The Battle That ‘Woonded’ Yee
Anyone could have anticipated the legendary women’s baseball rivalry between Hong Kong and Netherlands to come to a fiery head in the World Cup held in Venezuela this weekend. What most could not have anticipated was a) that that fire would come hurtling out of a gun and b) how awkward it is to call a female playing the third base position anything other than the third baseman.
It’s, like, extremely awkward.
“Third base person” sounds like something my Mom would call the player right after she commented on the team “costumes.” “Third bassist” sounds like what you are if you’re in high school jazz band. “Third basewoman” sounds like a gal willing to give you a good time, but not willing to give you the best time, if you know what I mean. All I’m saying is, this story is about a woman named Cheuk Yoon Yee Sinny who plays third base for the Women’s Hong Kong national team and was randomly shot in the leg and the most difficult thing to wrap my head around is exactly how to label her. That probably says more about the state of Venezuela than anyone would want it to.
Take it away Reuters:
Vice President Elias Jaua said the player was hit in the leg during a game against the Netherlands in a stadium at a military base in Caracas on Friday. She was taken to the base’s medical center for treatment but was not seriously hurt.
… Venezuela has one of the continent’s highest crime rates, and many residents carry firearms.
Jaua said the player had been struck by “an object similar to a stray bullet” during the game on the second day of the tournament.
Although the remainder of that game and the rest of the scheduled games were postponed, the– wait, what? Did that quote say Woon Yee was struck with an “object similar to a stray bullet?” Scroll up a second, will ya? What the hell does that mean? The only objects similar to stray bullets are ones shot on purpose. Land sakes. Woon Yee was discharged from the hospital after a brief stay and will make a full recovery, but she can’t possibly enjoy hearing the attempt at spin coming from the Venezuelan vice president. Oh, not to worry that was most certainly not a stray bullet you were struck by. That bullet had your name written all over it.
Sweet dreams.
A full investigation is being conducted in order to locate the origin of the bullet and Baseball’s 12-team World Cup will make up for its lost games in the coming week.
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Photo courtesy of Flickr
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