Kim Yu-na Ranked Most Marketable Korean Athlete

Robeye · Aug 16, 2013

sky_fly20 said:
Yuna is the most celebrated athlete in Korea :yes:

Although, ya know, Hyun-Jin Ryu is now 12-3 as a starting pitcher for the playoff-bound Dodgers. If the Dodgers win the World Series (and there's a lot of buzz around them right now), Yuna could be in for some real competition

........(um, please, no one flame me for talking about a non-skater :laugh:

).

sky_fly20 · Aug 16, 2013

Robeye said:
Although, ya know, Hyun-Jin Ryu is now 12-3 as a starting pitcher for the playoff-bound Dodgers. If the Dodgers win the World Series (and there's a lot of buzz around them right now), Yuna could be in for some real competition ........(um, please, no one flame me for talking about a non-skater ).

I know baseball is huge in Korea
but is he marketable as Yuna is ?

Robeye · Aug 16, 2013

sky_fly20 said:
I know baseball is huge in Korea
but is he marketable as Yuna is ?

Well, let's just say that he's not exactly your conventionally handsome guy a la David Beckham or Tom Brady :biggrin:

. He's 6' 2" and 255 lbs (188 cms and 116 kgs), although I bet he weighs a bit more when he's not taking his official physical

. Basically, he looks like a friendly bear (with the small bear's ears on the sides of his big head). Except when he's on the pitcher's mound, when he can then look like a grizzly eyeing a nice salmon swimming by.

He's also got a very friendly personality.

I personally think he could become huge (he's already quite popular in Korea, because of his heroics in helping Korea win baseball Gold at the Olympics, so he's an OGM as well), but a lot depends, IMO, on how his current season plays out.

Olympia · Aug 16, 2013

Robeye said:
Well, let's just say that he's not exactly your conventionally handsome guy a la David Beckham or Tom Brady . He's 6' 2" and 255 lbs (188 cms and 116 kgs), although I bet he weighs a bit more when he's not taking his official physical . Basically, he looks like a friendly bear (with the small bear's ears on the sides of his big head). Except when he's on the pitcher's mound, when he can then look like a grizzly eyeing a nice salmon swimming by.

He's also got a very friendly personality.

I personally think he could become huge (he's already quite popular in Korea, because of his heroics in helping Korea win baseball Gold at the Olympics, so he's an OGM as well), but a lot depends, IMO, on how his current season plays out.

He sounds great! I'm so excited about the Dodgers this year. Fingers crossed!

thinspread · Aug 16, 2013

Robeye said:
Well, let's just say that he's not exactly your conventionally handsome guy a la David Beckham or Tom Brady . He's 6' 2" and 255 lbs (188 cms and 116 kgs), although I bet he weighs a bit more when he's not taking his official physical . Basically, he looks like a friendly bear (with the small bear's ears on the sides of his big head). Except when he's on the pitcher's mound, when he can then look like a grizzly eyeing a nice salmon swimming by.

He's also got a very friendly personality.

I personally think he could become huge (he's already quite popular in Korea, because of his heroics in helping Korea win baseball Gold at the Olympics, so he's an OGM as well), but a lot depends, IMO, on how his current season plays out.

The Dodgers are on an amazing run! My dream matchup for the Fall Classic: LA vs Det with any of the two winning in Game 7 at home with a walk-off. Sorry about deviating from the topic :biggrin:

Olympia · Aug 16, 2013

Who's deviating? We're just widening the margins a bit.

Since we're talking about it, I just watched the wonderful movie 42, about Jackie Robinson's first year in the major leagues. For those of you not from baseball countries, in 1947 Jackie Robinson was the first black player to be brought into the major leagues of baseball. It was a huge moment. For many people, it sounded the opening chord of the civil rights movement. Anyway, the visionary man who decided it was time to integrate baseball was Branch Rickey, the chief executive of the Dodgers, then located in Brooklyn in New York City. So right now I'm feeling a special warmth for the Dodgers. Go, Dodgers!

Back to YuNa.

Go, YuNa!

aftertherain · Aug 16, 2013

Yuna has made it onto the Forbes Highest-Paid Female Athletes for the fourth year in a row.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbad...t-of-the-worlds-highest-paid-female-athletes/

thinspread · Aug 16, 2013

Olympia said:
Who's deviating? We're just widening the margins a bit.

