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Editorial: Wang is ultimate pressure valve

The coverage being given to New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) in the Taiwanese media is striking in its volume -- and overkill. Though Wang's achievements so far are certainly impressive, the fact that the major newspapers are dedicating supplements if not entire sports sections to him so early into the postseason points to uncomfortable truths about sports in this country. But there are also positive aspects to this phenomenon.

The saturation coverage in the popular press and on cable TV mostly reflects the fact that sporting culture in this country remains stunted by neglect. And it is by no means certain that the media bandwagon and Wang's visibility will correct this neglect, even if it does motivate more youngsters to pick up a bat or throw a ball.

Taiwan's struggle to make an impression in team sports points to popular indifference and a lack of government insight into the potential of turning these activities into a vehicle for healthy nationalist feeling, not to mention healthier participants. This unfortunate situation is apparent in sports with a wider international role such as soccer, but in Taiwan's case it is ironically more apparent in sports that already enjoy a degree of commercial support, such as baseball and basketball.

Thus it is that when the national baseball team performed poorly at the Athens Olympics, the public response was resignation rather than demands for accountability. It is as if the public has difficulty identifying with or having too great an emotional stake in the fate of Taiwanese teams. But when a lone professional free of national "baggage" such as Wang performs well in an established foreign market, he or she seems to be a much more realistic object of admiration.

The idiotically named Chinese Professional Baseball League, for its part, is still battling the effects of corruption scandals and fickle ticket sales. As the New York Times wrote recently, Wang's success has had the paradoxical effect of hurting the league in terms of game attendance, even if this does turn out to be a temporary phenomenon.

But there's plenty more fickleness to go around. It is likely that most Taiwanese interest in the Yankees hinges on Wang's presence in the starting line-up, and will fade when he moves on. This should not be surprising, but at some point a considerable weakness is revealed when feverish support is extended to a single player in a team sport -- and at the expense of true understanding of the rest of the league, its teams and the wealth of players.

The attempts by certain members of the pan-green camp to appropriate Wang's success for rhetorical purposes have been predictable, if not entirely comfortable given that Wang has stayed well clear of political matters.

The most interesting thing about this problem, however, is that Wang is so popular now that even the most obnoxiously pro-China media outlets have been forced to give him extensive coverage and describe him in terms of his Taiwaneseness. In other words, he is "one of us," no matter which camp you belong to. It is a curious unity, as the Times article pointed out, coming at a time of political unrest and former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) cynical exploitation of public disenchantment with their elected representatives.

Still, never let it be said that sports do not provide a healthy political function. In Taiwan's case, Wang is proving to be something of a pressure valve at a time when Shih's red mob was hoping to stir up trouble. Perhaps the excessive concentration on Wang's fortunes masks a cry for help from the average reader or viewer who wants to concentrate on something more aspirational, more positive and more fun.

If this is the case, then for the next little while, it's going to be all Wang, all the time.
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