Olympic Baseball’s Two-Week Wake

As the end nears, there isn’t much joy at Wukesong Baseball Field. In the early rounds the atmosphere was sepulchral. One game, between South Korea and China, pulled in fewer than 1,000 fans. On Tuesday, about 6,000 showed up to watch the team from the place usually known as Taiwan (Chinese Taipei here) play the U.S. Paying customers were stuck in the outfield. Infield seats were reserved for the press and the “Olympic Family,” both in near-complete non-attendance.

The loudspeakers were loud enough, emitting the same seat-banging sound effects inescapable at U.S. ballparks. A blessing of baseball at past Olympics has been a commercial-free calm. But when the sound effects stop at Wukesong, the stands are sometimes struck dumb.