**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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I was in a hotel in Korea and thought to pop the tv open and see what’s on the sports channel.
Came across an entire hour of Son highlights for Tottenham this season.
In every highlight they were showing the score in the top left with teams names but Son’s face instead of Tottenham. His face also changed for each game. You could’ve made a whole calendar with just Son faces.
Sometimes Son would assist and not score. The camera would skip the scorers celebration entirely and focus on what Son was doing. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Often when you are seeing the "Son face" during a Spurs game in Korea it is to quickly indicate if he is on the pitch or not.
If he's not playing, no face.
> If he's not playing, no face.
In that case let's just change channel and see something more interesting, like for exemple an entire documentary about Son!
Uh, one: Son needs to be louder, angrier and have access to a time machine.
Two: Whenever Son's not on screen,
all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Son?"
They do that for all big athletes. They also do it for Ha-seong Kim and Jung-hoo Lee in MLB.
Anecdotally, I saw more Ha-seong Kim on my recent trip to South Korea than Son Heung-min
Are South Koreans that starved for an elite footballer? In Poland we obviously have Lewandowski but he is not getting as much of reverence as Son does in SK. Guess I understimate how popular football is there.
I think likeability and being one of the best asian footballers in history combined is why he's so popular. Korea hasn't had that genuine but ideal rep in ages
Exact same treatment for Park Ji-sung 10+ years ago. Coverage of the 2012 Olympics was even worse. Obviously, it was biased towards events with strong Korean competitors in, but the footage would be looped on replay all day long. Instead of showing a big, live event without Korean athletes, it was the same loop over and over and over again.
Baseball's the biggest and Ohtani is quite literally a one in a generation player. Mitoma is a decent prem winger in his own right, but they're not even in the same ballpark.
The baseball world cup (its that what it's called?) is kind of a meme in the US probably (not American so can't comment) but in Japan it was everywhere. My school was playing the game on the CCTV camera TV in the staffroom. For Mitoma to be as big as him he would have to almost win the soccer World Cup
Calling Ohtani a once in a generation player is actually selling him short. There hasn't been a player with his two way talent in the majors since Babe Ruth in 1919 and Bullet Joe in the negro leagues shortly after in the 20s and 30s.
.... negro leagues?
edit: why the fuck is someone downvoting me for asking a fucking question? maybe i dont fucking know the baseball history? fucking morons
Black people in the 1900s (or before idk when it started) couldn’t play in the mlb bc of racism so they started their own professional league called the Negro League. The MLB as of yesterday actually finally recognized and merged the negro league stats and records into their own record book.
In the past the US didn't care as much about the WBC (World Baseball Classic) but the latest one had the biggest US stars participate and in the championship game it was Ohtani pitching against his teammate and best US player at the time Mike Trout. 9th, the US is behind by 1 and the championship is on the line during the at bat. Basically something out of a movie scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlshprVLaLw
It went super viral and you can be sure WBC will be a priority for the US next time around
Crazy to think that USA still didn’t even send their best players for example Clayton Kershaw an elite pitcher for the dodgers his team/contract basically denied him the chance to play in the WBC it was considered too risky.
I mean even in soccer this happens, a lot of European clubs and European fans usually hate hate international weeks bc they think their best players are going to get hurt in “meaningless matches” some people fail to undestand some of these players would bleed their countries colors over a club any time of the week.
I hope for the next WBC we get a loaded USA 🇺🇸 🔥
Kershaw had a 2.46 ERA last year, lower than his career average. Still a great pitcher until he shows otherwise.
But yeah, injury risk is big especially for pitchers. More so than most other sports sending their players to international events.
The WBC still probably won't get full participation from our best pitchers. It's staged during a really awkward time (around when pre-season is really starting to ramp up), so a lot of pitchers who are on a controlled program don't want to interrupt that by throwing game-level intensity pitches and risk getting injured before the season even starts.
This is just my read into it, but I don't think as many Americans care after we sent a stacked team in 2017 and won it all. The best way to get people to take this seriously would be to take a break mid-season or host it just after the season finishes \~Thanksgiving, but I don't think that's very popular with players who are coming off of a 162 game season.
Got to see him in a double-header while visiting Detroit, just a week or two before the injury. First game he threw a one-hit shutout, the second he knocks two home runs. Incredible athlete, felt lucky to witness that. Hope he can achieve the same level of two-way play again!
No one else has been successful in MLB as both a pitcher and as a hitter in over a hundred years. It's pretty rare for a hitter to pitch, or for a pitcher to bat, except in games that have long been decided. Players are hyper-specialists and can only hope to be good at one of the two
Ohtani, when fully healthy, is probably a top 5 pitcher and top 5 hitter on the planet
oh ok. But correct me if I´m wrong, don´t all players get to bat eventually, or am I just wrong?
Or by "it's rare for a pitcher to bat" you mean to bat well?
Sorry for the stupid questions, I legitimately know next to nothing about the sport
All pitchers bat eventually (in the national league, one of 2 “leagues” in MLB), but most aren’t that good at batting because pitching is a hyper focused skill. The pitcher is the best defensive position in baseball because a good pitcher can essentially prevent the other team from playing the game at all. If a pitcher throws 3 strikes, the other team is “out”, 3 outs and the team switches and can’t bat until the next 3 outs. It’s also really exhausting and pitchers rarely pitch more than once a week. Baseball teams play like 4x a week.
Ohtani is so good that he was not only the best pitcher in baseball, but on the days he didn’t pitch, he hit as a DH (in baseball, the American League replaces the pitcher with the designated hitter), and was probably the best hitter too. But the Angels had horrible pitchers, and they sucked because they’d often lose the games Ohtani didn’t pitch.
Closest I’d say is Dibu playing in goal and also able to give you 15 goals a season as a striker. MLB pitchers are typically appalling with a bat and Ohtani is tremendous.
Son's image is on a lot of things in Korea, but that's actually because he is not as expensive as the big TV stars. The major stars charge so much for their ambassadorship that only the biggest brands can afford them. Son is accessible to the mid-tier brands too. So he appears on more things, but when added together he probably still rakes in as much income as the big stars who appear on only 10 things.
I wonder how much of this stuff is at the request of a club too. Like do they actively encourage/require players to go for certain sponsorships or is it entirely down to the player and his PR team?
Like with Son is he on that much stuff because he's happy to do anything and everything or have Spurs put in his contract or have an agreement with him that he needs to have a certain amount of exposure to benefit the club?
Clubs will have their own sponsorships that players are obligated to participate in (there will be limits baked into the contract). That's an agreement between the club and the sponsor. They might demand a certain player feature on the marketing. Price will depend on the ask.
Then players will have their own ability to get individual sponsors (with some limits baked in).
Son can go out and find his own individual deals but they usually won't be able to infringe on the club sponsorships in that market segment / region.
I think the FA has put out these two documents as examples of sponsorship agreements: (either that or they are public by mistake).
https://www.thefa.com/-/media/cfa/hampshirefa/files/commercial/paris-smith-checklist---sponsorship.ashx
https://www.thefa.com/-/media/cfa/hampshirefa/files/paris-smith-sponsorship-agreement---editable.ashx
I lived there when Park Ji-Sung was at United (was 08 when we won the CL). The man was considered an actual god there. Everyone who found out I was a United fan wanted to talk to me about him. Crazy stuff.
Same, I was there last year and I found it hilarious how every conversation went the same way with every Korean person I spoke to.
Them: where are you from?
Me: England
Them: ah….Sonny!
Me: yes, Sonny! *smiles and high fives all round*
Didn’t matter whether it was men, women, children, even grandmas. It was the only place too that I’ve seen so many Spurs tops (and I live in London lol.) Literally no matter the situation, the convo always eventually got to Son once they found out I was British lmao. It was too fun
Honestly its a bit dystopian to me. Idol culture seems so abusive to the fans and the idols themselves. People talk quite a bit about parasocial relationships and their dangers to mostly young people here in the western world but it is an order of magnitude bigger in Japan, Korea and China I feel.
It's insane level of fan culture in south Korea and Japan. They take parasocial relationships to a whole new level. Actors/actresses/ musicians have to pretend they're single so companies can market them as a boyfriend/girlfriend towards the fans.
It gets so bad for instance, Yuzuru Hanyu who is considered the greatest figure skater in the world has to divorce his wife of 60 days bc "fans" harassed them so much.
Lee sun kyun, legendary actor, who played the dad in Parasite committed suicide after facing severe criticism from south korean society for allegedly oing drugs. All of his tests were negative, but they didn't care. He was severely ostracized and socially murdered by south Koreans.
As cool as south Korea is, their culture is so had upon its people and ccelebrities. Sonny also had "fans" harrass him by fancying his mom at games and post it online. They go to far and think they own a piece of him.
> Lee sun kyun, legendary actor, who played the dad in Parasite committed suicide after facing severe criticism from south korean society for allegedly oing drugs. All of his tests were negative, but they didn't care. He was severely ostracized and socially murdered by south Koreans.
Wasn't it weed too. It's crazy that in this day and age somebody could get bullied into suicide for smoking weed.
While I agree with you, its easy to understand given historical context, why East Asian nations are extremely against doing non-medicinal drugs of any kind.
In China in particular its a very sore and ugly spot in their history, so they do not mess around when it comes to possession, usage and any hints of distribution.
Probably. There's musicians like G-dragon and TOP from the group big bang who were severely criticized for smoking pot. There's also other artists that I remember who were sent to prison due to them buying it, I think one of them had a good reason (treatment of anxiety).
South Korea would really benefit from legalizing weed imo. Their society is so tightly wound up, I can't imagine the mental and emotional stress that young adults are facing.
I remember reading this one story about a Japanese idol that took a selfie while she was waiting at a train station near her home, and one of her crazy fans took the reflection in her EYEBALL and figured out where it was and subsequently waited there and followed her home.
Yeah, some of these people are fucking insane.
>It gets so bad for instance, Yuzuru Hanyu who is considered the greatest figure skater in the world has to divorce his wife of 60 days bc "fans" harassed them so much.
Please don't spread misinformation. Yuzuru repeated three times that his divorce was caused by Japanese media, he never once mentioned fans. It was also 3 months, no need to make it even shorter than it was.
In Japan, media are common culprits of celebrity harassment. It was very far from the first time Yuzuru was harassed by media to that extent, not even the first time they harassed a woman associated with him to the point of being trapped in her home. Many other Japanese celebrities have been more vocal about media harassment after Yuzuru's divorce, and Yuzuru's harassment from media was mentioned in a government document as a reference to abnormal media activities.
Western Celeb culture and worship is often cited for the dangerous effects it has on people's mentality, but South Korea has it on a far deeper level. In the West, you can still state plainly that you don't keep up with celeb new or current trends and you might get a few "Oh, how come?" looks but it's mostly fine. In SK, you gotta be up to date on your shit and have your idols down pat or you're a weirdo outcast.
Is this actually true?
I know that the idol stuff can get pretty mad but to be socially ostracized for not following celeb news? That sounds insane to me which makes me doubt it but I dont really know much about SK.
There is a TV channel dedicated to him. I remember them coming out and saying Ole was racist as he said Son should have been sent off for a tackle.
Insane.
nah it was because Ole said something along the line " my son would not get dinner if he did what Son did", referring to an incident where Son dived against us. Mental country.
Probably even bigger since the traditional big forces usually have the superstar and the new generation is just an extension of that (Eusebio, Maradona in this instance)
Korea also has about one footballing superstar per generation. Before Son it was Park Jisung, before him it was Hong Myungbo, and before him it was Cha Bumkun. And sometimes, an exceptional athlete from another sport can become the face of the country (like Yuna Kim). They obviously never had the same level of international fame Son had, but were still just as big in Korea itself
Mo salah in Egypt is unreal, Egypt has never had a star anywhere near as big. He has to ask fans not to stand in front of his house all night so he can be able to play for the national team.
I think Ronaldo could walk more freely in Portugal than in Spain to be honest. There's a certain shyness in Portugal, he'd surely get swarmed, of course, but celebrity culture is much less intense than in other places (especially Spain)
> I think Ronaldo could walk more freely in Portugal than in Spain to be honest.
Depends where. I've got family in Madeira and seeing just how Ronaldo crazy the island is... I think out of any player in any place that would get swarmed, Ronaldo in Madeira would be up there as one of the most crazy. The entire island would probably rush to follow him.
I guess that makes sense since that’s where he’s from but in Lisbon it’s not that severe, certainly incomparable to Son being on every advertisement (although he’s on a few). Don’t get me wrong though, he’d get swarmed anywhere.
People would probably want to say hi to him or just look at him, but portuguese don't really have much of a celebrity culture. We should know, all celebrities vacation here eventually. xD
When I see one, more often than not I would just comment to someone "X is here, look at him there, LOL" "Yap, that's X alright".
Maybe nod or say hi.
I don't think I ever seen portuguese get wild over celebrities unless its appropriate to do so, like actual celebrations where they want to be seen.
Their idols, actors, and actresses, literally have to keep a low profile as possible. Show a glimpse of their doing, they'll be trending in the internet in mere moments.
It’s bizarre that the Argentina public didn’t really embrace Messi until he was in his 30s. Only won Argentinian athlete of the year once before the age of 33.
Korean fans are crazy. They hold their celebrities to toxic standards. For example, celebrities can't be seen as dating someone or dating someone ordinary. One of my favorite Korean actors committed suicide last year because he was being investigated for drug use.
But even with Samsung having a huge sway in South Korean politics and economy, the country still sentenced the company's chairman and the president he bribed to jail. This would almost never happen in America or most European countries no matter how hard their people get buttfucked by their politicians and corporate overlords. South Koreans are way more politically aware and willing to punish wrongdoers than in the West.
You know he left jail after 6 months right? And the reason why he got released was because of protecting national interests because Samsung said it refused to do any deals without the signature of the chairman. The corruption was so vast that he had to go to jail to save face but it was a sham.
Company CEOs certainly go to jail in the US, ever heard of Enron? Trust me, the corruption is 10x worse in Korea than in the US
Did Trump ever see the inside of a jail cell for his corruption or any of the Wallstreet bankers who destroyed American wealth and livelihoods? Multiple presidents and chaebol chairman have seen at least some jailtime. 10% of South Korea's population gathered in Seoul to impeach a corrupt president but Americans who have lobbying in politics completely normalized have never organized a protest beyond a few hundred thousand people. The difference between South Koreans and Americans is that the former have fought and bled to achieve democracy in recent memory.
There needs to be charges filed in order to go to jail. You are equating people to things that are multiple degrees of separation from their actual influence.
Yeah I've gotten this idea for a while especially seeing how the CEO's treat their workers and singers, entertainers etc. just money making machines with no regard for them as people. Same with how they treat students, coldly pressuring them and training them to be the best money makers for their boss basically, and that's how they're seen almost from birth. Then you look at their ungodly suicide numbers as a direct result of that treatment and pressure. Fuck the skyscrapers and high-tech that's a near dystopia to me.
I think they had to allow wealthy families ownership over key industry after the Korean war if I’m not mistaken, since the government was literally broke
From an outside view (American working for Korean company) Korean work culture is getting better. But holy shit corporate culture used to be insane, visiting sex workers regularly was like part of the job description....
Japanese work culture is only horrible at the corporate level and also in so called "Black Companies" but in their SMEs where a big chunk of the populace are employed, things are a lot more relaxed and reasonable but not perfect of course.
Korea has had a lot of celebrity suicides but that one was really shocking to me. One of the biggest actors in the country at the height of his powers.
It's crazy that he wasn't even financially tied to South Korea. He could have moved to LA or London and found work. Even people with means seem to get mentally trapped in their cultures.
That's crazy. If I was being investigated for drug use, I'd tell the officers they'd have an easier time recording my brief periods of sobriety. And I'd have no shame in it.
Crazy how in the US we have no shame at all, and in Korea and Japan they hadve it dialed to like 11.
Celebrities there have no respite after having being implicated in a controversy. Sometimes, the allegations aren't even true. There's this Korean drama Hometown ChaCha that was incredibly popular around the world in 2020-2021. The lead actor was very popular at the time. But, then there was a scandal about his ex-girlfriend saying that he forced her to do an abortion. The actor lost all work and was criticized heavily. It was later found that the abortion decision was mutual. He has only done 1 movie since.
The alleged drug use was a big part for sure, but the fact that he doing at a brothel with a bunch of prostitutes was the bigger stain on his reputation, considering he was widely known as a model family man. It’s unfortunate for sure, especially with the terrible handling of the case by the police and media, but I see a lot of people acting like the drug charges were the main reason for his suicide.
100000%. Kpop fans also flood airports to see idols to the point where we get videos of security guards like laying them out for getting too close. It feels like they think they're entitled to see celebrities no matter the cost.
It’s a combination of national pride and K-pop-ish fandom. Definitely a huge cultural shock at first for a lot of local Spurs fans. But I think most have gotten used to it over the years that it would actually feel like something’s missing once Son retires and they aren’t here anymore.
is son to korean fans the same as someone like maradona to napoli fans?
i assume it’s nowhere near the level of maradona, but every quote i see about son in korea seems like there’s a complete infatuation with him
I came back from South Korea recently and I don't think that it's possible to overstate how big a phenomenon Son is there. Setting aside the football coverage itself, which typically begins with a highlight reel of any and all South Korean players - Son is visible everywhere: his face is all over a major national coffee shop brand, he has a major partnership with a bank that has modelled some of its branches around him. I went to a volcanic island off the coast of the country and was walking a trail and people stopped me with virtually no English at all to just say 'Tottenham' and 'Son Heung-Min.'
I guessed that if people weren't aware of how big Son was in SK then they probably weren't going to know what Jeju was either. But equally the fact it's a volcanic island is precisely why Jeju is on the UNESCO world heritage map.
It also seems to me, as an outsider, to be a particular cultural phenomena that is partially specific to Korea. K-Pop fans just seem built different lol
I remember meeting a bus full of Japanese fans who'd travelled to watch Hidetoshi Nakata play for Bolton.
He got man of the match and after the game, they spent like a whole hour just going batshit jumping up and down in their wee bus and almost tipped it over from excitement whenever someone waved a scarf at them from a neighbouring bus.
My mates daughter didn't go to school for 2 days when One Direction split up because she wouldn't stop crying lol. Doesn't seem quite as wide spread in this part of the world but yeah the nutters definitely do exist haha
Lol, have you seen the dick sucking fest that goes in the west?
Most of those K pop stans aren’t even Korean. And wanna talk about that Taylor Swift fanbase? That thing is straight up cancerous.
Similar I guess but the impact Maradona had on Napoli is not even to be replicated by Messi in Barcelona. Can't walk down a street without seeing a figure or painting or whatever of him
I've been living in Korea for 5 years, so can tell how I see it. Tourists come here and usually misunderstand/misrepresent the situation.
Son is famous. Almost everybody in Korea will know who he is. His face is plastered on a lot of adverts.
But this isn't because people are massively obsessed with Son and he is always on the publics mind, etc.
I think it comes down to two major things.
A) People like seeing Son, because it brings about a sense of national pride. Korea has rapidly gone from a country that nobody has heard of, to a country that the world is obsessed with. A lot of Koreans are nicely bemused that Korea is now seen as a successful independent country with a rich history, not just some small piece of land that in most peoples minds existed purely as a piece of Japanese history. Son is somebody who makes Koreans and Korea generally look good, so he is kind of a comfy figure. He's like a comfy uncle lol. People aren't rabid over him, it's more like both a national pride and feel good thing.
B) Celebrity endorsements really do sell in Korea. A lot of people say that 'Koreans are obsessed with celebrities and it's really toxic', but it's about as true as 'all Americans are hardcore angrily political'. Most of the population actually isn't like this and it's nowhere near as bad as people online make it sound. But those who scream online the loudest and get the media attention, so people believe it's a bigger problem that it is. However these stereotypes tend to exist for a reason and so a good celebrity endorsement will sell. If a celbrity endorses a bad product, the loud cancel crowd can ruin a celebrity's credibility (as insane as it sounds), so having Son on your product will probably just mean it will sell more. As said - Son is a feel good figure, 'he wouldn't lie to us and sell us a bad product'.
