I've found it downright fascinating to watch the Sox battle it out with pro Japanese teams from the Nippon Professional Baseball league. It's like watching a film that was originally shot in English, but that has been dubbed over with subtitles in a language you don't understand: you clearly can tell what's going on, but it's still slightly weird and unfamiliar. It looks the same as the baseball we all know and love... except, not exactly.
Here's a quick little 3-minute clip from yesterday's game against the Yomiuri Giants, for those of you who didn't get to see it live. It's a little slice of the atmosphere- very last batter of the top of the 7th, Jacoby Ellsbury is at bat, Brandon Moss is on second, Hideki Okajima is warming up in the pen.
video courtesy of MLB
Things of note:
1. They actually play the seventh inning stretch in Japan! Which they may be doing only because the American teams are in town... but still!
2. Mike Lowell sings along to the song, but with entirely different words and in a loud voice. He makes at least one person laugh. I'm betting it's alternate dirty lyrics. En Español.
3. I'm also pretty sure Mike says, "Hell no!" when the announcer tells everyone to stand up for the 7th inning stretch.
4. Even in Japan, you can clearly hear the crowd holler "root, root, root for the RED SOX". Which is awesome.
5. They play the "clap-clap-clapclapclap" sound effect for the American fans in the crowd.
Bonus:
6. You get to see Hideki Okajima warming up in the bullpen... which looks like it's in a bunker underneath the bowels of the stadium. With closed-circuit TV.
7. Okajima gets introduced to the crowd, full of fans of his old team. And the fans are ready with cheers... and flashbulbs every time he pitches.
on March 24, 2008 11:06 AM
Those baseball games in Japan are incredible. I was over there during the summer and
caught the Yomiuri Giants vs. the Yokohama Baystars.
The atmostphere during those games is much different than games over here.
I was blown away by how the home team NEVER roots against the opposing team.
They fervently cheer for their own team - even with a full section of drums and yes, cheerleaders -
but they are absolutely silent when the opposing team is batting.
But my favorite part had to be when they brought out a closer from the invisible
(it basically was to anyone from the stands) bullpen, he came out in a little golf cart-esque vehicle.
It proved much faster than the long walk from the pen to the mound that we are accustomed to here.
Lastly- they do some of the same cheers we do, but I was kind of stunned when they played the "Charge" cheer
....but not one person actually said 'charge'. I said it every time they played it and people would just turn
around and look at me like there was something wrong with me.
Typical American, I suppose.