Sports

Man U's Korean hope

Manchester United is arguably soccer/football’s most storied franchise.  While soccer fans worldwide might argue against that contention, when measured by market value, the club affectionately known as "Man U" is indeed the world’s most valuable club in any sport, worth over $1.2 billion in 2004.  By comparison, the oversubscribed New York Yankees’ franchise is worth a measly $849 million (2003 estimate).  Right now, Liverpool FC may be the best club in the English Premier League and the European League Champion, but Man U is historically soccer’s greatest club.  Man U, one of the few publicly traded football clubs (Man U was listed on the London Stock Exchange until June 2005, when it was purchased outright by private group Red Football Limited), operates like a corporate.  It has done a fabulous job over the years cultivating its global brand through clever marketing strategies such as worldwide exhibition matches.  For example, in July 2003 the club returned to play in Seattle for the first time since the early 1980s, defeating Celtic FC 4-0 in an exhibition match.  In 1982, the Seattle Sounders, then part of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL), actually beat Man U 3-0 in an exhibition match.  The two matches highlight just how high Man U has risen since the early 1980s (and how far the Sounders have fallen).
 
Manchester United has faced difficulties on and off the field since it traded legendary star David Beckham traded to Real Madrid in July 2003 for $41 million.  The star power that Beckham generated for the club helped it financially but hurt it internally because Beckham’s personality cast a large shadow over the team.  In May 2005, American Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Football League franchise, increased his ownership stake in Man U to 75%, putting him in firm control of the club.  A yankee now controls soccer’s most valuable franchise, highlighting just how global a brand Man U has become.  The English may not like the fact that their highest-profile franchise is owned by an American (and the fact that Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich owns the Chelsea franchise).  However, the owner who transformed the hapless Buccaneers into the winner of the 2003 Superbowl will do his best to return Man U to glory on the field.  I think he can do it.
 
The club has now bet big on Korean soccer in the hope that the club will again rise to the top of the English Premier League and the European League.  In late July, Ji-Sung Park, the 24-year-old Korean soccer phenomenom previously with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, signed a rich contract with Man U worth an estimated $7.25 million.  It is Man U’s highest profile acquisition since the Beckham trade.  Park is perhaps the most famous celebrity in Korea today, even more popular than Korean actor Bae Yong Jun, singer Boa, golfer Se Ri Pak, and baseball star Chan Ho Park.  Ji-Sung Park first attained iconic status in Korea when he scored the winning goal against Portugal in the 2002 World Cup.  Invariably, whenever I talk to Koreans about sports, Park’s name comes up.  Most Koreans I talked to seem to know about his meteoric rise in detail, easily recounting how the son of a taxi driver became a soccer prodigy and went on to greatness under the tutelage of Dutch Coach Gus Hiddink, coach of the 2002 Korean national team. 
 
The midfielder is indeed an excellent player, although he was criticized by former Coach Hiddink for leaving PSV Eindhoven one year early in his development to move to Manchester United.  Hopefully, the desire for fame and fortune won’t overshadow the discipline and training he needs to become one of the game’s elite players.   Park may not yet be the second coming of Beckham, but he is indeed one of the sport’s most promising players today and now one of the world’s top Asian players.  (I still believe 15-year-old American soccer phenom Freddie Adu, who plays for Major League Soccer’s D.C. United, has the most potential to become soccer’s greatest star in years to come.  Most Koreans I talk to do not know who Freddie Adu is.  Heck, neither do Americans!  Most are shocked to find out a 15-year-old player made $500,000 in 2004.)  Ji-Sung Park may not yet be a household name outside Korea and Holland, but he is a young, talented player who will likely become Man U’s franchise player.  As he admitted himself, he does not have Beckham’s dashing good looks, but as longs as his legs will carry him, he could be just as successful on the field as Beckham, sans the cult of personality.  He is Man U’s great Korean hope, and Koreans everywhere hope that he will lead the club and Korea to greatness.

Winter Olympics in PyeongChang?

This announcement is a couple days old but still noteworthy.  PyeongChang, Korea in Gangwon Province is the first contender to submit its bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.  It narrowly lost out to Vancouver, British Columbia in its bid to host the 2010 Olympics, and now it is the front runner to host the 2014 Winter Games.  In fact, Korea’s entry in the Olympics sweepstakes received the most International Olympic Committee votes during the first round of voting to host the 2010 Winter Olympics host city.  However, it lost to Vancouver in subsequent rounds.  For the 2014 games, PyeongChang’s biggest rival will be Salzburg, Austria.  Salzburg is also a serious contender, but considering that Turin, Italy will host the 2006 Winter Games, I consider PyeongChang to be the front-runner.  Salzburg may be better for skiing and downhill events, but I think that PyeongChang is better prepared to handle the myriad other winter sports showcased during the games.  South Korea has not hosted the Olympics since 1988, the year when Korea really came into its own as a nation.  In 2002, Korea co-hosted the World Cup with Japan and did a phenomenal job.  The World Cup happened 14 years after the Seoul Summer Olympics, and now it seems very likely that Korea will again have a chance to showcase itself in 2014.  PyeongChang is a county, not a city, and the PyeongChang Olympics sites will be spread throughout the county.  Pyongyong Ski Resort, highlighted in the Korean drama, "Winter Sonata," will be a major attraction during the PyeongChang Olympics.  The host city for the 2014 Winter Games will not be selected for a couple more years, but with my intuitive crystal ball I surmise that the Winter Olympics are in PyeongChang’s future.  If not in 2014, most definitely in 2018.
 
