saturday wasn't anything special. in fact, a lot of things didn't work out as planned. to describe it - was a mix of ice cubes "it was a good day" music video and ethan hawke's 'before sunset' movie. walked around, ate, shopped, stood outside the james blunt concert (waiting for tickets to arrive after it ended) and talked a whole whole lot.
Chien-Ming Wang Has A Secret
interesting excerpt...By the time Wang returned home after the 2006 season, in which he went
19-6 with a 3.63 ERA and finished second in American League Cy Young
voting, he was more popular than the president. "There's no question
that he has more impact than anyone else in our country," says Shao.
"The way we look at it, a president is in office for no more than eight
years, then someone else comes along. Wang, he's everlasting."
Now
Taiwan's major newspapers charge a higher advertising rate for issues
published on a day that Wang pitches, as well as the day after each
start. The country's largest circulation daily, Apple Daily,
estimates that it sells as many as 300,000 extra papers on days that
carry reports of another Wang victory. Endorsements that have come
Wang's way include McDonald's, Ford, E Sun Bank (one of the largest in
Taiwan) and computer-maker Acer, which claims that Wang's name alone
has increased its product sales by 10% and lowered the average age of
its consumer by almost four years.
A lagging economy, political scandal (the president's wife, Wu Shu-Chen, and three aides were charged with embezzlement, while former Vice Interior Minister Yen Wan-Ching
was recently convicted in a bribery case) and escalating tensions with
China have made this a nervous time for the Taiwanese people. "Wang,
he's our only consensus," says Shao. Referring to the government's
combative legislative branch, which is renowned for in-chamber brawling
among lawmakers, Shao says, "When our congressmen are debating, they'll
stop their fighting, watch Wang pitch, then go back to fighting when
the inning is over."
Last year a study in a Taiwanese business journal, Money Weekly, found
a correlation between Wang's pitching performances and the fluctuations
of the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The report attributed a 25% index rise
last summer to Wang's strong June and July. "We absolutely believe it
to be true," Shao says of the relationship between Wang's performance
and last summer's bull market. "Psychologically, how [Wang] does has a
huge effect on the Taiwanese people. If he does well, people are in a
good mood, and they go out and spend money. If he doesn't, you walk
around and you can see people depressed. It's a very personal matter to
the Taiwanese people." (For the record, the country's stock index was
up roughly 6%, through Monday, since Wang's first start this season, on
April 1.)
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