WBC = Why Bother Competing?

I have to say that I did enjoy seeing the WBC game here at the Tokyo Dome, even though Korea defeated Japan in a 1-0 pitcher's duel. I especially liked watching the phenom Yu Darvish pitch an inning of relief and the frenzy which took place every time Ichiro came to the plate. I love watching Ichiro play - he has one of the best swings in baseball in all of the time I've watched the sport -- up there with Pete Rose and Wade Boggs. He makes it seem so effortless.


But back to the larger WBC in general - it is horrible way to determine a "world champion." Unlike soccer or American football, or even basketball, where the better team regularly beats inferior teams, baseball regularly has inferior teams defeating superior teams. That is why it takes a 162-game schedule to determine the best teams and a 7-game series to determine the champion. Games are often won and lost based on the better pitcher but a particular pitcher only goes once every 4 or 5 games. I also don't like how the same teams keep playing the same teams but not others. The U.S. played Venezuela (in different rounds for different stakes) 3 times and Japan and Korea have squared off 4 times already (possibly one more time) while some teams never play each other. It is also just plain stupid that teams which have already qualified for the next round play each other to determine the seeding. It's a pointless game.

Not that anyone has asked, but if it were up to me I'd make it similar to the UEFA Champions League or World Cup. Maybe pare it back to 15 teams: 3 groups of 5. Each team plays every other team in its group twice for a total of 8 games per team. Take the top team from each group plus the top second-place finisher. Then those final four teams play a 3-game semi-final series followed by a 3- or 5-game final. The winning team would play 8 preliminary games, 3 semi-final games, and 3 or 5 finals games for a total of 14-16 games. If the early rounds are run concurrently, it can all be done in early to late March.

Last Weekend

Last Saturday, Yumi, my friend Tomo, an acquaintance Misa, and a colleague Jonathan went to see the Carp play the Bay Stars. On the up side, it was a gorgeous day and to paraphrase an old adage, the worst day at a baseball game is better than the best day working. On the downside, the Carp not only lost, not only lowered my record while watching them to 0-5, but lost to a downright horrible team who has a record of 48-94 (0.338 winning percentage) and came into the game having lost 14 straight games! The hapless Bay Stars not only won but beat up the Carp 14-5 and knocked around their pitcher, Colby Lewis who came in with a spectacular 2.45 ERA! Tomo says I need to go to a shrine and rid myself of this evil spell; maybe he's on to something. Things to notice in the photo: the background features Japan's tallest building (Landmark Tower), the YMCA building right behind the scoreboard is where I work, and the score was 13-3 in the 6th inning and the Bay Stars had men on 2nd and 3rd.

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On Sunday, Yumi and I went to a small, local festival and ate lunch before running errands. While some things were familiar (some music, games, rides, kids), some things were a bit different...

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Playoff Baseball

I love baseball, but usually I need to be invested in one team to really enjoy it. Even with Cleveland out of contention for half of the season, I loved the end of this season. Entering the final weekend, after 159 games played and 3 to go for each team, 2 of 8 spots were still up for grabs. The games all seemed to be dramatic, too. Extra innings. Walk-off homeruns. 1-0 pitcher duels. The White Sox got swept by the 2nd place Twins to go from ahead by 2.5 to be behind by 0.5, then both went 1-2 the final weekend. The White Sox won their make up game with Detroit to pull even, then beat Minnesota in a one game playoff 1-0. Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and the NY Mets were jockeying back and forth for the two final spaces in the NL with Milwaukee winning by 1 game after CC Sabathia won his second straight start on only 3 days rest. He was absolutely incredible this season after a slow start and almost single-handedly dragged the Brewers into the post-season.

