Many sports have “home field advantage,” a coveted privilege to have your fans cheering you on and jeering the opponents. Jerry Rice, a Hall of Fame football player, once stated that the fans pushed him to “go out and play [his] best football each and every game.” An average baseball team is 53.9% more likely to win at home. This may not seem like a lot, but considering the team that finished the regular season with a 54.3% winning percentage, the San Francisco Giants, won the World Series, the home field advantage cannot be ignored. Like George Bernard Shaw said, “there is no reason why the field should not try to put the batsman off his stroke at the critical moment by neatly timed disparagements of his wife’s fidelity and his mother’s respectability.”

The fans are the base of any team. Without the supporters, Major League Baseball cannot exist. After all, this is business, and their in it to make money. If no one would come and cheer for a or team, it is destined to fail.

However, do the clubs see, the fan, you as the loving, caring brother that is part of the organization, or as a walking wallet?

It would not be fair to say that the teams do not care about their fans. Nevertheless, their prime goal is to make money, and you are the consumer that throws money into the endless pit that is sports. Costs of players’ jerseys vary anywhere from $79 to a whopping $300. To buy regular clothing made of the same material as they use in MLB jerseys, it will costs you ….. $1.68. It would be cheaper to hire your own designer and let him make a jersey for you. A hot dog, you know, bread with a piece of low-quality meat slapped on it, in the ballparks will costs you around $4.30. Go to your local market? You can get ten dogs for around three dollars, and a bag of the buns will costs you maybe a dollar. It’s close to highway robbery at this point. Why is it so expensive? Because the teams need to earn revenue, that’s why. If they care so much about the fans, any of the things I’ve mentioned would and should not cost you an arm, a leg, a moon rock, and a Porsche.

For a team like Kansas City, a relatively unknown, small-market team, reaching the playoffs, let alone the World Series, is an enormous marketing opportunity and they seized it like Joe Carter did against Mitch Williams. They made headlines in a historic playoff run as they reached the promise land sweeping through their opponents, garnering national attention.

Then a golden opportunity came rolling along: SungWoo Lee.

Sung Woo Lee, now affectionately known as a Royals Super Fan, had been a hot trend during this postseason. From the opposite side of the globe in Korea, Lee became an avid fan the first time he visited the United States twenty years ago and watched his first MLB game in Kauffman Stadium. While he claims that he started following the major leagues in order to improve his English, he instantly fell in love with the eye-popping scene of the home of the Royals. Also, being a passionate underdog fan, the small marketed team like Kansas City was an ideal fit.

He rose to relevance in the Royals community via his vehement activities in blogs, sites, and, especially, Twitter. His infectious enthusiasm and love for the team soon became well known in the team community. Even when they had sub-.500 record for eight years from 1995-2002, even when they had the lowest attendance ever nine years ago since 1975, even when they lost 100 games and Mark Teahen, yes, Mark Teahen, was their best player in 2006, his continuous, immortal support all the way from Korea and for this struggling underdog was admirable.

This mysterious fan from halfway across the world was invited by the local Kansas City fanbase to recapture the magical moment he had experienced the only time he ever visited, and the team, aware of his reputation in the fanbase, jumped all over this marketing opportunity. He was presented the opportunity to throw out the first pitch, meet the players, talk to the media, and showed us what real happiness looks like after the Royals won. He was interviewed during the game, met the likes of George Brett, and even had a breakfast with Billy Butler, the Country Breakfast himself.

The Sung Woo Lee effect was tremendous. HIs fame rose to national levels and everywhere he was, so were the media and the fans. Constant expose to the public was only doing the Royals good, as the childlike joy he brought was extremely contagious.

So another question rises into the mix. Why did he receive such a royal treatment (pun intended)? Was it in order to let the fans know that “hey, guess what? We do care about you guys! We love you and we don’t see you as walking wallets that would feed us cash”? Or was it another scheme from the corporation for publicity and advertisement, jumping on a golden opportunity while putting on a mask saying that they care about their fans?

Of course the Royals are going to say that they do care about the fans. If they said their main goal was more media exposure and good publicity, wouldn’t that seem selfish in the eyes of innocent fans? To be the first team to become a scapegoat and admit its evil intentions would be foolish.

So is sport just a way for bunch of tycoons and celebrities grab money from the general population like it’s highway robbery? Yes. Are people still going to throw their money into the endless pit? Yes. Have I exhausted this question-and-answer method to the point that it seems like I’m doing it to fill unnecessary space? Maybe.

Sports will always be business, whether the purest fans would want it or not. Without its business aspect, it simply wouldn’t exist.

However, it fills the passion we need as the fans and gives us a source of joy, disappointment, surprise, hope, and all that good stuff. It gives us what we crave and scratch just where it needs to be scratched.

Baseball, or any sports for that matter, brings joy to the people. Don’t focus too much on the business and economics and marketing. The whole purpose of the games is for you to enjoy and come back for more. So why not take the advantage and dive in? Be that fan that screams at the television, knowing that they can’t hear you. Be that fan that comes to the ballpark with crazy signs and costume and blocks everyone’s view. Be that fan that goes to the World Series game with the Marlins gear on. You have to enjoy the game and have a little kid in yourself to keep you sane. Sung Woo Lee may be a marketing tool, and he may be a devoted fan. Either way, he certainly took advantage and enjoyed his Kansas City fame.