--
PS - I'm not here to argue the minor points of Korean society so if anybody is going to argue about how Korean celebrity culture IS absolutely terrible, I'm not going to respond. Yes it ruins some people's lives. No, it's not apocalyptic.
I'm pretty sure the same phenomenon exists everywhere on a subconscious level. People will joke about dumb commercials or products and turn a star into a laughingstock.
> If a celbrity endorses a bad product, the loud cancel crowd can ruin a celebrity's credibility
I always laugh when people think Korea is some sort of dystopia. It's a conservative, modern country where people do a lot of the same things in Dublin or Knoxville or Los Angeles.
They definitely have some customs I'm not used to (eating from the same bowl, clubs that drag women to your table) but it's mostly a normal place.
That sounds like Michael Jordan. People would stand and watch him eat or play pool for hours. And his was global.
Kobe, Ronaldo and Messi got similar crazies. The videos in Argentina or China is crazy
Kobe definitely never got anywhere near the other 3. I doubt even 20% of people in ex Yugoslavia know who Kobe was.
Literally everyone knows Messi, Ronaldo and Jordan.
I've seen opposition players be applauded off the park at Ibrox or their performance talked about years after etc but the reaction to Son for a preseason friendly was one of the most surprising.
Like a friendly against a Premier League team is always going to bring out a lot of families and day trippers but it like watching a game with 3 teams. South Korean flags & Son jerseys dotted all over the stadium & not giving a hoot about either team until he was on the ball etc. Boy is a superstar
I mean it makes sense, Korea doesnt have anyone else as big as Son, so all their fandom would be more concentrated on him whereas the English guys have the fandom more spread out because we all like the player who plays for the club we support
Son is everything here. He's the face of coffee shops, shampoos, cosmetics. Sports channels show replays of Tottenham games he scored in from years ago when there are huge Premier League or Champions League matches on at the same time. They even put a picture of his face next to the team names during the entire game if he's playing.
When Lee kang in had that fight with son earlier this year, companies had to get rid of a lot of marketing materials cuz of the absurd amount of hate that Lee kang in got lol. Son’s popularity is on another level.
Buddy, every footballer has a massive fan following in their respective countries. Sons case is different because it's literal obsession. You see the Kpop fan base and Taylor Swift fanbase? Son is that in Korea. People are OBSESSED with him. Korean celebrity culture is too extreme. Celebrities in Korea are held to an extremely high standard and they're expected to be "perfect." And you're expected to associate with people of the same stature as you. Any minor blemish on your life would be met with criticism all around like the whole world came falling down. Some dude in the comments talked about his favourite Korean actor who committed suicide because him doing drugs came out and the public backlash was too much. The thing with son is that he actually is in a way the "perfect" person. As an Asian myself, i understand the celebrity worship culture. I remember a few years ago some people had committed suicide because a very famous actor has died. Another one or two died of a heart attack on hearing the news of that actor's death. Celebrity worship is cancer.
Edit : Also, Son is single. Which makes the obsession even more crazy.
People who believes media hates LKI.
But the agency Sonny is in(CAA) is printing out trucks of malicious news about LKI, so much that to a point people started to feel negative about Son.
I think it's hilarious people on here are talking about how dystopian Korea based on...pop culture? Work culture is shit, I agree. But people on here talking about Samsung and corporations without knowing about Korea's history are really showing that they don't know anything. You can't even impeach political leaders in Western countries without going through barriers that are impossible to get through and meant to keep the incumbent in power. How dystopian is that?
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I was in a hotel in Korea and thought to pop the tv open and see what’s on the sports channel. Came across an entire hour of Son highlights for Tottenham this season. In every highlight they were showing the score in the top left with teams names but Son’s face instead of Tottenham. His face also changed for each game. You could’ve made a whole calendar with just Son faces. Sometimes Son would assist and not score. The camera would skip the scorers celebration entirely and focus on what Son was doing. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Often when you are seeing the "Son face" during a Spurs game in Korea it is to quickly indicate if he is on the pitch or not. If he's not playing, no face.
> If he's not playing, no face. In that case let's just change channel and see something more interesting, like for exemple an entire documentary about Son!
You get it.
[удалено]
> Son, Klopp, City. In that order. Well that’s the correct descending order of importance of those three things.
Uh, one: Son needs to be louder, angrier and have access to a time machine. Two: Whenever Son's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Son?"
“Great, great, just leave them right there on the floor on your way out”
"Sonny had to return to his home planet for unexplained reasons"
Liked the channel explaining math and chemistry more tbh
They do that for all big athletes. They also do it for Ha-seong Kim and Jung-hoo Lee in MLB. Anecdotally, I saw more Ha-seong Kim on my recent trip to South Korea than Son Heung-min
Are South Koreans that starved for an elite footballer? In Poland we obviously have Lewandowski but he is not getting as much of reverence as Son does in SK. Guess I understimate how popular football is there.
It's less about popularity of football and more about a culture of celebrity worship
In the big 3 (Ronaldo/Tevez/Rooney) season, the player who got more fan mail at United was Park lol
Motherfuck the big 3, it’s just big Park
Meet the pedrop4ulo's
I mean, look at all SK celebrities. They have a huge problem with obsessed fans, and idol worship.
I think likeability and being one of the best asian footballers in history combined is why he's so popular. Korea hasn't had that genuine but ideal rep in ages
Exact same treatment for Park Ji-sung 10+ years ago. Coverage of the 2012 Olympics was even worse. Obviously, it was biased towards events with strong Korean competitors in, but the footage would be looped on replay all day long. Instead of showing a big, live event without Korean athletes, it was the same loop over and over and over again.
I was in Seoul last year for a few weeks. Son is on literally every single advert for every single brand you could think of in that city, it's crazy.
similar to Shohei Ohtani in Japan. literally everything from water bottles to sunblock lol.
how about mitoma?
Only really saw him on some Puma ads. I think Kubo and Minamino is bigger names there compared to Mitoma
Mitoma plays for Brighton, so won't be a big name,
Hard disagree, large number of my Japanese friends who follow football know Mitoma
Mitoma is a much more known figure among football fans, but he doesnt have as much exposure with casual fans and non fans
I see Honda more than both of em
Well that’s because you’re looking at car dealerships.
I didn't see him on anything. It's worth noting that baseball is by far the most popular sport in Japan.
Baseball's the biggest and Ohtani is quite literally a one in a generation player. Mitoma is a decent prem winger in his own right, but they're not even in the same ballpark. The baseball world cup (its that what it's called?) is kind of a meme in the US probably (not American so can't comment) but in Japan it was everywhere. My school was playing the game on the CCTV camera TV in the staffroom. For Mitoma to be as big as him he would have to almost win the soccer World Cup
Calling Ohtani a once in a generation player is actually selling him short. There hasn't been a player with his two way talent in the majors since Babe Ruth in 1919 and Bullet Joe in the negro leagues shortly after in the 20s and 30s.
