That other event at Wukesong

Basketball wasn't the only Beijing 2008 Olympic sports event held at Wukesong. The Olympic baseball stadium is also located here. I shot the above and below photos on the same day I took the picture of the basketball arena that was my previous blog post.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are the last Olympic Games to feature baseball as an Olympic event. My colleague and good friend, Mike Watts, couldn't happier about that. Mike is from Britain and was an avid cricket player and has also refereed cricket matches here in Beijing. He naturally believes that American baseball is a bastardized and lower form of cricket.

I did learn from him the background behind the phrase “sticky wicket.” A wicket, of course, is what the Brits call bats in cricket and in the past, these wickets were often left outside during the night. When this happened, the bats would naturally get wet from England’s miserably damp climate and then the ball could literally stick to the wicket, making things difficult for the batsman. Difficult situations then started getting referred to as “sticky wickets.”

The absence of Olympic baseball will make for a bit less grist for the ONION magazine’s satirical mill. One hilarious Olympic Games spoof news story carried by this fine on-line magazine—“America’s finest news source”—was entitled, “Dutch Women's Softball dragged kicking and screaming on the field to face their American opponents after receiving 10 minutes of beginning instruction on how to play the game.” Well, the title was certainly shorter, but this conveys what the article was about. The “instruction” consisted of being of told, among other things, “This round and long stick is a bat. You hit the ball with it,” etc. The magazine also did a very funny story on Mark Phelps and his eating habits (we should all be so lucky to be able to eat 9000 calories a day and still have problems retaining weight!).

Actually, I rather enjoy watching baseball, provided I'm at ballpark and enjoying a cold beer. Alas, soaring ticket and concession prices have made going to see major baseball games a rich man's pastime. Besides, I'd rather be hiking and backpacking in the mountains anyway, and it costs a lot less money to boot. More on that activity in China, plus nostalgia for the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in future blog posts.