Since we're talking about it, I just watched the wonderful movie 42, about Jackie Robinson's first year in the major leagues. For those of you not from baseball countries, in 1947 Jackie Robinson was the first black player to be brought into the major leagues of baseball. It was a huge moment. For many people, it sounded the opening chord of the civil rights movement. Anyway, the visionary man who decided it was time to integrate baseball was Branch Rickey, the chief executive of the Dodgers, then located in Brooklyn in New York City. So right now I'm feeling a special warmth for the Dodgers. Go, Dodgers!

Back to YuNa.

Go, YuNa!

Yes! 42 was a very moving film. One of the greatest moments in the sport, the Brooklyn Dodgers captain Pee Wee Reese approaching Robinson to support his historic appearance at the mlb game, silencing the crowd momentarily. Number 42, the number retired in all mlb ball parks and only worn on April 15 by all mlb players.

aftertherain said:
Yuna has made it onto the Forbes Highest-Paid Female Athletes for the fourth year in a row.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbad...t-of-the-worlds-highest-paid-female-athletes/

Cool! No surprise 7 of the top 10 are tennis players. Good to have a figure skating representative in the top ten, when the players in the big spectator sports like soccer, basketball or volleyball didn't make the list. A bit surprised to see only one golfer in the top ten, given the decent popularity of golf in all of NA, East Asia and Europe. What would be the reason for the huge disparity in prize money between PGA and LPGA, when there's no such gender gap in tennis?

Robeye · Aug 17, 2013

thinspread said:
The Dodgers are on an amazing run! My dream matchup for the Fall Classic: LA vs Det with any of the two winning in Game 7 at home with a walk-off. Sorry about deviating from the topic

I'm a life-long Red Sox fan (my home team). I want a Sox-Dodgers matchup, but with Boston finally prevailing in 7 in a epic series, preferably ending at Fenway :yes:.

lcd · Aug 17, 2013

This has probably been mentioned before, but beyond the obvious - her looks and accomplishments, her strong English language skills have a LOT to do with helping to push her marketability on a global basis.

Olympia · Aug 17, 2013

thinspread said:
Yes! 42 was a very moving film. One of the greatest moments in the sport, the Brooklyn Dodgers captain Pee Wee Reese approaching Robinson to support his historic appearance at the mlb game, silencing the crowd momentarily. Number 42, the number retired in all mlb ball parks and only worn on April 15 by all mlb players.

Cool! No surprise 7 of the top 10 are tennis players. Good to have a figure skating representative in the top ten, when the players in the big spectator sports like soccer, basketball or volleyball didn't make the list. A bit surprised to see only one golfer in the top ten, given the decent popularity of golf in all of NA, East Asia and Europe. What would be the reason for the huge disparity in prize money between PGA and LPGA, when there's no such gender gap in tennis?

Thinspread, I had known about the Pee Wee Reese moment for years, but they did it so effectively in this movie that I started to tremble, and I cried for about five minutes. I felt like a witness to the actual event. And I too love that the film actually showed a bunch of players all wearing the 42 at the end.

There's only one golfer on the list? That's a surprise to me, too. Is it just a disparity in prize money, or is there also a disparity in how many endorsements female golfers get?

KD, I also thought about YuNa's English. It doesn't just help her in places like America, but I imagine it would give her an entree into markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines, where English is widely spoken as a second or third language.

thinspread · Aug 18, 2013

Robeye said:
I'm a life-long Red Sox fan (my home team). I want a Sox-Dodgers matchup, but with Boston finally prevailing in 7 in a epic series, preferably ending at Fenway :yes:.

A RedSox-Dodgers matchup would be terrific too :yes:

Olympia said:
Thinspread, I had known about the Pee Wee Reese moment for years, but they did it so effectively in this movie that I started to tremble, and I cried for about five minutes. I felt like a witness to the actual event. And I too love that the film actually showed a bunch of players all wearing the 42 at the end.

There's only one golfer on the list? That's a surprise to me, too. Is it just a disparity in prize money, or is there also a disparity in how many endorsements female golfers get?