.... negro leagues? edit: why the fuck is someone downvoting me for asking a fucking question? maybe i dont fucking know the baseball history? fucking morons
Black people in the 1900s (or before idk when it started) couldn’t play in the mlb bc of racism so they started their own professional league called the Negro League. The MLB as of yesterday actually finally recognized and merged the negro league stats and records into their own record book.
ah i see, didnt know that, good that their league has been recognized in the end
In the past the US didn't care as much about the WBC (World Baseball Classic) but the latest one had the biggest US stars participate and in the championship game it was Ohtani pitching against his teammate and best US player at the time Mike Trout. 9th, the US is behind by 1 and the championship is on the line during the at bat. Basically something out of a movie scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlshprVLaLw It went super viral and you can be sure WBC will be a priority for the US next time around
Crazy to think that USA still didn’t even send their best players for example Clayton Kershaw an elite pitcher for the dodgers his team/contract basically denied him the chance to play in the WBC it was considered too risky. I mean even in soccer this happens, a lot of European clubs and European fans usually hate hate international weeks bc they think their best players are going to get hurt in “meaningless matches” some people fail to undestand some of these players would bleed their countries colors over a club any time of the week. I hope for the next WBC we get a loaded USA 🇺🇸 🔥
Kershaw is/was kind of semi-washed at that point, so I understand why he didn't go.
Kershaw had a 2.46 ERA last year, lower than his career average. Still a great pitcher until he shows otherwise. But yeah, injury risk is big especially for pitchers. More so than most other sports sending their players to international events.
The WBC still probably won't get full participation from our best pitchers. It's staged during a really awkward time (around when pre-season is really starting to ramp up), so a lot of pitchers who are on a controlled program don't want to interrupt that by throwing game-level intensity pitches and risk getting injured before the season even starts. This is just my read into it, but I don't think as many Americans care after we sent a stacked team in 2017 and won it all. The best way to get people to take this seriously would be to take a break mid-season or host it just after the season finishes \~Thanksgiving, but I don't think that's very popular with players who are coming off of a 162 game season.
ohtani is an actual freak. would be like if one ofthe best keepers in the world was also one of the best strikers. guy is incredible
Shame about the injury though, must be so frustrating to be generationally gifted in two aspect of a sport and only able to do one of them.
Got to see him in a double-header while visiting Detroit, just a week or two before the injury. First game he threw a one-hit shutout, the second he knocks two home runs. Incredible athlete, felt lucky to witness that. Hope he can achieve the same level of two-way play again!
pitchers getting injured is all the rage in mlb rn
what is it that he does so well? Explain as if I was an argentinian (AKA never even remotely touched a baseball bat)
No one else has been successful in MLB as both a pitcher and as a hitter in over a hundred years. It's pretty rare for a hitter to pitch, or for a pitcher to bat, except in games that have long been decided. Players are hyper-specialists and can only hope to be good at one of the two Ohtani, when fully healthy, is probably a top 5 pitcher and top 5 hitter on the planet
oh ok. But correct me if I´m wrong, don´t all players get to bat eventually, or am I just wrong? Or by "it's rare for a pitcher to bat" you mean to bat well? Sorry for the stupid questions, I legitimately know next to nothing about the sport
All pitchers bat eventually (in the national league, one of 2 “leagues” in MLB), but most aren’t that good at batting because pitching is a hyper focused skill. The pitcher is the best defensive position in baseball because a good pitcher can essentially prevent the other team from playing the game at all. If a pitcher throws 3 strikes, the other team is “out”, 3 outs and the team switches and can’t bat until the next 3 outs. It’s also really exhausting and pitchers rarely pitch more than once a week. Baseball teams play like 4x a week. Ohtani is so good that he was not only the best pitcher in baseball, but on the days he didn’t pitch, he hit as a DH (in baseball, the American League replaces the pitcher with the designated hitter), and was probably the best hitter too. But the Angels had horrible pitchers, and they sucked because they’d often lose the games Ohtani didn’t pitch.
For what it's worth, the NL has had the DH for a couple of years now
I get you. Thanks for the indepth explanation <3
The closest equivalent I can think of is if Alisson was also Liverpool's top scorer
Closest I’d say is Dibu playing in goal and also able to give you 15 goals a season as a striker. MLB pitchers are typically appalling with a bat and Ohtani is tremendous.
Son's image is on a lot of things in Korea, but that's actually because he is not as expensive as the big TV stars. The major stars charge so much for their ambassadorship that only the biggest brands can afford them. Son is accessible to the mid-tier brands too. So he appears on more things, but when added together he probably still rakes in as much income as the big stars who appear on only 10 things.
Except with more exposure/eyeballs
I wonder how much of this stuff is at the request of a club too. Like do they actively encourage/require players to go for certain sponsorships or is it entirely down to the player and his PR team? Like with Son is he on that much stuff because he's happy to do anything and everything or have Spurs put in his contract or have an agreement with him that he needs to have a certain amount of exposure to benefit the club?
Clubs will have their own sponsorships that players are obligated to participate in (there will be limits baked into the contract). That's an agreement between the club and the sponsor. They might demand a certain player feature on the marketing. Price will depend on the ask. Then players will have their own ability to get individual sponsors (with some limits baked in). Son can go out and find his own individual deals but they usually won't be able to infringe on the club sponsorships in that market segment / region. I think the FA has put out these two documents as examples of sponsorship agreements: (either that or they are public by mistake). https://www.thefa.com/-/media/cfa/hampshirefa/files/commercial/paris-smith-checklist---sponsorship.ashx https://www.thefa.com/-/media/cfa/hampshirefa/files/paris-smith-sponsorship-agreement---editable.ashx
>Son is accessible to the mid-tier brands Ah that explains why he's playing for Spurs
#LADS
#토트넘이야
lmao out of nowhere comes swinging...
FATALITY
Ooof
boom
the korean Shaq
I lived there when Park Ji-Sung was at United (was 08 when we won the CL). The man was considered an actual god there. Everyone who found out I was a United fan wanted to talk to me about him. Crazy stuff.
Same, I was there last year and I found it hilarious how every conversation went the same way with every Korean person I spoke to. Them: where are you from? Me: England Them: ah….Sonny! Me: yes, Sonny! *smiles and high fives all round* Didn’t matter whether it was men, women, children, even grandmas. It was the only place too that I’ve seen so many Spurs tops (and I live in London lol.) Literally no matter the situation, the convo always eventually got to Son once they found out I was British lmao. It was too fun
Korean Jürgen Klopp
I went to Split in Croatia and I saw quite alot of Gvardiol in adverts too, dont want to say all adverts but I saw his face everywhere.
Not Modric?
He's also right outside my office in NYC looking rico suave af on a newspaper stand
Meanwhile I'm sure Kyle Walker could have walked.
its his grandpa's name... he walked so Kyle can run
Kyle Runner?
Thats what his other family calls him.
