Baseball fans vented their anger and frustration on the Internet yesterday following Taiwan’s loss in the World Baseball Classic to China on Saturday.
The result, Taiwan’s second defeat by China in a year, means Taiwan are already eliminated from the competition.
“Losing to [South] Korea by nine points first and to China by three points next. My father kept cursing. Taiwan’s baseball is really hopeless!” a fan identified as “Gary” said.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“Bill,” another fan, showed similar pessimism about the future of baseball in Taiwan.
“Who cares about the championship of the Chinese Professional Baseball League [CPBL] anymore? Who could possibly be concerned now how many Wang Chien-ming’s (王建民) we will have?” he said. “Taiwan got beat by China in two international games in a row. People will stop watching baseball games if this becomes a pattern, which will potentially turn into a major catastrophe.”
Both attributed the loss to the fact that the players drafted for the World Baseball Classic this year were mostly young and inexperienced. They also blamed CPBL teams for their unwillingness to release more experienced players and the government for not spending enough on professional baseball.
“You win or lose in a game, that’s just life” Bill said. “But baseball has been played in Taiwan for 100 years, and we lost to the Chinese baseball team that has only been around for less than 20 years! This is an embarrassment.”
Some fans, however, thought that the loss may serve as a wake-up call to the nation’s baseball industry.
“You can’t say China just had better luck anymore because we have lost twice to them now. Their players, their strategies and the government support — all these are things we should learn from,” said another fan “Fatty Ape.”
Government officials, team managers and sports commentators also believed the defeat exposed the problems facing baseball in Taiwan.
“Baseball in this country is dead!” said senior sports commentator Fu Da-jen (傅達仁) in a TV interview. “You have the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association and you have Chinese Professional Baseball League, and they don’t work together. And what’s the government doing?”
Sinon Bulls manager Hsu Sheng-meng (徐生明) said the teams were in a bind about sending players to play in an international game and protecting them from injuries.
Sports Affairs Council (SAC) Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) Minister said in an interview with the Central News Agency that the council was striving to develop second-tier teams in professional baseball, which could be supported by the revenue generated by the sports lottery.
Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-bin (蘇俊賓) said that the government took the loss seriously. He said Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) has asked the SAC to develop a long-term plan on baseball using resources across different government departments.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS