki Ando of Japan. She was second after the short program but did just enough to edge out Ms. Ando. Kim Yu-Na started out 0.56 points behind her Japanese rival. Kim Yu-Na skated to Concerto in F by George Gershwin, earning 123.22 points in the free skating event for an overall score of 188.86 for the Grand Prix Finals title. This should give her confidence heading into next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver. However, she has to be careful because she hasn’t been mistake free in her last few competitions. She has the most talent and ability of anyone in the world, but it may come down to a few deductions for the gold medal. Hopefully Kim Yu-Na will win South Korea’s first gold medal in Olympic figure skating.
You could possibly be rooting for three teams at the World Cup if you’re Korean-American. You could be supporting the U.S. because we live here and you have citizenship. You could be cheering on the South Korean team because of your connection to your heritage. And the wild card but not really sure why you would is root for North Korea. NOT! Yeah they’re Korean but they’re still under one of the worst regimes in the world and we shouldn’t support that. However, it does make you wonder how good a Korean team could be if we had the best players from North and South Korea play together as one. That may not happen in our lifetime, or Kim Jong-Il’s lifetime.
So let’s get back to the World Cup fun. The South Korean team is in Group B and it seems like a real tough draw because you’re up against some big names like Argentina who may have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi. However, the erratic and emotional coach of the Argentinian team, Diego Maradona, may sink that very talented ship as evidenced by his poor guidance of the team to barely qualifying for the World Cup. That team is to talented to have barely qualified. Nigeria was historically one of the better teams from the African continent but the talent level seems to have thinned out this year with their porous defense. Greece is a recent Euro champion but has had trouble staying healthy. And the opinion on the South Korean team? The general consensus is that on paper, they may appear to be the least of the 4 teams in Group B, but they do have very better World Cup experience in the last decade, compared to their competitors and the South Koreans are known to be technically sound. However, from a raw talent standpoint, they do have a couple players in the English Premiere League but then there’s a falloff, which means the overall talent is probably lesser than the other three countries.
What we do know is that the best teams do eventually win out in the World Cup like Italy in ‘06 and Brazil’s five historical World Cup championships. But once the first ball is kicked, it’s fun for the world to enjoy in the first few rounds and sometimes you get surprises like Turkey and South Korea advancing to the semi-finals in 2002. Can’t wait for the first game in June 2010!
Korean female athletes are winning everywhere! Michelle Wie won her very first LPGA tournament down in Mexico this weekend and the best skater on the planet, Kim Yu-Na, won her second consecutive title at Skate America. However, it wasn’t a perfect win because she failed to win the free skate portion of the competition after having dominated the short program with a new world record score.
Kim Yu Na stumbled a little in the free skate but in the end she beat out her nearest competitor by 13 points – which is considered a big gap – to win the Skate America title. She is clearly the favorite heading into the Olympics in Vancouver. Based on her scoring, she’s been demoralizing her competition because her scores have been significantly more than her competitors. Will Kim Yu Na get a gold medal or will she become the next Michelle Kwan, who is known as one of the most decorated American ice skaters to never have won a gold medal at the Olympics.
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. He made believers out of everyone!