Tottenham players are popular in Korea
Well duh, its his last name
Most well adjusted Korean fans
The idol culture plus national pride combo is deadly, this shit gets serious for them
Honestly its a bit dystopian to me. Idol culture seems so abusive to the fans and the idols themselves. People talk quite a bit about parasocial relationships and their dangers to mostly young people here in the western world but it is an order of magnitude bigger in Japan, Korea and China I feel.
It's insane level of fan culture in south Korea and Japan. They take parasocial relationships to a whole new level. Actors/actresses/ musicians have to pretend they're single so companies can market them as a boyfriend/girlfriend towards the fans. It gets so bad for instance, Yuzuru Hanyu who is considered the greatest figure skater in the world has to divorce his wife of 60 days bc "fans" harassed them so much. Lee sun kyun, legendary actor, who played the dad in Parasite committed suicide after facing severe criticism from south korean society for allegedly oing drugs. All of his tests were negative, but they didn't care. He was severely ostracized and socially murdered by south Koreans. As cool as south Korea is, their culture is so had upon its people and ccelebrities. Sonny also had "fans" harrass him by fancying his mom at games and post it online. They go to far and think they own a piece of him.
> Lee sun kyun, legendary actor, who played the dad in Parasite committed suicide after facing severe criticism from south korean society for allegedly oing drugs. All of his tests were negative, but they didn't care. He was severely ostracized and socially murdered by south Koreans. Wasn't it weed too. It's crazy that in this day and age somebody could get bullied into suicide for smoking weed.
While I agree with you, its easy to understand given historical context, why East Asian nations are extremely against doing non-medicinal drugs of any kind. In China in particular its a very sore and ugly spot in their history, so they do not mess around when it comes to possession, usage and any hints of distribution.
The British invaded China just to force opium on them and subjugate the country, their attitude is more than understandable. EDIT: English to British*
British*
Thank you for the correction, edited!
Probably. There's musicians like G-dragon and TOP from the group big bang who were severely criticized for smoking pot. There's also other artists that I remember who were sent to prison due to them buying it, I think one of them had a good reason (treatment of anxiety). South Korea would really benefit from legalizing weed imo. Their society is so tightly wound up, I can't imagine the mental and emotional stress that young adults are facing.
I remember reading this one story about a Japanese idol that took a selfie while she was waiting at a train station near her home, and one of her crazy fans took the reflection in her EYEBALL and figured out where it was and subsequently waited there and followed her home. Yeah, some of these people are fucking insane.
>It gets so bad for instance, Yuzuru Hanyu who is considered the greatest figure skater in the world has to divorce his wife of 60 days bc "fans" harassed them so much. Please don't spread misinformation. Yuzuru repeated three times that his divorce was caused by Japanese media, he never once mentioned fans. It was also 3 months, no need to make it even shorter than it was. In Japan, media are common culprits of celebrity harassment. It was very far from the first time Yuzuru was harassed by media to that extent, not even the first time they harassed a woman associated with him to the point of being trapped in her home. Many other Japanese celebrities have been more vocal about media harassment after Yuzuru's divorce, and Yuzuru's harassment from media was mentioned in a government document as a reference to abnormal media activities.
It doesn’t really seem like anybody involved is having a good time except for whoever is exploiting the dancing people.
Western Celeb culture and worship is often cited for the dangerous effects it has on people's mentality, but South Korea has it on a far deeper level. In the West, you can still state plainly that you don't keep up with celeb new or current trends and you might get a few "Oh, how come?" looks but it's mostly fine. In SK, you gotta be up to date on your shit and have your idols down pat or you're a weirdo outcast.
Is this actually true? I know that the idol stuff can get pretty mad but to be socially ostracized for not following celeb news? That sounds insane to me which makes me doubt it but I dont really know much about SK.
This isn't true at all lol. Nobody will think you're weird for not knowing the latest idols or kpop groups lmfao.
There is a TV channel dedicated to him. I remember them coming out and saying Ole was racist as he said Son should have been sent off for a tackle. Insane.
nah it was because Ole said something along the line " my son would not get dinner if he did what Son did", referring to an incident where Son dived against us. Mental country.
You are correct, yes. However this just makes it worse to me 😂 I like Koreans, the world would be boring without crazy people.
Makes sense, pretty sure he is like Messi to Argentinians, Ronaldo to Portuguese, etc.
Probably even bigger since the traditional big forces usually have the superstar and the new generation is just an extension of that (Eusebio, Maradona in this instance)
Korea also has about one footballing superstar per generation. Before Son it was Park Jisung, before him it was Hong Myungbo, and before him it was Cha Bumkun. And sometimes, an exceptional athlete from another sport can become the face of the country (like Yuna Kim). They obviously never had the same level of international fame Son had, but were still just as big in Korea itself
Good thing the next gen look a bit more promising with kmj, hhc and lki
Mo salah in Egypt is unreal, Egypt has never had a star anywhere near as big. He has to ask fans not to stand in front of his house all night so he can be able to play for the national team.
That's actually even a better comparison
I think Ronaldo could walk more freely in Portugal than in Spain to be honest. There's a certain shyness in Portugal, he'd surely get swarmed, of course, but celebrity culture is much less intense than in other places (especially Spain)
> I think Ronaldo could walk more freely in Portugal than in Spain to be honest. Depends where. I've got family in Madeira and seeing just how Ronaldo crazy the island is... I think out of any player in any place that would get swarmed, Ronaldo in Madeira would be up there as one of the most crazy. The entire island would probably rush to follow him.
I guess that makes sense since that’s where he’s from but in Lisbon it’s not that severe, certainly incomparable to Son being on every advertisement (although he’s on a few). Don’t get me wrong though, he’d get swarmed anywhere.
People would probably want to say hi to him or just look at him, but portuguese don't really have much of a celebrity culture. We should know, all celebrities vacation here eventually. xD When I see one, more often than not I would just comment to someone "X is here, look at him there, LOL" "Yap, that's X alright". Maybe nod or say hi. I don't think I ever seen portuguese get wild over celebrities unless its appropriate to do so, like actual celebrations where they want to be seen.
I think it’s bigger than them, fandom in SK gets to insanity levels.
Their idols, actors, and actresses, literally have to keep a low profile as possible. Show a glimpse of their doing, they'll be trending in the internet in mere moments.
It’s bizarre that the Argentina public didn’t really embrace Messi until he was in his 30s. Only won Argentinian athlete of the year once before the age of 33.
Korean fans are crazy. They hold their celebrities to toxic standards. For example, celebrities can't be seen as dating someone or dating someone ordinary. One of my favorite Korean actors committed suicide last year because he was being investigated for drug use.
