The fans of the South Korean Hanwha Eagles baseball team are so loyal that they continue to come to Hanbat Stadium to watch their team lose, game after game, year after year. Their devotion has led people to call them bodhisattvas or Buddhist saints for their long-suffering patience and compassion.
In the past five years, the Hanwha Eagles lost 400 games and were ranked last every season except for 2011. In the past twenty years, they have won the Korean Series only once (1999).
Detractors have started calling the team the Hanwha Chickens or Chicks (as in baby chickens). There is even an article at baseballinkorea.com on how to insult a Hanwha Eagles Fan.
Nevertheless, the bodhisattvas who cannot attend in-person, can still be a part of the game.
The Hanwha Eagles recently unveiled a set of “fanbots,” three rows of robots that fans from afar can make cheer, chant, and do the wave. Fans can text in messages for fanbots to cheer. Fanbots can interact with the fans in the stadium by initiating group cheers or the wave. Fans can even upload pictures of their faces onto the fanbot’s face so everyone can see that they are there.
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