Saturday, August 18, 2007

New UN logo, Baseball victory

As we wait for typhoon Sepat to make landfall today, I thought I post Taiwan's new UN logo. It's obviously aimed at domestic consumption, for the image of a world gripped by a baseball pitcher is supposed to call to mind local hero Wang Chien-ming, now a pitcher for the New York Yankees (as my friend Kevin F. pointed out the other night, everyone hates the Yankees in the US).

Meanwhile, speaking of baseball at the international level, some of you may recall the flap last week that united politicians from both the Green and Blue sides of the fence to condemn Venezuela for refusing to issue visas to Taiwan's youth baseball players scheduled to play in an international tournament there. Taiwan complained, and instead of bland rejection, the International Baseball Federation canceled the tournament. The Taipei Times reports:

The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) yesterday officially issued letters to member nations canceling the World Youth Baseball Championship that had been scheduled to begin in Venezuela tomorrow.

The IBAF move comes after Venezuelan authorities refused to issue visas to members of Taiwan's youth baseball teams.

Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CPBA) secretary-general Lin Tsung-cheng (林宗成) said yesterday afternoon that the Venezuelan decision had seriously violated the principles of the International Olympic Committee as well as IBAF regulations.

The CPBA had lodged a complaint with the IBAF after Venezuela refused to issue visas to the Taiwanese players.

Lin said that the IBAF issued official notices to all its member nations as well as to its executive committee and staff at 9pm yesterday Taiwan time, calling off the 2007 World Youth Baseball Championship.

The IBAF also ordered staff members to return to their respective countries as soon as possible upon receiving the notice. Issues regarding punishment will be discussed during an executive committee meeting scheduled for Saturday in Frankfurt, Germany.

Lin said that after the association had received the notice, CPBA chairman Huang Wen-chung (黃文忠) immediately replied to the IBAF, expressing gratitude for its impartiality and stating that there would not be any problems regarding the issuing of visas for the upcoming Baseball World Cup and Asian Baseball Championship to be held in Taiwan in November.

It's sad that all those kids lost their chance to play, but I'm glad that someone international acted on our behalf.

3 comments:

Jason said...

I point to the wiki for the "Sinker" (aka, the junk ball), with no sense of irony whatsoever:

"In baseball, a sinker is a type of fastball pitch similar to the two-seam fastball which has significant downward movement. The sinker is known for inducing a lot of ground balls.[1] Pitchers who use the sinker tend to rely on it heavily and do not need to change pitch speeds as much as other pitchers do because the sinking action induces weak bat contact.

Anonymous said...

"as my friend Kevin F. pointed out the other night, everyone hates the Yankees in the US"

Your friend Kevin must be from Boston.

The Yankees are the most popular team in baseball. That's the reason that they are the richest team in the league - people buy more Yankees swag than any other team, both domestically and abroad.

Anonymous said...

I would guess that because of the location of UN headquarter, this logo is not entirely a bad call to appeal the favorite feeling of most New Yorkers. Compared to the illegal parking problems in New York caused by UN diplomatists, I would bet most New Yorkers would side with a baseball figure or even Yankees.

Come to think of it, this log bears no indication of Wang or Yankees. It is trying to pitch a baseball, which is one of the most popular sports in Taiwan and USA. At least it is a good ice breaker and a good common topics of conversation between people of Taiwan and USA, even for people who hate Yankees.