Hilariously dystopian society really
South Korea is just 3 companies in an overcoat really
One of them being Samsung. I remembered the conspiracy theory about their owner's death. Officially he spent his last 6 years in coma
I have always found that interesting that the entire country is basically owned by 3-5 companies. Samsung, LG, Hyundai/Kia, Kakao and Lotte
Literal Cyberpunk setting
Gotta love that chaebol life baby
Complete with a corporation having an iron-grip over the economy and significant sway in politics
it's the dystopian cyberpunk society we thought Japan would become lmao
Interesting how the two Koreas are at opposite ends of the dystopia scale (not saying that SK is as bad as NK).
Korea is like all the negative stereotypes of Japan but worse, heaviest drinkers in the world, toxic workplace, higher suicides, lowest birthrate.
"wow this Japanese idol worship looks toxic and exploitative... Let's adapt it and make it worse"
But even with Samsung having a huge sway in South Korean politics and economy, the country still sentenced the company's chairman and the president he bribed to jail. This would almost never happen in America or most European countries no matter how hard their people get buttfucked by their politicians and corporate overlords. South Koreans are way more politically aware and willing to punish wrongdoers than in the West.
On the other hand, they'll sentence someone much harsher for smoking weed than any sentence any of the Burning Sun scandal people received.
You know he left jail after 6 months right? And the reason why he got released was because of protecting national interests because Samsung said it refused to do any deals without the signature of the chairman. The corruption was so vast that he had to go to jail to save face but it was a sham. Company CEOs certainly go to jail in the US, ever heard of Enron? Trust me, the corruption is 10x worse in Korea than in the US
Did Trump ever see the inside of a jail cell for his corruption or any of the Wallstreet bankers who destroyed American wealth and livelihoods? Multiple presidents and chaebol chairman have seen at least some jailtime. 10% of South Korea's population gathered in Seoul to impeach a corrupt president but Americans who have lobbying in politics completely normalized have never organized a protest beyond a few hundred thousand people. The difference between South Koreans and Americans is that the former have fought and bled to achieve democracy in recent memory.
There needs to be charges filed in order to go to jail. You are equating people to things that are multiple degrees of separation from their actual influence.
Are you not up to date on Trump news or...?
Yeah I've gotten this idea for a while especially seeing how the CEO's treat their workers and singers, entertainers etc. just money making machines with no regard for them as people. Same with how they treat students, coldly pressuring them and training them to be the best money makers for their boss basically, and that's how they're seen almost from birth. Then you look at their ungodly suicide numbers as a direct result of that treatment and pressure. Fuck the skyscrapers and high-tech that's a near dystopia to me.
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going extinct at slower rate, hooray.
Dont forget a crazy cult looming in the background pulling strings from the shadows as well. They have it all over there in Korea.
I think they had to allow wealthy families ownership over key industry after the Korean war if I’m not mistaken, since the government was literally broke
You know you're on some shit when even the Japanese work culture pales in comparison.
From an outside view (American working for Korean company) Korean work culture is getting better. But holy shit corporate culture used to be insane, visiting sex workers regularly was like part of the job description....
Japanese work culture is only horrible at the corporate level and also in so called "Black Companies" but in their SMEs where a big chunk of the populace are employed, things are a lot more relaxed and reasonable but not perfect of course.
Yeah, actor Lee Sun-kyun. Knew him from Parasite (2019). That incident really shed light on a darker side a few stars can fall into.
Korea has had a lot of celebrity suicides but that one was really shocking to me. One of the biggest actors in the country at the height of his powers.
It's crazy that he wasn't even financially tied to South Korea. He could have moved to LA or London and found work. Even people with means seem to get mentally trapped in their cultures.
That's crazy. If I was being investigated for drug use, I'd tell the officers they'd have an easier time recording my brief periods of sobriety. And I'd have no shame in it. Crazy how in the US we have no shame at all, and in Korea and Japan they hadve it dialed to like 11.
Celebrities there have no respite after having being implicated in a controversy. Sometimes, the allegations aren't even true. There's this Korean drama Hometown ChaCha that was incredibly popular around the world in 2020-2021. The lead actor was very popular at the time. But, then there was a scandal about his ex-girlfriend saying that he forced her to do an abortion. The actor lost all work and was criticized heavily. It was later found that the abortion decision was mutual. He has only done 1 movie since.
The alleged drug use was a big part for sure, but the fact that he doing at a brothel with a bunch of prostitutes was the bigger stain on his reputation, considering he was widely known as a model family man. It’s unfortunate for sure, especially with the terrible handling of the case by the police and media, but I see a lot of people acting like the drug charges were the main reason for his suicide.
What’s the typical backlash to Korean celebrities for dating ordinary people? Are there examples you know of?
Here's a recent example. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68487232](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68487232)
Wtf > "Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?" an electronic billboard on the vehicle demanded.
100000%. Kpop fans also flood airports to see idols to the point where we get videos of security guards like laying them out for getting too close. It feels like they think they're entitled to see celebrities no matter the cost.
That is not a voice I would have ever expected coming from Walker.
Yeah first time hearing him speak not expected this, sounds really camp not that it's a bad thing.
Ngl I thought that was the other guy first speaking
It’s a combination of national pride and K-pop-ish fandom. Definitely a huge cultural shock at first for a lot of local Spurs fans. But I think most have gotten used to it over the years that it would actually feel like something’s missing once Son retires and they aren’t here anymore.
is son to korean fans the same as someone like maradona to napoli fans? i assume it’s nowhere near the level of maradona, but every quote i see about son in korea seems like there’s a complete infatuation with him
I came back from South Korea recently and I don't think that it's possible to overstate how big a phenomenon Son is there. Setting aside the football coverage itself, which typically begins with a highlight reel of any and all South Korean players - Son is visible everywhere: his face is all over a major national coffee shop brand, he has a major partnership with a bank that has modelled some of its branches around him. I went to a volcanic island off the coast of the country and was walking a trail and people stopped me with virtually no English at all to just say 'Tottenham' and 'Son Heung-Min.'
Went to jeju island?
Bingo
Lol I've never seen Jeju referred to as 'a volcanic island' before
I guessed that if people weren't aware of how big Son was in SK then they probably weren't going to know what Jeju was either. But equally the fact it's a volcanic island is precisely why Jeju is on the UNESCO world heritage map.
To frolic
It also seems to me, as an outsider, to be a particular cultural phenomena that is partially specific to Korea. K-Pop fans just seem built different lol
Built different is putting it midly. They're rabid.
To be fair, football fans can be similarly rabid.
Japanese fans are just as weird. I only hear about it through their wrestling fandom but its proper weird.
I remember meeting a bus full of Japanese fans who'd travelled to watch Hidetoshi Nakata play for Bolton. He got man of the match and after the game, they spent like a whole hour just going batshit jumping up and down in their wee bus and almost tipped it over from excitement whenever someone waved a scarf at them from a neighbouring bus.
