From the Korea Times’ Moon Gwang-lip (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
San Diego Padres pitcher Park Chan-ho made headlines here Monday, not for his performance in the Major League, but for his reaction to a fan™s criticism.
Major portal sites in the country were flooded with short comments about the 32-year-old pitcher after they carried the story, titled “Park Has War of Words With a Fan.™™
Things began on Sunday, when a Korean man who revealed his full name, left a message on the pitchers™ official homepage (www.chanho park61.com), in almost threatening tones, demanding better performances from Park (above). He called on Park to have a new mindset and to get out of the slump of the past few years, saying, “Don™t even think of coming back to Korea, if you fail to recover the pride of Korean baseball this season.™™
He also blamed other fans, especially female ones, for posting messages which he claimed have distracted the pitcher by asking too much about his personal life. The man kept on insisting Park should ignore such messages and focus on training.
He went on to ask Park to have his hair cut, recalling Park had performed well with short hair.
The pitcher, who rarely reacts to critics, was quick this time to respond, leaving a message saying such criticism went too far.
Park vented his anger. “Do you mean that I won™t be permitted to return home even when I get too old to play baseball?™™ he asked.
Park refuted the request for short hair by saying, “If I have good results with long hair, will you advise me to have longer hair next time?™™
When will someone take the time to let Curt Schilling know (via the Sons Of Sam Horn) that he too, is no longer welcome in Korea unless he refocuses and gets a haircut?