PyeongChang is a couple hours east of Seoul.  We have yet to visit it, but our brief trip to Chuncheon, also in Gangwon Province, gave us a good glimpse into PyeongChang’s potential as an Olympics venue.  Gangwon Province is very beautiful.  The mountains are neither particularly rugged nor blessed with large, old growth conifer forests, but they are beautiful nonetheless.  They define Korea well–crowded, compact, standing tall, yet ever intriguing.  As you drive through the Korean countryside, you often drive through tunnels that cut across two or three mountain ridges within a matter of minutes.  In fact, the scenery in some places is reminiscent of Alpine foothills and valleys.  Korea has neither a Matterhorn nor a Mount Fuji, but its mountains still have a quaint mystique similar to the European countryside.  During the summer, the vegetation is lush and green.  I do not know what the mountains in Gangwon Province look like during winter, but I imagine that they are gorgeous when snowcapped.  We are hoping to visit Gangwon Province again soon, and when we do, we’ll likely visit PyeongChang before it becomes "PyeongChang, Home of the 2014 Winter Olympics."

Go, Lance go!

Tonight I turn to France, a place half a world away, where American cyclist extraordinaire Lance Armstrong is vying for his seventh and final Tour de France victory.  After three stages Lance is comfortably in 2nd place behind American David Zabriskie.  More importantly, he is already comfortably ahead of his top rivals, including German Jan Ullrich and Italian Ivan Basso, early in the race.  In past races, he typically lagged behind in the early stages and overtook the field in the Pyrennes Mountains.  Aside from a surprise drug test, this year the race has been incredibly smooth for him.  He was the only racer tested, probably due to past allegations that he dopes.  After all, how else is it humanly possible to win so many races consecutively without performance enhancing drugs?  Simple–enter just one major race as Lance does each year and be a human machine (Lance is regarded by many as the fittest athlete alive in any sport).  Barring a disaster, it looks like Lance will win his seventh straight Tour de France and will go out with one of the most amazing records of any athlete in history.  His win record will likely stand for many years to come, just as Barry Bond’s 70 home runs in one season will remain untouchable in the post-steriods baseball era.
 
Despite setbacks off the course, including surviving cancer, allegations of doping, and his divorce, Lance still stands tall.  It is great to see that he will likely join the ranks of greats such as John Elway and Wayne Gretzky and retire at the height of success rather than fade into mediocrity.  After all, wasn’t Michael Jordan’s image slightly tarnished when he donned a Washington Wizards jersey and tried in vain to compete with teammates and opponents 10, 15, 20 years younger than himself?  I think it is better to go out a winner than to burn out and fade away.  One wonders how many consecutive victories Lance could have before he’s beaten in the Tour by up and comers such as David Zabriskie.  Still, I think this should be left to the imagination.  Imagination is often better than reality.  Of course, Lance could still fail this year.  He could get injured, or he could be eliminated from contention.  Somehow, I doubt it.  As much as the other riders want to win cycling’s top race, I think that sentimentality is working heavily in Lance’s favor.  The St. Louis Cardinals had just as much right to win last year’s World Series as the Boston Red Sox, but sentimentality worked heavily in the Sox’ favor and they swept the Cardinals 4-0.  The same is probably true for Lance this year.  
 
I’ve watched the Tour for a long time, ever since American Greg LeMond began his impressive run of four Tour victories.  As an American I feel excited and proud to see an American do so well in a sport dominated by Europeans.  It will be sad to see Lance go, but I also look forward to see who the next dominating rider will be.  Of course I hope it will be an American, but no matter what I will continue to enjoy following an entertaining Tour.
 
Note to InsadongKR:  Thanks for the link on your site.  I appreciate it!  I also posted a link to your restaurant’s page on my blog.  I used to go to Vancouver, B.C. quite often when I lived in Seattle.  If I get a chance to visit Vancouver when I return to the West Coast, I’ll stop by your restaurant for some delicious Korean food.  With so many Chinese restaurants in Vancouver Chinatown and Richmond, it’s great to see a Korean restaurant open up there.  There definitely are not enough in the Pacific Northwest.