Off key and out of a job

[NetShrine]

From Baseball Weekly:

A minor league team fired its sound-effects operator when he ignored warnings and played Kung Fu Fighting to try to upset a South Korean batter for a visiting club.

The Triple-A Nashville Sounds fired Brian Kirsch last week after Iowa Cubs general manager Sam Bernabe called the front office and complained. Kirsch previously had played David Bowie's China Girl before another of Hee Seop Choi's at-bats earlier in the same weekend series.

Kirsch, who had been warned by fellow employees about going too far, was in his first year with the Sounds.

"I don't know that that was any more offensive to him than anything else I've played for any of the other guys," Kirsch told The Tennessean. "My wife is from Thailand. My job was to push the envelope, unbalance the other team and entertain the crowd. I don't regret anything I did."

[Duque]

Baseball Darwinism - this guy was going to get canned sooner or later.

I think Kung Fu Fighting would be a better song for Izzy Alcantara, though.

[NetShrine]

Isn't there a song "I get a kick out of you"? Izzy stuff for sure.

Back to Brian Kirsch -
at least he didn't go for the Vapors' "Turning Japanese" or any music off the soundtrack of Apocalypse Now.

[mainsr]

Two non-PC reasons to can the guy:

1. He actually played "Kung Fu Fighting," possibly the worst pop song this side of "Do You Like Pina Coladas."

2. "Kung Fu Fighting" is a song about funky Chinamen from funky Chinatown, not funky South Koreans from funky Chun-Nam. Had he played "Seoul Man," at least he'd be in the right country.

Completely unwanted Mark Grace comment:
Choi since being reactivated by Iowa at the start of August:
56 AB
7 R
16 H
1 2B
0 3B
3 HR
13 RBI
.286 BA
.464 SLG
Who did I get into the Great Grace Debate with - jpalexa, I think - about the relative merits of Hee Seop Choi? (I'd look it up, but I don't want to find all my embarassing quotes, especially since I'm sure Net will do it for me.) I suppose I need to concede for this season.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by mainsr
Who did I get into the Great Grace Debate with - jpalexa, I think - about the relative merits of Hee Seop Choi? (I'd look it up, but I don't want to find all my embarassing quotes, especially since I'm sure Net will do it for me.)

Would I do that ?

[ChrisCary]

You ask me, I think it was pretty funny.

[NetShrine]

I wonder, if the guy playing the song was Asian too, would he have gotten fired? A double standard perhaps?

[mainsr]

Hey, sorry I didn't pick up on this the first time:

A minor league team fired its sound-effects operator when he ignored warnings and played Kung Fu Fighting to try to upset a South Korean batter for a visiting club.

What are the odds that Hee Seop Choi ever heard the song Kung Fu Fighting? It was long-gone from the pop charts before he was born! Playing "Three Blind Mice" when the umpires hold a conference, or the various songs played when the opposing team calls for a reliever (the "Goodbye" song is the best, of course), or if somebody played "Torn Between Two Lovers" when Al Martin came to the plate or "Cocaine" when Darryl Strawberry did, THAT would be upsetting. But Hee Seop Choi has been in this country for just 3 years, I think. Can't imagine him reacting one way or the other to this.

[NetShrine]

I think Choi made the connection as to what was going on. The common lament of most Asians in the US is being mis-labeled. "I'm not Chinese, I'm Japanese!" Ever hear something like that? As such, I think anything with an "Asian" theme would register with them as being "towards me."

This mis-label thing is Number One. Being called "Oriental" over "Asian" is Number Two. I still hear people use this ALL THE TIME. And, I always correct them with "Oriental is a term to describe rugs and vases. The person you're talking about is Asian!"