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Published: April 29th 2008
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Yahoo! Dome
This picture is taken from the walkway linking the Yahoo! Dome to a mall called Hawks Town. Basically, Nicole and my sport experience in Japan can be summed up in two words: sumo and baseball. For some background on sumo, see the Osaka II entry. In our down hours, Nicole and I would often find ourselves catching highlights from a sumo tournament in Osaka. First of all, it was really easy to follow with but a limited knowledge of Japanese and secondly we had somebody to root for, namely Yokozuna Hakuho, who we spotted in street clothes outside the arena when we were in Osaka.
I think one of the experiences that I will probably never forget is the Fukuoka Hawks game we attended in the Yahoo! Dome. That's right, Japanese baseball (yakyu) is way ahead of the curve in terms of the corporate sponsorship game. Personally, I'm glad that the Anaheim Angels weren't the Disney Angels or, to switch sports, that the Seattle Supersonics never became the Starbucks Triple Shot Venti Sonics. But as was pointed out to me the other day, the prominence of corporate sponsorship in Japanese baseball allows for a name like the
Nippon Ham Fighters.
Moving on to the actual game...Nicole and I arrived about an hour early and took our
Vendor
This is one of the ubiquitous vendors of, in this case, beer. Notice the barrel-shaped backpack. You could make a killing selling these in the US. seats in the outfield bleachers. What immediately jumped out at both of us was the abundance of food vendors making their rounds through the stadium. When we arrived, I think the vendors outnumbered the fans, it was a veritable congo line of orange jackets. One innovation that has yet to make its way to the states is the back-mounted beer keg. One of these days! Also missing in the states are takoyaki (octopus pancake) vendors, who are immediately identifiable by the plastic octopus glued on to their hats. Although I only noticed one at the game. I bet wearing the plastic octopus hat is a position of honor. Anyways, I don't think that idea will make it across the Pacific.
At about 1/2 hour before game time, the speakers, which had been essentially mute, blared with music that reminded me of the theme song of a morning cartoon I used to watch called Star Blazers...basically something like Japanese opera sung in a mighty baritone. In addition to the Hawks fight song, a platoon of flag bearers formed a line behind the outfield bleachers and waved their flags to the music (see video). This brief flurry of frenetic energy was
Yell Leader
One of several during the Hawks' at bats. only a prelude to the actual game.
On a side note, one of the pleasant surprises that I didn't account for was that the manager for the Hawks is Sadaharu Oh. Before the game, he and Bobby Valentine, the manager for the visiting Chiba Lotte Marines, exchanged flowers. Why, I can't exactly say.
As in the US, the visitors bat first. Unlike the US, a whole section of the left field bleachers came to life with drums pounding and horns blaring in support of the visiting Marines. Let me qualify that...during many of those lean pre-Griffey years for the Seattle Mariners, Blue Jay fans from Vancouver would often out number Mariner fans when the Jays visited the Dome. It was kind of like that, only more organized, frighteningly so. It seemed like they had a chant for every hitter in the Chiba lineup. The only chant I could make out was one that went "OK Ortiz" clap, clap, cla-cla-clap. OK, so that one didn't take much time or ingenuity, but I'm telling you it takes commitment to be a Japanese baseball fan. As for the home team, they were not to be outdone. About fifteen rows up in
Balloons
By this point, the balloons are pretty much deflated and look like a bunch of big yellow sea monkeys. each outfield section stood a small platform upon which a yell leader would stand to lead cheers. Again, each batter had his own cheer, multiple cheers in some instances, in addition to a choreographed series of hand motions. It was all very complicated; so much so that I pretty much missed the whole bottom of the first because I was so mesmerized by the cheering. By the next inning, I learned how to split my attention between the well ordered craziness and the game. Oh, and speaking of ordered craziness, I believe the Fukuoka fans have about the oddest seventh inning ritual ever. Before the game, I noticed a bunch of people buying packs of yellow balloons (one of the Fukuoka team colors). By about the fifth inning, I noticed some people starting to blow the balloons up and hold them by the nozzle. OK, I get it, I like balloons too. By the top of the seventh, nearly everybody in the stadium had a full balloon in their hands. The stadium looked like a meadow from some very weird alien planet...a sea full of three foot yellow stalks gently swaying in the air conditioned drafts. After Chiba was retired
Inflatable Hawk
Should have got a video of this one! and the seventh inning stretch began, I think the spokesperson for the Fukuoka Hawks started a counted, at the end of which, everybody let go of their balloon nozzle. In a manner of seconds, thousands of sputtering bananas were afloat in the Yahoo! Dome (see picture). It was quite remarkable actually. What was even more remarkable is that all those balloons were picked up before the inning ended. There's no way I'd agree to be an usher for a Hawks game...what a pain in the ass!
Of all the embellishments that I witnessed at the Hawks game, my favorite by far was the inflatable hawk. Oh yes, there is an inflatable hawk atop an inflatable Coke can in straightaway center field (all told, I'd say this thing stood about 30 feet tall). The emergence of this spectacle is the finale of the pre-game fight song. Needless to say, I was unprepared for this phenomenon and frankly awestruck by its corny grandeur. However, I knew that such a ingenious thing would not be wasted on an event that could only ever happen once a game. No, I had a feeling that the creators of the inflatable hawk had bigger plans in mind. It must have been about the fourth inning when the Hawks' 1B, Michael Restikov, hit a two run shot over the left field fence. Lo and behold, the hawk emerged! (see picture) The stadium was awash with chants of "Mai-ke-ru, Mai-ke-ru!" I know Shea Stadium has the apple, the Kingdome had the USS Mariner (which fired its cannon after a Mariner homerun), but the only celebration that comes close--and possible outdoes--the inflatable hawk is the ritual of Billy Brewer taking a slide into the giant beer mug in Milwaukee.
Turns out the game went into extra innings...like 13 innings or so. Nicole and I left by the 8th, due to a disagreement between a hot dog and Nicole's belly. I wonder if the fans lost any steam in the extra frames. I, for one, am glad we left when we did. BTW, I didn't notice a higher propensity toward small ball or pitchers wasting 2-2 pitches as noted by Robert Whiting in
The Samurai Way of Baseball.
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