THE HANSHIN TIGERS
Who are they?! How can you affort not to know them!? Think baseball!
Yesterday, we went to the historic Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, the oldest and most famous ballpark in Japan and the home of the Hanshin Tigers to watch the game between the Tigers and the Yokohama Bluestars. Babe Ruth even played there once - in 1934. The Stadium is old, man! It gave Laura the scares to think if an earthquake should occur but we were easily distracted as we looked on enviously at what has to be the best maintained outfield (any field for that matter) in Japan. Real carpet grass!
But, baseball is no spectator sport. Apparently when we got to Koshien, we already had missed the first two innings and for a league game that had already started, there was no atmosphere of it. You couldn't tell from the way people were still strolling into the ballpark. I was kind of waiting for the tension in the game to break, the moment when the umpire's whistle blows, when the crowd cheers, when the game's on! And we were chatting away until we realized that, Hang on, something's moving on field! Eh? The blue and the whites were swapping... Oh! It was already the end of the third inning!
Alright, so it didn't help that it was my first time at a baseball game and I didn't know the game of baseball. I never even played rounders. I sort of got the idea about the pitcher, the batter and the loaded bases but I really didn't catch on about baseball until it was the eigth inning. There are some games you catch on by watching. In baseball, there are just too many variables. But it was fun watching the crowd in the meantime.
At the end of the sixth inning, it was clear that the Hanshin Tiger fans were really what I came to watch. By default of the paraphenelia I had purchased outside the stadium and that I was a "local" to the Hanshin area, I was a Tigers fan. With my bat-shaped Hanshin noisemakers I was joining in on the fun!
At the Koshien Ballpark!
A stadium-full of testosterone! How could we possibly fail in our mission?
Who'se going to get to the egg first?
Go Hanshins!
Audio: To The Ends Of The Earth on Hillsong Hope.
Biblio:
Cerebrio: God, thank you for the people you put in my life in Japan. They are precious.
Yesterday, we went to the historic Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, the oldest and most famous ballpark in Japan and the home of the Hanshin Tigers to watch the game between the Tigers and the Yokohama Bluestars. Babe Ruth even played there once - in 1934. The Stadium is old, man! It gave Laura the scares to think if an earthquake should occur but we were easily distracted as we looked on enviously at what has to be the best maintained outfield (any field for that matter) in Japan. Real carpet grass!
But, baseball is no spectator sport. Apparently when we got to Koshien, we already had missed the first two innings and for a league game that had already started, there was no atmosphere of it. You couldn't tell from the way people were still strolling into the ballpark. I was kind of waiting for the tension in the game to break, the moment when the umpire's whistle blows, when the crowd cheers, when the game's on! And we were chatting away until we realized that, Hang on, something's moving on field! Eh? The blue and the whites were swapping... Oh! It was already the end of the third inning!
Alright, so it didn't help that it was my first time at a baseball game and I didn't know the game of baseball. I never even played rounders. I sort of got the idea about the pitcher, the batter and the loaded bases but I really didn't catch on about baseball until it was the eigth inning. There are some games you catch on by watching. In baseball, there are just too many variables. But it was fun watching the crowd in the meantime.
At the end of the sixth inning, it was clear that the Hanshin Tiger fans were really what I came to watch. By default of the paraphenelia I had purchased outside the stadium and that I was a "local" to the Hanshin area, I was a Tigers fan. With my bat-shaped Hanshin noisemakers I was joining in on the fun!
At the Koshien Ballpark!
A stadium-full of testosterone! How could we possibly fail in our mission?
Who'se going to get to the egg first?
Go Hanshins!
Audio: To The Ends Of The Earth on Hillsong Hope.
Biblio:
Cerebrio: God, thank you for the people you put in my life in Japan. They are precious.
posted by The Chilibuddy @ 6:25 pm ::
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