I’ve never really liked sports. I greatly dislike American football and basketball. I’m not into hockey, soccer or most other major sports. But I can watch and enjoy baseball. I don’t know why. Many people say baseball is one of the most boring.
I’ve been to maybe 6 or so Major League games in the U.S… and now two games of professional baseball in Japan. First thing I noticed: Teams are often associated with their sponsors. Take for example the Hawks. They’re from Fukuoka, but Softbank is the sponsor or owner (too lazy to look it up right now). Anyway, people may say “Fukuoka Hawks,” “Softbank Hawks,” or some combination of the two.
Or the team in Yokohama, the Yoko DeNA Baystars. Baystars is the team name, but DeNA is the company behind them.
The next thing I noticed was there’s no short stop position. Or at least not in the two games I’ve gone to see.
And while beer is expensive (800 yen at Tokyo Dome), food was reasonably priced. Got a burger for about 250 or 300 yen.
Oh, and there are cheerleaders before the game starts, and during a short break in the middle. O_O America… ADOPT THIS NOW!
Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same thing, except in Japanese.
One of the things I enjoy about baseball–and I never realized this until my friend pointed it out to me at one of the games–is that you don’t have to focus on the game. It’s a nice time to socialize with family or friends that go with you. I’m sure can be said about other sports, but I don’t like them. =P
And baseball isn’t something I normally go see anyway. The games I saw here were both Softbank because a friend of mine hooked me up with free tickets he got at work.
There are many more pics from the July 1 game over at my SmugMug page. Click here to view them!