Baseball ...

Hanshin Tigers vs Hiroshima Crap (I mean Carp):

A few weeks ago the gang & I packed it up, packed it in & headed to Momotaro Stadium in Kurashiki to watch the Tigers destroy the Carp. At least that's what I thought was going to happen. I've been wrong about games in the past ... HAHA.

Jonathan and I sitting in the outfield ... the best (& craziest) seats in the house:

The Tigers are known in Japan for having the craziest fans, so of course we fit right in. These people are hardcore, too. They know every cheer (yes, they have rehearsed cheers that we got a print out of when we walked in), they know all the stats, they got all the gear, and they are super excited about beer and baseball. Obviously I'm a Tigers fan.

A Fujimoto fan ... they decorate themselves up with a whole bunch of kanji and wear pretty ridiculous 'player pants'. Oh, she has hot pink tiger ears on too.

Daniel & I enjoying a little baseball fun in the sun ... with my super huge visor that Yoko's husband insisted I wear to the game. :)

And this crazy man was also pretty insistent ... only he insisted that we sit next to him and drink all of his beer and sake and eat all of his snacks. And we had no problem doing just that. He was a riot, and a serious Tigers fan.

A little game action ... and yes, there is in fact no grass. The sad thing is I didn't even notice until Kurt pointed it out. I'm so used to living without grass that I didn't think twice about an all dirt field. Sad, I know.

And these were our 'cheer leaders', seriously. I'm going to estimate that we were engaged in some sort of cheer for at least 80% of the game. Every batter had their own cheer that a band and drum corps would start playing when they came up to bat, the whistle blowers would instruct you on when to clap, the trumpets would let you know when to yell, and anyone who did anything outside of what you were supposed to be doing at any given time would get a very strange look from almost the entire section of crazed Tigers fans. That's real Japanese style. I kind of liked it at first ... & then after about the fourth, I started to hate it.

Kevin Mench is an outfielder for the Tigers who played for the Rangers from 2002-2006. He signed for a year with the carp back in December and when he was up to bat EVERYONE in the stands looked at us (the group of foreigners) as though we were supposed to be cheering extra loud. So since we didn't want to disappoint, we did. :)
Although we didn't have an American flag to wave like these people did:

Who doesn't love a little 7th inning action? Stand up, do a little stretching. Catch a t-shirt if you're at a Bucks game. :) Warm up your vocal cords. You know, singing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' is as baseball as beer & bad calls. It's not something you question because you are guaranteed that it will happen. You don't think 'hmm, I wonder if we will sing 'Take Me Out ot the Ball Game' today?' in the same way you don't think 'hmm, I wonder if they will be serving beer & dome dogs'. It's an essential part of the game.  You can't NOT sing it. The idea is ludicrous. But obviously in Japan they don't get it.

Everything in the 7th inning was so wrong. First of all, the Tigers were down by 2. That wasn't right. Secondly, no one was standing up for the stretch. Hmm.... Instead, the were reaching down in their pockets for balloons. Yes, balloons. As they started blowing them up I seriously thought someone was going to start making balloon animals like that weird guy does at iHOP on Sunday mornings. But nope, they blew them up (did NOT tie them) & then just sat there.

Like this ... Daniel & I had no idea what was going on:

And then they started singing while fist pumping their strange shaped balloons in the air. It definitely wasn't and rendition of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' I'm familiar with. All I could do was shake my head. This is the worst 7th inning I've ever been a part of. Even worse than that one night at the Bucks game. :)

Oh yea, and when the song was over, everyone let go of their balloons and they made the strangest hissing, whizzing, annoying noise ever. Yea, I don't get it either.

The Tigers ended up losing by one, but the whole day was one big winner. The boys and I had SO much fun. From the crazy old man with the free booze, to the professional cheer leaders with the serious chants, to the trumpet players that would pop up out of the middle of nowhere Love Actually style ... everything was perfect. I love baseball season.

much love

-tara-

xx