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As far as Cleveland goes, it's really a shame that they had so many injuries and coudn't get it together. They started the season with two of the best pitchers in all of baseball, last year's Cy Young winner, Sabathia and this year's likely winner Cliff Lee who ended up going 22-3. In the end they went from about 16 games under 0.500 to break even by the end of the year. If they had gotten it together earlier (and not traded Sabathia) they could have made the playoffs. Oh well, wait 'till next year. In the meantime I'll enjoy the playoffs - and the Hiroshima Carp - Yokohama Bay Stars this Saturday (and hopefully finally see a win after 4 losses!)

More Baseball

Last weekend, I ventured up to Tokyo to visit my friend, Tomo and then go to see the Japanese Olympic team play the Central League All-Stars.
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First, I took 3 or 4 trains for an hour and a half up to Tomo's apartment at the campus of the university where he is a chemistry post-doc. We hung out with his 1-year old daughter, Nao for a while. Later, his wife, Kyo came home and made us an udon (noodle) lunch and then we were off to the Tokyo Dome (aka The Big Egg) for the game. After our 1-hour journey, we arrived.

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The game was ok - I'm not really into exhibition games but it was nice to see the best of the Nippon League. The game was a rout, with the Olympic team (the best players) losing 11-2. I don't like these games because a) I don't know who to root for and b) it doesn't count for anything. I was surprised that Tomo was rooting for the All-Stars because they had 4 Hiroshima Carp players whereas the Olympic team had none (that tells you about the strength of the Carp).

I find it very interesting that Japanese baseball is continuing during the Olympics without the 24 best players (some teams losing 3 or 4 players and others losing none). It would seem to throw into question the results of the season.

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After the game we went to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame which is housed in the Tokyo Dome. It's not very big but it's not inconsequential either. I most liked the displays on the World Baseball Classic victory and their record holders. The consecutive games played record holder and retired Hiroshima Carp player Sachio Kinugasa played 2215 games in a row! That's better than Lou Gehrig's number (2130) but was finally eclipsed by Cal Ripken (2632).

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The all-time home run champion is Sadahara Oh who played for the Tokyo Giants. His record of 868 home runs is pretty mind-boggling. 40 home runs a year is very good. 20 seasons is a long career. Yet 40 home runs for 20 consecutive seasons would still put someone 68 home runs short! Barry Bonds' (drug-enhanced) U.S. record is 762.

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Another 1 1/2 hours on trains brought me back home. For those keeping score at home: 4 hours of travel for about 4 hours of baseball and an hour and a half with Nao.

Life Post-Ph.D. Part II

Saturday, July 19
Eri and Noriko

Yumi and I went up to Tokyo to meet two of her friends from her Bradford (England) days, Eri and Noriko. We met them for lunch and then walked around the Harajuku area of Tokyo including the very cool Ometesando Mall. I would describe this area as the Rodeo Drive of Tokyo. It had every high class store I'd ever heard of and more: Gucci, Luis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo Shoes, Prada... Not my kind of thing but fun to gawk.

Carp vs. Swallows

Later in the day, we met up with my friend and fellow Hiroshima Carp fan, Tomo for their game against the Yakult Swallows in Jingu. What was different was the new stadium. Jingu was the third stadium I've seen the Carp play in (the other two being the Tokyo Dome and Yokohama Stadium). The thing that was the same was the result; the Carp lost again. I'm now 0-4. I did get to see the "famous" 7th inning rituals: Carp fans release hundreds of colorful balloons and Swallows fans do their umbrella dance.

A few observations: instead of peanuts and popcorn, it's noodles and rice balls. The fans are really fanatics; the Carp fans we're cheering like crazy in the top of the 9th inning while losing 8-1 (they eventually lost 8-3).

Saturday, July 26

Sea Paradise

Yumi actually had to work on this Saturday at the Sea Paradise amusement park. She is a trainer for foreigners working for Japanese companies and she chaperoned her trainee group to the amusement park for the traditional Japanese summer festival. The amusement park is only a 20 minute bicycle ride from our apartment, so in the evening, I rode over and joined them to watch some traditional dancing and music and for the fireworks show. After the show I unhappily discovered that my bike tire was flat, so I took the train home, then went back the next day, walked the bike for an hour to a bike shop and had it fixed.