KD, I also thought about YuNa's English. It doesn't just help her in places like America, but I imagine it would give her an entree into markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines, where English is widely spoken as a second or third language.

The exceptional Roger Federer aside, top female tennis stars earn as much in prize money and endorsements as male stars. In golf, even after you count out Woods and Mickelson as exceptional cases, top female golfers earn only a fraction of what top male golfers make in both winnings and endorsements. In both golf and tennis, like as in any sport, there is a huge gender gap in athletes' power and performance scale. But the difference in cross gender parity in prize purse and endorsement money is wide. Maybe because there is a larger population of casual female players/fans for tennis vis-a-vis golf? :think: I guess golf is enjoyed by a predominantly male population, compared to tennis.

For fun I looked up top 100 highest paid athletes in 2012-2013. Not surprisingly 75% of them come from major league sports like soccer, NBA, NFL and MLB. Some tidbits:
Not one from winter sports made the list: no NHL players, Shaun White or YuNa Kim.
Only 3 female athletes made the list, all from tennis: Sharapova, Serena Williams, and Li Na.
In general, soccer players and NBA stars made far more in endorsements than NFL or MLB players did.
Usain Bolt is the only track and field star in the list and the only one from a sport with no professional tour/circuit or league.

Back to YuNa, I guess a combination of factors made her the most celebrated and financially successful female athlete in Korea. Good looks definitely help, too. She's a special case in the sense that I bet there is a much bigger population in Korea that enjoy golf compared to skating, yet Kyung-Ju Choi, Seri Pak, Jiyai Shin or this year's 3-time major tornament winner Inbee Park can't match YuNa's marketing potential. I wonder how much Mao Asada makes in Japan, compared to their tennis or golf stars like Kimiko Date, Ryo Ishikawa or Ai Miyazato.

Olympia · Aug 18, 2013

That's really interesting, Thinspread.

I suspect that you're right about the audience for golf being mostly men, in the U.S. at least, judging by the kinds of TV commercials they air during golf games. This seems to be one of those times when men would rather look at other men, not at women, because the spokesperson for a golf-related product is someone they wish they were, not someone they want to desire. This is my amateur psychological analysis early in the morning!

Robeye · Aug 18, 2013

Olympia said:
That's really interesting, Thinspread.

I suspect that you're right about the audience for golf being mostly men, in the U.S. at least, judging by the kinds of TV commercials they air during golf games. This seems to be one of those times when men would rather look at other men, not at women, because the spokesperson for a golf-related product is someone they wish they were, not someone they want to desire. This is my amateur psychological analysis early in the morning!

They are not golf games. They are championships, or tournaments, and sometimes matches, but never games.

(Ah, Ms. Olympia, you missed your calling. You've got me identified as neatly as a bug pinned to a card :laugh:

. The only exception being that I'd let Paula Creamer sell me a new pitching wedge anytime

)

Mathman · Aug 18, 2013

I think it is maybe not so much that we want to be like the great golfers that we see on television, but rather that we think we are (or could be) like them. Unlike athletes in other sports, golfers don't look like athletes. They look like us.

Here's John Daly, winner of the 1991 PGA and the 1995 British Open (I better say, the "Open Championship" before Robeye gets on my case.

)

http://www.linkslifegolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/john-daly-pants.jpg

When we see a quarterback throw a football 60 yards in the air, or a sprinter run 100 meters in 9.6 seconds, or a figure skater rip off a triple axel,well, all we can do is sit back and watch. But in golf every weekend duffer once in a blue moon gets off a dandy shot and thinks, gosh if I could just do that twice in a row I'd be right up there with these guys. :yes:

thinspread · Aug 18, 2013

Mathman said:
I think it is maybe not so much that we want to be like the great golfers that we see on television, but rather that we think we are (or could be) like them. Unlike athletes in other sports, golfers don't look like athletes. They look like us.

