Baseball

Bear with me on this....


A good while back, 2-3 years after my sister Kate was born, I watched my first professional baseball game in Houston, Texas at the Astrodome (the first domed stadium in the world, also where Astroturf was first used). At that game, I saw Nolan Ryan pitch for the Houston Astros. Apart from that I remember absolutely nothing about that day except for my uncle taking us all to buy Nolan Ryan/Astro memorabilia after the game.

Years later on another family trip in Kansas City, we saw the Royals play the Chicago White Sox. At that game, we got to witness Bo Jackson go to work. Most folks wont have the foggiest idea who that is. To put it succinctly, "Bo knows baseball, and Bo knows football". Again, the little I remember from this game was just having so much fun with the family.

There was a game I went to with Josh and my good friend Brett Faber when I was doing an internship just north of San Diego, CA. Nothing of note really happened at that one. Don't even remember who the Padre's were playing.

Then months before I left Virginia for the mountains in Wyoming. I went to my fourth ballgame with my two good friends Matt and Erin. Erin's entire family had flown from Connecticut down to Baltimore for this game, as they were all die hard Red Sox fans. So we watched the Oriels and the Red Sox battle it out on a super hot August day. This game happened to be right after Mark Mcguire cried, and a bunch of other players got called out before some pretty important folks in DC. Because of this, one or two of the players got a stadium wide booo every time they went to bat that day. I might have joined the booing, but I was busy pretty much eating my own weight in ballpark food. It was awesome.

Here in Japan, there can be no doubt that Sumo Wrestling is the national sport. But baseball is far more popular. To illustrate this point, just a couple of weeks ago a player by the name of Ichiro, was named MVP, in the American All-Star game in San Fransisco. That made big news here, and what made even more was months ago when the Boston Red Sox paid $100 million dollars for a player by the name of Matsuzaka. $100 million dollars. And yeah, these guys really are that good and so beloved by their countrymen, that every Saturday morning for the past month or so, I have been able to wake up and watch a game played somewhere in the states (within the past week), televised almost entirely in English. Of course, one if not both of the teams, having a well known Japanese ballplayer.

Sumo on the other hand.....well, I read somewhere that this is the first year in its history of the sport that there have been no new applicants to join the highest level of competition, what I can only refer to as the "big boys" ,who are the main attraction and tour the country in the major competitions. That also was big news.

So going to the games here has been fun. All the cheering and announcing are in Japanese, but the game is played the same. There are several ex patriots playing and managing here as well. Incidentally the last ballgame I was at in Kobe, I ran into an American grandson and grandfather, we exchanged pleasantries, and when I asked them what brought them to Japan, the kid pointed to a big poster in the hall. They had come from Houston to watch this fella Tuffy Rhodes, his dad, play and who has been doing so for a good while here in Japan.

All this being said, I'm not just a huge fan of baseball. I do believe its got to be the biggest pay-off for the least amount of physical activity as far as professional sports go (although there is golf). What I have rediscovered by going to the games here is how much fun it is to watch live sports again. I was in the marching band throughout high school and college, which was a hell of a lot of fun, but when playing the trombone every 5-10 minutes one finds it hard to pay complete attention to what is going on. (Especially, when at University, my old high school friends would find their way to myself and another alum, and force nips from a flask down our gullet)

The 3 Japanese games I've been to thus far are just good fun. What makes it more entertaining (apart from short American managers who get into the HUGE Japanese umpires faces...this I did witness) are the little things that must be unique to this country's ballparks. For example, the keg carrying beer ladies. They strap small kegs to their back and hike up and down the stadium refilling cups. It fantastic, I'm sorry though to say that I have no picture of this. Another is the food. You wont find so many Philly cheese steaks or nachos here, but will find octopus on a stick (Delicious I might add), curry and rice plates, bowls of soup & noodles and my personal favorite...the deep fried chicken stick.

I think the only other outstanding difference is the "superfan" section. Those folks who go to every freakin game and therefore have bought out all of the cheapest seats. Back in USA, its some goober in a box seat, running the organs, and sound effects in order to get folks pumped. Here its these guys and gals. They control everything. Obviously its different for every team and therefore hard to generalize, but to say the least its pretty cool.

I do however have a picture of the 7th inning balloon release. Who knows why, or how it started, but at the top and bottom of the inning, before their respective team goes to bat, the fans sing some song and at the end release these long whistling balloons. Sounds silly, and lord knows one feels silly when doing it the first time, but it looks really cool when an entire (or half of a) stadium participates. Much cooler than tossing tortillas onto a field (Go Tech).

So baseball.......wahoo! As a side note and a not so serious goal I'd like to see all the teams (and maybe stadiums) before I leave here. Its not totally unfeasible as there's only 12 teams throughout the country. Thats impressive seeing as the states only has 30 teams.