A Most Excellent Weekend

No, this does not refer to this past weekend's ring odyssey. That was most certainly *not* an excellent weekend. Rather, I am referring to the previous weekend when Yumi and I actually got to enjoy an entire weekend for the first time since I arrived in Japan - 10 months ago. We were able to put the Ph.D. corrections and wedding planning aside for one weekend and actually went out and had fun.
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Saturday, Yumi's office had a barbecue which started with a softball game; the Yokohama office vs. the Tokyo office! It was my first game in almost a year and I enjoyed every moment of it. It was also nice that I didn't embarrass myself or Yumi and actually played decently. I hit what I believe to be my 2nd career homerun and made some nice plays in the outfield including a shoestring catch and 2 outfield assists at home(!). Cultural notes: everyone stretched together (both teams) in unison before the game, we all lined up after the game and bowed to our opponents, and we refueled not by nuts and sports drinks but by rice balls and green tea! Playing softball with 20 or so Japanese reminded me of playing softball in Papua New Guinea; one of my most fond memories of that time. As my cousin Mel would sing as she perused either scene: which one of these is not like the others, which one of these, doesn't belong...
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After the game, we had the barbeque and I met Yumi's colleagues who are interesting and nice. One guy lived in India for 3 years and one is fluent in Japanese, English, and French. Then the real fun began. The drinking accelerated as we went to karaoke. I really enjoy karoake even if I can't sing my way out of a paper bag. Note to self (and anyone else with my [lack of] vocal range): do not, I repeat not, attempt Hotel California. :-)

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On Sunday, we ventured up to the "Big Egg" (Tokyo Dome) for the Yomiuri Giants hosting our Hiroshima Carp. It was nice to see friends we hadn't seen during our recent, self-imposed hibernation: Tomo, Jumpei, Dawn, and Keiko. Another cultural note: upon entering the stadium, Jumpei was told he couldn't bring in his six-pack of beer in cans. In the U.S. you're out of luck but in Japan, they pour them all into paper cups for you at no cost! Talk about civilized. Hiroshima kept up its perfect record for me. 3 games, 3 losses. This time they gave up 4 runs in the first, then clawed back in it one run at a time to where it was 4-3. Then gave up 2 more runs and let it slip away. I've posted before about the experience of Japanese baseball but it's worth repeating how different and fun it is with all of the organized cheering, trumpets, drums, flags, whistles, and the like. I'll post my first attempt at video below.

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The Inevitable

The time we knew would eventually come has arrived. Jacobs Field is officially Progressive Field. It has now gone from the ranks of the mellifluous alongside Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Camden Yards to the corporate sellout with ridiculous sounding names such as Petco Park, AT&T Park, and U.S. Cellular Field. It is appropriate that the field formerly known as Jacobs is literally next door to the horrifically named Quicken Loans Arena.

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Once upon a time we didn't face advertising everywhere we went. Now it is ubiquitous, inundating us everywhere from every form of media (except NPR and PBS I'm happy to say) to ugly billboards, stadiums, movie theaters, and even urinals!

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It is probably a matter of time before uniforms look like soccer jerseys, where the team name is much smaller than the main corporate sponsor's, or worse yet, NASCAR, where they are literally walking billboards. (The jersey to the right, is that of the team I support, Liverpool, even though you can only see the ad for Carlsberg beer).

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How much before the Green Monster in Boston starts to look like what the outfield walls in Jacobs, er, Progressive Field look like? Maybe we should consider other venues: The McDonald's Statue of Liberty, The Preparation-H Grand Canyon, The Oral-B White (ner) House, Starbucks Central Park...

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Is there no respite?

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I'm not sure why this bothers me so much, but it does. It's just so crass, opportunistic, and in your face. Why does everything have to be commercial? Are we nothing more than consumers? I think this is emblematic of our materialistic, often superficial society.

