After a couple of quiet weeks the 8th Korean baseball team, formerly known as the Hyundai Unicorns — for the time being known to the world as Centennial — got things rolling by firing its manager and announcing that players could look forward to a decreased payroll and possible cuts for the Lunar New Year.

The players responded by refusing to report to spring training, which was already starting several weeks later than other KBO teams because the league was still looking for a new owner.

The team also promised to reveal it’s main sponsor, going so far as to say that an IT financial firm based in Hong Kong — allegedly preparing to start “operations” in Korea — would take over the team. But after canceling three press conferences in two days, the announcement has yet to be made.

Centennial, a mysterious company in its own right, says it has already received “a considerable amount of deposit” from the Hong Kong mystery company. However, according to general manager Park, Centennial has delayed the announcement in case the HKMC suddenly backs out of the deal after the announcement is made. The thinking being the HKMC could get a load of free advertising in the wake of the announcement.

Despite this, new general manager Park No-joon insists the HKMC will sponsor the team for at least five years.

Good news finally arrived this past Tuesday when Centennial said it had changed its mind about cutting players. The team started its spring training the following day.

It should be noted the team is training on Jeju Island, about one hour by plane from Busan. Just for fun, and as a way of making a point, lets say spring trainings are Korean honeymoons. The Lotte Giants are honeymooning in Guam, a remote tropical island not unlike Hawaii. A nice, exotic place to take your new bride. The Kia Tigers are honeymooning in Okinawa, a semi-tropical island in South Japan. Call it a less expensive Hawaii. It’s not all that far and is therefore not exotic. But still kind of nice.

In Korea, if you take your new bride to Jeju you’re basically being cheap and are disrespecting your wife and her family. If your new father-in-law gets drunk enough at the wedding he may try to fight you.