Baseball fan “KK” started watching the Brother Elephants play when he was eight years old. He has eight Elephants jerseys, which he used to collect the autographs of Elephants players. Now 24, “KK” knows all the slogans that Elephants fans use to root for their team and when the Elephants won the professional baseball championship in 2003, he was so thrilled that he banged his head against a wall.
“KK” was one of the 500 Elephants fans who participated in a parade titled “Baseball, Life” yesterday afternoon. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), as well as fans of the other three professional teams, also turned up to show their support. “KK” said he was shocked when he heard that the Elephants were allegedly involved in a game-fixing scandal.
“When things like this happen, not only the Elephants, but also all the other teams — the La New Bears, the Sinon Bulls and the President Lions — are effected,” he said. “The professional baseball league may fall apart because of this.”
At the final destination of yesterday’s parade, the fans arrived at the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) and staged a sit-in in front of the building. Jointly, they presented banner petitions carrying the signatures of baseball fans and asking for “clean” baseball. Another baseball fan who wished to be identified by her last name, Wen (溫), arrived at the sit-in rally with her 11-month-old son. Both she and her son were wearing Elephants jerseys.
“Players should not be doing this to their boss [the owner of the Brother Hotel], who has been trying so hard to sustain the operations of the team for 20 years,” she said.
Wen said the government cannot possibly stop people from betting on games, but they can prevent gangsters from threatening the players.
The organizer of the parade, Yu Tsung-ming (余宗鳴), said the supporters hoped that the government would set up a cross-departmental organization to supervise the development of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). He said the government should reinforce ethics education for the players and create laws to regulate professional sports.
“What is the use of catching a “Windshield Wiper” if you miss the gigantic windshield that is behind the scenes?” Yu said.
“Windshield Wiper” was the nickname of Tsai Cheng-yi (蔡政宜), a member of a gang in Kaohsiung who is alleged to have bribed the players to throw games.
Other baseball fans also took turns to speak out at the rally.
One said that CPBL chairman Chao Shou-po (趙守博) and CPBL secretary-general Li Wen-ping (李文彬) should take full responsibility for the scandal by stepping down. Another said that the only way to prevent organized crime groups from manipulating games was to adopt the free-agent system and raise the salaries of professional players.
Wu Chun-che (吳俊哲), director of the SAC’s competitive athletics department, said the council would present the appeals at a meeting tomorrow, where the SAC is scheduled to address the issue with officials from other government agencies.
Li said prosecutors should not investigate the players alone.
“Whenever stuff like this happens, the players get sacrificed,” Li said. “The government should enforce its authority beyond the baseball field.”
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