Articles by mgedwards

Whistle malfunction

Some readers want to hear my thoughts on Superbowl XL, where the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21-10.  I wrote a couple of posts discussing how underrated the Seahawks are and how biased I consider the American sports media.  OK, well…my opinion isn’t worth much, because what I write won’t change the outcome of the game.  The Seahawks lost the game–as it was officiated.  I believe the Seahawks may have lost partly due to a "whistle malfunction."  The NFL is obstinately defending the league’s questionable officiating during the game.  There is no way to know how the outcome would have changed had some or all of the questionable referee calls had been reversed.  One thing is certain–I am not the only one who thought the Pittsburgh’s "touchdown" making the score 21-10 was not a touchdown at all.  Less certain is whether the Seahawks would have won the game if the call had been reversed and/or other questionable calls had been changed.  There are many intangibles to consider–could the Seahawks, who played well in the first half, have played better during the second half without all the bad calls and miscues?  We’ll never know.  I won’t begrudge Steelers’ fans–it is not the Steelers’ fault, and they won Superbowl XL.  Just not fairly or squarely.
 
Tonight’s entry might sound like sour grapes, but the word I hear from across the pond is that officiating during the Superbowl is this year’s version of a "wardrobe malfunction" and that it has become the butt of Jay Leno jokes.  Even Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger admitted on national television that he was surprised that Pittsburgh’s "touchdown" was ruled fair by the referees.  Pittsburgh fans’ celebrations and gloating seem slightly muted with the knowledge that the officiating was questionable.  To make matters worse, if you take away the disputed touchdown and assume that neither team scores for the rest of the game–a fair assumption–then the final score of the game was within the spread (Seattle -4).  Everyone who bet on the Seahawks to win the game or lose by four points would have won money.  If I had bet on the Seahawks, I would be absolutely livid with the NFL’s referees.  Something smells fishy to me.  In fact, someone I know who won money on the Steelers turned down some of his winnings because he was absolutely certain that the "touchdown" was not a touchdown at all.  This is a gentleman who co-founded China’s professional men’s basketball league (ala Yao Ming), so he should know.  The sports media, which got the outcome it favored (a Pittsburgh victory), has been maddeningly quiet on the questionable officiating.  It reaffirms in my mind yet again that the sports media has an obvious pro-East Coast and California bias.  If the Seahawks had been awarded that touchdown at Pittsburgh’s expense, I have no doubt in my mind that the media would have cried foul.
 
One other interesting Superbowl tidbit to note:  NFL MVP Wide Receiver and Korean-American Hines Ward has become Korea’s newest favorite son.  Before the Superbowl, Koreans would have been hard pressed to identify Ward.  Now, he’s a superstar here and on his way to Korea, where he will receive a hero’s welcome.  This is common in Korea, where Korean media companies broadcast world sporting events when top Korean players are playing.  For example, many San Diego Padres games were broadcast last year when Pitcher Chan Ho Park joined the team.  Now, Ward is the primary focus of the Korean sports media’s attention.
 
Blog Notes:  Speaking of controversies–Korean Speedskater Ahn Hyun-soo and U.S. Speedskater Apollo Ono will clash again in their quest for gold in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.  If you recall, Ahn and Ono clashed during the 1,500 meter finals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Let’s hope that the two avoid controversy and that one of them win the gold–fairly and squarely.  The last thing the U.S. and Korea need is another sports controversy following American Gymnast Paul Hamm’s disputed gold medal in the men’s all-around at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.  The Court of Arbitration for Sport determined Hamm won the gold medal over Korean Yang Tae-young, who claimed a scoring error cost him the gold.

A pick me up

Dear Reader, have you ever left your automobile in an inconvenient place and had to devise a clever plan in order to retrieve it?  That happened to me tonight.  My wife and I went to a dinner this evening.  After we got home, my wife put my son to bed, and I drove the nanny home.  As I drove home, I realized that we forgot to pick up my wife’s car on the way home.  She couldn’t go with me to pick it up tonight because she had to care for our son.  I couldn’t drive over and pick up the car by myself, because then I would have to get two cars home.  So I decided to walk over to pick up the car.  The weather was freezing, snow was falling, and the roads were slick.  I walked briskly about a mile on foot to pick up the car, and then I drove it home.  Our forgetfulness actually ended up being a pick me up, because it encouraged me to exercise.  I started exercising again last night on our treadmill, and it felt great.  Tonight I varied my routine by walking outside in the cold.  It felt great!  Tomorrow I’ll go back to using the treadmill…I hope.

Can you spare some change?

We went to E-mart tonight to have dinner and buy a sled.  My wife heard that it will snow this week and wanted to buy a sled for our son.  Unfortunately, E-mart doesn’t carry any sleds this time of year.  Dear Reader, can you believe that?  No sleds in February?  Seasonal items apparently only appear at the beginning of the season in Korea.  If you don’t buy your sled in October, you’re out of luck. 
 
When I ordered and paid for food tonight at the food court, I paid in Korean won.  Cashiers seem perplexed whenever I try to round up payment to get back fewer bills.  Tonight I bought a dish for 6,000 won (about $6.00) and gave the cashier 11,000 won–one 10,000 note and one 1,000 won note.  She looked at me, puzzled as to why I gave her a 1,000 won bill.  I explained to her in Korean that I wanted her to give me back a 5,000 bill in change.  At first she didn’t understand when I wanted.  Then, it finally clicked, and she gave me a 5,000 won bill.  I may be over-generalizing.  This is not the first time getting back fewer bills in change has been a problem.  My previous attempts have all been thwarted, and I end up withdrawing the extra 1,000 bill each time I try to round up.  Tonight, it worked for the first time. 
 
I surmise that Koreans don’t worry about changing money for smaller bills because they’re used to carrying around a big wad of cash.  The largest bill Korea issues is the 10,000 won bill (about $10.00).  Someone told me that this serves an anti-bribery and anti-counterfeiting purpose.  After all, it’s hard to offer a discreet bribe using a huge stack of small bills.  Plus, small bills take more effort to counterfeit.  (Most counterfeit bills are in demoninations of $100 or greater.)  I found another great Korea blog, Here in Korea, that mentioned another possible reason for limiting cash to small bills–namely, it discourages consumer spending.  South Korea has a long history of encouraging public savings and discouraging consumption.  Widespread consumer spending in South Korea is a relatively new phenonmenon, and it’s only been in the past decade that the average Korean has had to worry about carrying around a large wad of bills. 
 
For the past two years, some Korean politicians have called on the Bank of Korea to issue 50,000 and 100,000 won banknotes, and the Bank of Korea responded that it is ready to issue them.  The Korean National Assembly has not yet taken action.  The Bank of Korea recently redesigned the won notes to discourage counterfeiting.  Ironically, it is now fielding many complaints from people who are angry because the ink on the new 5,000 banknote comes off when you accidentally launder (wash) it, ruining clothing.  Ultimately, larger won banknotes might not be necessary, because more Koreans are using alternative payment methods in lieu of cash, including credit cards, funds wiring, cell phones, and debit cards.  My wife has a Korean bank account, and her paycheck is directly deposited into it.  Not only can she withdraw cash at bank branches, but she can use her cash card virtually anywhere and wire money simply by giving her bank account transfer information.  If she has the right kind of cell phone, she can also draw from it if she pays by cell phone.  It’s a very efficient banking system.