Yesterday was the anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and made his MLB debut. Per usual and in honor of the event, baseball had every player taking the field adopt Jackie Robinson’s uniform number for the day, 42. It makes for confusing baseball if you don’t recognize the faces of the players, but it’s a great gesture that always brings a smile to my face. ...
[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“It was pretty cold that night”] [/caption] 14 April NPB Yakult Swallows (3) at Hiroshima Carp (6). I’m not sure, but this might be the first series the Carp have won this year. Their record rises to 6-10-0, but they’re still sitting in last by about half a game. Rakuten Eagles (5) at Seibu Lions (6). 7-12-0 keeps the Eagles in fifth as they drop the entire series to the Lions. ...
[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“374” caption=“I figured that my Rays gear might put me on the tube.”] [/caption] When you go to a sparsely attended game where you’re rooting against the home team, chances are you might appear on TV. 13 April NPB Yakult Swallows (2) at Hiroshima Carp (3). A close, 10th inning, walk-off win. The Carp are proving to be quite the thorn in Yakult’s side. Their record rises to 5-10-0, but they remain in last. ...
I’m pretty sure that I haven’t mentioned anything about the NFL this year, which I find hilarious, considering that I use a modified football saying as my sports category. Now’s as good a time as any to talk about it, I guess, since the regular season is over. As far as the playoffs go, I’d like to see the Ravens advance to the Super Bowl, but that’s just because they’re the local team. If we’re lucky, we’ll also get to see Brett Favre face-off against the Green Bay Packers (and hopefully knock them out) too in this postseason. Beyond that, I haven’t paid enough attention to the NFL this year to really care one way or another. ...
It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. It’s all old news by now, but the World Series champions for this year were the New York Yankees. Powered by a ridiculous performance by Hideki Matsui, the Yanks pulled far ahead early in the game as Matsui clobbered anything Pedro Martinez threw at him. It wasn’t a massacre, but it wasn’t pretty either. World Series Time-Lapse by Robert Caplin from Robert Caplin on Vimeo. ...
The pride of my trip to Japan no doubt has to be the 12 jersey collection I brought home with me. Here is a quick rundown of each of the jerseys, a little background behind each, and what I think of it. I’m gonna cover them in the order that I got them, so that puts the Giants jersey a little later, even though that was the first game I went to. ...
When you’re on a 2.5 week trip, it hardly seems like it’s ever going to end, but it was my last day in Tokyo and it felt pretty surreal. It would be my last chance to tie up all my loose ends, so I headed out to get my final souvenirs and replace that stupid sake cup that I broke. The plan was to go over to the Square Enix store to grab a CD for Min, the Tokyo Seibu Loft to try and replace the sake cup, somewhere to find another bag because my suitcase was now too full to travel, the Tokyo Dome to get Fighters jerseys for Eric, and maybe a CD shop to look for a live Persona music DVD/CD. ...
[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“The greatest sign I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world.”] [/caption] This was one of the days I was most looking forward to on the trip. The Hanshin Tigers may not have the raw popularity of the Yomiuri Giants, but they’ve definitely got the most rabid fanbase in the entire country. Beyond that, Koshien Stadium is said to be the “soul of Japanese baseball,” most likely because, beyond the already crazy Tigers that play there, everything from college games to the high school championships are housed within Koshien. It’s a storied stadium most often compared to Wrigley Field or Fenway Park here in the States. ...
[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=““i believe lions” was printed on the interior of the Lions jersey I bought.”] [/caption] After an intense and draining day, it was finally time to get back to Tokyo for the last leg of the main tour and to catch some more baseball action! It’s hard not to love Hiroshima and the Chūgoku region in general. Nowhere else in Japan did I see such devotion to a baseball team as I did in Chūgoku. Convenience stores in both the smallest regional stations and the largest Shinkansen stations sell Hiroshima Carp tea, Hiroshima Carp trinkets, and even Hiroshima Carp onigiri. ...