| Wednesday, July 04, 2007 |
| Haaaanshiiin Tai-gas! |
 I have a few students named Taiga. It's fantastic fun when you're a kid, but I wonder how they feel being stuck with a mascot/animal moniker the rest of their life. It is probably easier than for a rather large child I have named Daichi, the kanji literally reading "big one." Best of luck with that, buddy. But back to Taigas: Okayama doesn't have a baseball team, so we borrow from the Kansai region. The Hanshin Tigers left the lights and glamour and sprawl of Kobe/Osaka, and deigned to play at our local stadium last night. The opposing team, the Yakult Swallows, has the threatening symbol of... an umbrella. Really. To be named after yogurt and then have an umbrella as a mascot? We stopped laughing when it started raining and those Yakult fans looked pretty dry. Damn you, Yakult.
 I met up with Hiro (who isn't much of a baseball fan) and his friend (who is a rabid Tigers fan), and we randomly found ourselves in a section with 5 of my elementary kids and their families. It's an hour and a half drive from my town to the stadium, but Tigers mania knows no bounds. Every player has a different cheer, which are organized by official cheerleaders in the Brainwashed section. It's creepy, but in a friendly way. Happy cult life! The only cheer I could read was for token-gaijin Andy Sheets, in quasi-English:
"Andeeee! Andeeee! Here we go hero of the revolution let's go Andy hit hit Andeeeee Andeeee."
Yet, Andy struck out, and hit into a double play with a tied score and runners on base. Heroism? Oh, Andy. You've failed America, and you can no longer lead the revolution. The Tigers won in 12 innings, I made it home by 1am, and the earth cringed a few thousand more times over the rainstorm of latex after the traditional "Miracle of Life" sperm-balloon show in the 7th. (Hey guys, it's this way! Follow me...)
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posted by Raychaa @ 3:50 PM  |
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| So wrong it's right. And then wrong. And then wrong again... welcome to the inaka. |
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Name: Raychaa
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About Me: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient'. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.” (Florence Nightingale)
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