Sport marriage season pitches into full swing

For everything there is a time. For stars that perform in sports other than professional basketball and volleyball, whose leagues are in full swing right now, the right time to say “I do” is in December, when the other seasons are over.
Having started with Park Chan-ho, who pitches for the San Diego Padres, the “marriage season” is now on. Park was married on Nov. 30.
Lee Dong-guk, who plays for the Pohang Steelers; Seo Jae-wong, a pitcher for the New York Mets, and Park Yong-taek, a professional golfer, are all scheduled to tie the knot very soon.
If there is a trend, it is that sports stars tend to marry celebrities who receive equal attention, if not more. In 1977, pro boxer Hong Su-hwan married singer Ok Hui, and Lee Chung hui, a former basketball star, wed TV actress Choi Ran. A recent trend suggests soccer athletes have their eyes on prize winners in Miss Korea contests. Soccer stars Ahn Jung-hwan and Choi Yong-soo both married Miss Korea also-rans. Lee Chun-soo, who plays for Ulsan Hyundai, is going out with Kim Ji-yu, a former Miss Korea who is now a TV actress, and the two plan to marry. Lee Dong-guk is scheduled to wed Lee Su-jin, who also won a place in the Miss Korea beauty pageant, on Sunday.
While it’s not clear whether sports stars are highly prized on the marriage market, a recent survey conducted by a marriage counseling company suggests there is at least a preference for a particular sports discipline. Out of 468 people surveyed, half said they would want to marry a professional golfer, if they had to choose a sports star to wed. Soccer came in second place at 28 percent, followed by basketball and baseball.
A long career life span, and relatively high salary seemed to tip the scale here.

by Sung Ho-jun