Here's John Daly, winner of the 1991 PGA and the 1995 British Open (I better say, the "Open Championship" before Robeye gets on my case. )

http://www.linkslifegolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/john-daly-pants.jpg

How about this guy:
http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Craig+Stadler/Graig+Stadler/Senior+Open+Championship+Round+One/SlWtEayd1fw
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/WHnm7SGPvgv/The+Masters+Round+One/-As-aX5qBxO/Craig+Stadler
The Walrus :biggrin:

Olympia · Aug 18, 2013

I think you guys are right about golfers looking like everyone else. Two that I know of who actually keep up a physical regimen as part of their golfing are Tiger Woods and Gary Player. (I recently heard Player explain his daily routine. Admirable; and he's in his seventies, I think.) A lot of the others look as if they get up in the morning and perfect their swing, and that's it. Even their "athletic attire" looks like clothes any of us could wear. I don't know if the same feeling is typical of women weekend golfers, though. I mean, look at the first truly famous woman golfer--Babe Didrikson! She was one of the top five athletes of the first half of the twentieth century. So women's golf probably always looked like something for athletic stars.

Thanks for the correction about its not being a "game," Robeye. Apologies! I understand the scoring and structure of tennis and baseball but have never been exposed to golf. Even my golf viewing experience consists only of watching Katharine Hepburn, a sterling athlete, have at it in Pat and Mike, one of my favorite movies.

Robeye · Aug 19, 2013

Olympia said:
I think you guys are right about golfers looking like everyone else. Two that I know of who actually keep up a physical regimen as part of their golfing are Tiger Woods and Gary Player. (I recently heard Player explain his daily routine. Admirable; and he's in his seventies, I think.) A lot of the others look as if they get up in the morning and perfect their swing, and that's it. Even their "athletic attire" looks like clothes any of us could wear. I don't know if the same feeling is typical of women weekend golfers, though. I mean, look at the first truly famous woman golfer--Babe Didrikson! She was one of the top five athletes of the first half of the twentieth century. So women's golf probably always looked like something for athletic stars.

Thanks for the correction about its not being a "game," Robeye. Apologies! I understand the scoring and structure of tennis and baseball but have never been exposed to golf. Even my golf viewing experience consists only of watching Katharine Hepburn, a sterling athlete, have at it in Pat and Mike, one of my favorite movies.

I've always found it interesting that certain athletic activities are called "games", while others are not, a distinction I first saw made by Joyce Carol Oates in her extended essay "On Boxing"; there are boxing matches, and boxing contests, and bouts, but no boxing games (unless you count the canny foolery of Muhammad Ali).

I started a comment on the athleticism of golf (no less an icon than Michael Jordan is on the record as saying that Tiger Wood's sporting achievements are greater than his own), but I soon realized that the topic was far too long for a post in a skating forum. Let me just say that, IMO, there are certain similarities and parallels between golf and figure skating, some more obvious than others, that should make the casting of stones at least problematic

.

(I'm a movie nut myself. Do you remember the scene in "The Aviator" in which Kate Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Howard Hughes (Leonardo di Caprio) play golf? Scorsese's homage in passing

).

ice coverage · Aug 19, 2013

thinspread said:
What would be the reason for the huge disparity in prize money between PGA and LPGA, when there's no such gender gap in tennis?

The short answer re tennis is that Billie Jean King, first and foremost, led other female players in SPEAKING UP loudly and FIGHTING very hard for equality of pay. :yes:
(It's unfortunate that BJK's pioneering efforts apparently have faded into obscurity. I hope that young female tennis players have not forgotten her commitment to making the sport better for all women.)

Olympia said:
Two that I know of who actually keep up a physical regimen as part of their golfing are Tiger Woods and Gary Player. (I recently heard Player explain his daily routine. Admirable; and he's in his seventies, I think.)

The photo of Gary Player in this year's edition of ESPN's "The Body Issue" is visual proof of his exceptional fitness. :thumbsup:

thinspread · Aug 19, 2013

golden411 said:
The short answer re tennis is that Billie Jean King, first and foremost, led other female players in SPEAKING UP loudly and FIGHTING very hard for equality of pay. :yes:
(It's unfortunate that BJK's pioneering efforts apparently have faded into obscurity. I hope that young female tennis players have not forgotten her commitment to making the sport better for all women.)

:yes: I've known she's been a patron of sportswomen, but didn't know much about her decisive role in seeking equality of pay for tennis players.

Kim Yu-na Ranked Most Marketable Korean Athlete

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