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A sad day, indeed.

Blog Holiday / Steroids

Well this will be the last post until at least Dec. 25 when I get back from Thailand. Hopefully I'll be able to post stuff from the trip before I head off to Hiroshima 2 days later.

The big news of the week is the Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball. As an aside, he was intricately involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland. I read his book on the subject, Making Peace. It was an interesting inside account. I heard Mitchell (also the former Democratic Senate majority leader from Maine) on NPR today saying he got more cooperation from the sides at war in Northern Ireland than he did from baseball players.

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What I'm wondering is why I hate Barry Bonds more than Roger Clemens. I've never liked either but have disliked Bonds much more. He played in Pittsburgh during my college days there and he was always surly and rude to the media and fans alike (he never seemed to care that the latter paid his salary). I've found Clemens to be arrogant and abrasive, quite similar to Bonds. Both are phenomenal athletes and among the best in their generation, if not the best. What is Clemens' reputation with the media and fans? I find it hard to believe that I dislike Bonds more because of his race, but I'm finding other differences between them hard to find. Maybe Bonds' steroid use was suspected for a very long time and Clemens revelation was only today. Food for thought.

Baseball, Japanese Style

Yumi thinks I should write about our sojourn to Ikea last night and all of the Christmas decorations in this Buddhist/Shintoist country (it's a secular holiday -- like in much of the United States, only with a tradition of going to KFC with your significant other. I'm not kidding.)

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I prefer to discuss one of my favorite topics: baseball (especially before the baseball season is completely forgotten). Before I begin, I must admit that it's tough to be away from Cleveland while the Indians had such a great season, the Browns show promise, and the Cavs are trying to return to the NBA Finals (although the way they're going they're more likely to get the #1 pick in next year's draft).

OK, back to baseball in Japan. In Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules Winnfield says, "My girlfriend's a vegetarian, so that pretty much makes me a vegetarian (although I do enjoy a tasty burger)." Well, my girlfriend is from Hiroshima and a Carps fan, so that pretty much makes me a Carps fan. Unfortunately, the Carp are the Kansas City Royals of Japanese baseball. This year they had the second worst record of all 12 teams (60 wins, 82 losses, 2 ties, 0.423 winning percentage). And they've been pretty bad for a while now.

Nevertheless, we made it to two games this year. One against the Japanese New York Yankees (the Tokyo Giants) and one against the Yokohama Bay Stars. I conveniently teach right across the street from the Yokohama stadium which is really cool. One view from the YMCA building where we are located, looks directly into the stadium. (second picture)

The games themselves weren't all that interesting. Hiroshima naturally lost them both. The Giants game was a rout but they were creative in losing to Yokohama -- taking the lead in the 7th inning and then letting Yokohama come back for a walk-off win in the 9th. The most interesting thing for me was the crowd.

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First, there are designated sections for fans of both teams. The outfield sections are the rowdiest. Then you have the coordinated cheering while your team bats. There are a few variations of cheers which are repeated over, and over, and over again throughout the entire half-inning. Then the other side takes over. It involves a cheer-leader (with a constantly used whistle), standing and sitting, arm motions, cheering and chanting, trumpets, drums, and flags. It's really something to witness. I think the craziest thing was that the Yokohama game was in mid-October and neither team was in contention. It was a weeknight game and miserable weather (rainy and cold) and yet there were significant numbers of fans cheering their hearts out like it was the 7th game of the Japan Series. At the Giants game it was even more intense but anytime the Giants play there will be fierce emotions on both sides (again, think Yankees), the Giants were in contention, it was a weekend, and indoors (the ugly Tokyo Dome, aka the Big Egg -- Tokyo's version of Minnesota's Metrodome).

It really was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to next season when I can have the yearly spring optimism and see some games in some of the other stadiums as well. I've told Yumi that we have to plan a trip to Hiroshima around when the Carp will be playing at home.