America started baseball. America started KFC. America popularized Christmas. America loves curses and conspiracy theories. How did all of these come over to Japan in one fowl swoop? And how do they relate to Hanshin? Read on…
Daily Sports Column (Japanese) Here デイリースポーツの日本語版はこちら As someone whose lack of athletic ability should have meant never dreaming of playing professional sports, I shifted to dreaming of reporting about sports at a pretty young age. But even that dream came to a screeching halt after a year of college. I resigned to the career that…
Daily Sports Column (Japanese) Here True Hanshin Tigers fans have had their worlds rocked no fewer than four times in the last month*. While baseball is “just a game” and we need not get too uptight or depressed over what happens on the field, we also need to remember that each guy involved with the…
Daily Sports column (in Japanese) can be seen here デイリースポーツのコラムはこちら You know, I can still remember one of the first things I was told when I arrived in Japan: “Nihongo ga jozu!” (Your Japanese is really good!) There are two ironies about this comment: (1) My Japanese was not very good at all – all…
When the tone of my tweets got called out by a professional baseball player, it got me thinking about who I am in the Twitterverse, and what my role is there. Do I need to tone things down some???
Daily Sports Column (Japanese) Here / デイリースポーツのコラムはこちら Being an avid Tigers fan and blogger means making connections with all sorts of people from all over the world. The world, you say? Through Hanshin??? The most staunchly traditional Japanese team in NPB? Yes, yes and yes. In fact, those connections have not all been with people…
Daily Sports Column in Japanese here / デイリースポーツのコラムはこちら Nothing happens by accident. At least that’s how life can feel at times. I trace the fateful encounter I had with my future wife on an airplane in Vancouver back in 2010 to a young 12-year-old boy in Okinawa who told me I should apply to work…
Let me see if I can wrap my head around yet another incredible night at the ballpark. But first, a bit of background on how I got tickets. Some of you might remember that back in December 2017, I was featured in Daily Sports Online (a big-time Kobe sports newspaper). The journalist who interviewed me…
Whenever a new manager takes over the reins of the Hanshin Tigers chariot, the media seems to find every last one of his ex-teammates to ask their thoughts on how they think he will fare. Who would have thought that asking George Arias this question would result in a desire to join the coaching staff?
What’s a fan? Why do we do what we do? What’s up with autograph seekers? These questions and more are addressed in the latest edition of T-Ray’s Daily Sports column.