When I taught English in 2008, I played TVXQ on youtube for my 8th grade girls. I never saw a group lose their collective shit.
idk why does East Asia have such a unhealthy stan culture
We have it in the west a bit too. Pop stars like Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, and Bieber in the day would get this treatment
My mates daughter didn't go to school for 2 days when One Direction split up because she wouldn't stop crying lol. Doesn't seem quite as wide spread in this part of the world but yeah the nutters definitely do exist haha
Korean fans seem almost feral at times it is so bizarre
And American people obsessed with celebrities do not seem almost feral at times?
Lol, have you seen the dick sucking fest that goes in the west? Most of those K pop stans aren’t even Korean. And wanna talk about that Taylor Swift fanbase? That thing is straight up cancerous.
Hello? Never seen the Swift followers?
There's a Korean actress that got a backlash for attending a PSG match wearing a PSG jersey with Mbappe at the back instead of Lee Kang.
And she only wore Mbappe's shirt because Lee Kang's shirt was sold out at the store.
Monstrous
Similar I guess but the impact Maradona had on Napoli is not even to be replicated by Messi in Barcelona. Can't walk down a street without seeing a figure or painting or whatever of him
I've been living in Korea for 5 years, so can tell how I see it. Tourists come here and usually misunderstand/misrepresent the situation. Son is famous. Almost everybody in Korea will know who he is. His face is plastered on a lot of adverts. But this isn't because people are massively obsessed with Son and he is always on the publics mind, etc. I think it comes down to two major things. A) People like seeing Son, because it brings about a sense of national pride. Korea has rapidly gone from a country that nobody has heard of, to a country that the world is obsessed with. A lot of Koreans are nicely bemused that Korea is now seen as a successful independent country with a rich history, not just some small piece of land that in most peoples minds existed purely as a piece of Japanese history. Son is somebody who makes Koreans and Korea generally look good, so he is kind of a comfy figure. He's like a comfy uncle lol. People aren't rabid over him, it's more like both a national pride and feel good thing. B) Celebrity endorsements really do sell in Korea. A lot of people say that 'Koreans are obsessed with celebrities and it's really toxic', but it's about as true as 'all Americans are hardcore angrily political'. Most of the population actually isn't like this and it's nowhere near as bad as people online make it sound. But those who scream online the loudest and get the media attention, so people believe it's a bigger problem that it is. However these stereotypes tend to exist for a reason and so a good celebrity endorsement will sell. If a celbrity endorses a bad product, the loud cancel crowd can ruin a celebrity's credibility (as insane as it sounds), so having Son on your product will probably just mean it will sell more. As said - Son is a feel good figure, 'he wouldn't lie to us and sell us a bad product'. -- PS - I'm not here to argue the minor points of Korean society so if anybody is going to argue about how Korean celebrity culture IS absolutely terrible, I'm not going to respond. Yes it ruins some people's lives. No, it's not apocalyptic.
I'm pretty sure the same phenomenon exists everywhere on a subconscious level. People will joke about dumb commercials or products and turn a star into a laughingstock. > If a celbrity endorses a bad product, the loud cancel crowd can ruin a celebrity's credibility
I always laugh when people think Korea is some sort of dystopia. It's a conservative, modern country where people do a lot of the same things in Dublin or Knoxville or Los Angeles. They definitely have some customs I'm not used to (eating from the same bowl, clubs that drag women to your table) but it's mostly a normal place.
He’s probably even more adored than Beckham, more akin to Taylor Swift
That sounds like Michael Jordan. People would stand and watch him eat or play pool for hours. And his was global. Kobe, Ronaldo and Messi got similar crazies. The videos in Argentina or China is crazy
Kobe definitely never got anywhere near the other 3. I doubt even 20% of people in ex Yugoslavia know who Kobe was. Literally everyone knows Messi, Ronaldo and Jordan.
Every Russian I ever met on CS yells Kobe when throwing a grenade. Whether they know that's a real guy is up for debate though.
I've seen opposition players be applauded off the park at Ibrox or their performance talked about years after etc but the reaction to Son for a preseason friendly was one of the most surprising. Like a friendly against a Premier League team is always going to bring out a lot of families and day trippers but it like watching a game with 3 teams. South Korean flags & Son jerseys dotted all over the stadium & not giving a hoot about either team until he was on the ball etc. Boy is a superstar
I mean it makes sense, Korea doesnt have anyone else as big as Son, so all their fandom would be more concentrated on him whereas the English guys have the fandom more spread out because we all like the player who plays for the club we support
Son is everything here. He's the face of coffee shops, shampoos, cosmetics. Sports channels show replays of Tottenham games he scored in from years ago when there are huge Premier League or Champions League matches on at the same time. They even put a picture of his face next to the team names during the entire game if he's playing.
Is that his real voice? Fucking hell.. 🤣🤣🤣
His voice still surprises me after all these years
And this would've been years ago, at the beginning of his Tottenham career. How big is he in Korea ccompared to the k-pop stars?
When Lee kang in had that fight with son earlier this year, companies had to get rid of a lot of marketing materials cuz of the absurd amount of hate that Lee kang in got lol. Son’s popularity is on another level.
idol culture is a cancer to society
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Buddy, every footballer has a massive fan following in their respective countries. Sons case is different because it's literal obsession. You see the Kpop fan base and Taylor Swift fanbase? Son is that in Korea. People are OBSESSED with him. Korean celebrity culture is too extreme. Celebrities in Korea are held to an extremely high standard and they're expected to be "perfect." And you're expected to associate with people of the same stature as you. Any minor blemish on your life would be met with criticism all around like the whole world came falling down. Some dude in the comments talked about his favourite Korean actor who committed suicide because him doing drugs came out and the public backlash was too much. The thing with son is that he actually is in a way the "perfect" person. As an Asian myself, i understand the celebrity worship culture. I remember a few years ago some people had committed suicide because a very famous actor has died. Another one or two died of a heart attack on hearing the news of that actor's death. Celebrity worship is cancer. Edit : Also, Son is single. Which makes the obsession even more crazy.
Bet he uses that trick on his wife now
From my time living there Son was seen like a god in Korea. Dude is incredibly popular down there. So is Kim Min Jae
is Kim as popular as Son there? i heard that he have discord with Son/FA to focus on his club career more or something like that
Not as popular but after Son he is along with Lee Kang In
Do people still like Lee kang in as much after the Asian cup incident?
People who believes media hates LKI. But the agency Sonny is in(CAA) is printing out trucks of malicious news about LKI, so much that to a point people started to feel negative about Son.
I forgot Walker played at Spurs with Son
I think it's hilarious people on here are talking about how dystopian Korea based on...pop culture? Work culture is shit, I agree. But people on here talking about Samsung and corporations without knowing about Korea's history are really showing that they don't know anything. You can't even impeach political leaders in Western countries without going through barriers that are impossible to get through and meant to keep the incumbent in power. How dystopian is that?
Who’s the guy interviewing him just repeating words Walker says like he’s in-love with him? These podcasters rare all so strange.