Summer Koshien
Sorry for havign multiple posts on a single day, but I don`t get to access a computer much nowadays. Hopefully this will change soon. Now, without futher delay, here is Summer Koshien:
Most of Japanese TV is pretty incomprehensible to me, although it can be fun to watch what is going on even if I don`t understand what is going on or why. I have a lot of fun watching dubbed American movies that I have seen before, even though they all seem to have Stallone as the main character(last night was Demolition Man). I am hoping that this is just like a week long Stallone special, and not the standard for all year round. Although, they do such a bad Stallone impersination with the dubbing, that it is almost worth it.
The best thing on Japanese TV for me right now though, is the Summer Koshien. For those that don`t know, the Summer Koshien is the major High School Baseball tournament during the summer. Baseball doesn`t really need any words, and they use both the same scoreboard and terminology that Americans do. There is a preliminary during March(the Spring Koshien, where only 2nd and 3rd years can play), but the real meat is here in the summer Koshien. I have always predicted that sports are more entertaining at nonprofessional levels due to the variance in play. What I mean is, the inperfections of the players allow events to happen that would not normally happen in professional sports. These kids overthrow to basemen, swing hard against bad pitches, bunt for the hell of it, bean players with pitches often, and generally allow something amazing to happen not two or three times a game, but two or three times an inning.
They also play with their entire heart, for at this stage of the tournament at least, it is SINGLE ELIMINATION. While quite inaccurate for determining actual rank of ability, single elimination does add something to the game, emotion. These are a bunch of 15-18 year old kids, many of which this is their last time ever playing in this tournament, and they get one shot. They have also never seen Tom Hanks in the movie "A League of Their Own". These kids cry. And I don`t mean one player every once in a while gets a sniffle, I mean that every player on the losing team in every game start bawling. Japanese TV is smart enough to realize that they should zoom in tight on the crying whenever possible. The best is when the game isn`t over, but a team knows they have lost(10-2 in the 8th or something). The kids start crying early, then have to wipe tears and continue playing. You can still see the tear marks running down the face of the kid at bat.
I know it sounds kinda mean, but if you watched it you would enjoy it too. These kids are in the full Japanese work mentality, and the pressure is extreme. Unlike America, the stadiums are full of cheerleaders from their home schools, and the whole place is like a mad house. The play itself is fun to watch, but the emotions and spectacle of the whole event are the real show. At the very least, it beats Stallone in "Over the Top" (on two nights ago). If you don`t know this movie, here is the plot summary from IMDB:
Lincoln Hawk (Stallone) is a struggling trucker who's trying to rebuild his life. After the death of his ex-wife, he tries to make amends with his son who he left behind years earlier. Upon their first meeting, his son doesn't think too highly of him until he enters the nation-wide arm wrestling competition in Las Vegas.
The Tagline: Lincoln Hawk will fight for his son the only way he knows how.
I will leave you with that, for now :)
Most of Japanese TV is pretty incomprehensible to me, although it can be fun to watch what is going on even if I don`t understand what is going on or why. I have a lot of fun watching dubbed American movies that I have seen before, even though they all seem to have Stallone as the main character(last night was Demolition Man). I am hoping that this is just like a week long Stallone special, and not the standard for all year round. Although, they do such a bad Stallone impersination with the dubbing, that it is almost worth it.
The best thing on Japanese TV for me right now though, is the Summer Koshien. For those that don`t know, the Summer Koshien is the major High School Baseball tournament during the summer. Baseball doesn`t really need any words, and they use both the same scoreboard and terminology that Americans do. There is a preliminary during March(the Spring Koshien, where only 2nd and 3rd years can play), but the real meat is here in the summer Koshien. I have always predicted that sports are more entertaining at nonprofessional levels due to the variance in play. What I mean is, the inperfections of the players allow events to happen that would not normally happen in professional sports. These kids overthrow to basemen, swing hard against bad pitches, bunt for the hell of it, bean players with pitches often, and generally allow something amazing to happen not two or three times a game, but two or three times an inning.
They also play with their entire heart, for at this stage of the tournament at least, it is SINGLE ELIMINATION. While quite inaccurate for determining actual rank of ability, single elimination does add something to the game, emotion. These are a bunch of 15-18 year old kids, many of which this is their last time ever playing in this tournament, and they get one shot. They have also never seen Tom Hanks in the movie "A League of Their Own". These kids cry. And I don`t mean one player every once in a while gets a sniffle, I mean that every player on the losing team in every game start bawling. Japanese TV is smart enough to realize that they should zoom in tight on the crying whenever possible. The best is when the game isn`t over, but a team knows they have lost(10-2 in the 8th or something). The kids start crying early, then have to wipe tears and continue playing. You can still see the tear marks running down the face of the kid at bat.
I know it sounds kinda mean, but if you watched it you would enjoy it too. These kids are in the full Japanese work mentality, and the pressure is extreme. Unlike America, the stadiums are full of cheerleaders from their home schools, and the whole place is like a mad house. The play itself is fun to watch, but the emotions and spectacle of the whole event are the real show. At the very least, it beats Stallone in "Over the Top" (on two nights ago). If you don`t know this movie, here is the plot summary from IMDB:
Lincoln Hawk (Stallone) is a struggling trucker who's trying to rebuild his life. After the death of his ex-wife, he tries to make amends with his son who he left behind years earlier. Upon their first meeting, his son doesn't think too highly of him until he enters the nation-wide arm wrestling competition in Las Vegas.
The Tagline: Lincoln Hawk will fight for his son the only way he knows how.
I will leave you with that, for now :)
posted by Omega037 @ 8:27 PM
1 Comments:
At 1:40 PM,
b0b said…
ah nice, now there's a country that knows how to do baseball. i bet they don't take a ten minute break every time there's a play either. you know what would be great? japanese dodgeball. those kids would be trained harder and come out tougher than the JSDF. glory through battle! death to the enemies of the emperor!
take that hello kitty generation!
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