I've read a couple of articles lately that have wondered if the ongoing match-fixing scandal has a connection to two of the more embarrassing moments of Taiwan's baseball history, the national team losses to China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Unfortunately these same articles recognize that, despite the months of investigations (and mountains of paperwork that have resulted from them), there doesn't appear to be any evidence to support this theory.
I guess I'm a little disappointed by this.
It would be so much easier to take if China's victories were dirty, achieved through bribery or other nefarious means. It's not hard to believe that China would stop at nothing make make Taiwan look bad, especially at such an important event like the Olympics. We already know that there are a few ball players on this side of the strait who can definitely be bought off. It's an easy conspiracy to believe.
If the theory was true, then Taiwan would have a handy scapegoat. The results can be blamed on a few crooked players who are criminals and traitors to their country. Clearly China's victories would be tainted, and local baseball fans could believe that their team is still superior to that from the mainland.
Yet there is no evidence that this is the case.
Unless some kind of proof appears to the contrary, then it seems that the Chinese won because they were the better team that day in 2008. And again in 2009.
That's a bitter pill to swallow.
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