I have to admit, this one surprised me a bit - though I do understand why.
Japan's baseball leagues (the JBL) - the Pacific League and Central League - have delayed their opening days until April 12, 2011 due to the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor problems - three strikes.
The Central League had originally agreed to a government request to delay its opener until March 29, but recently agreed to the April 12 start. The Pacific League had already set the April date as its opening day, as it has teams from the afflicted area. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles are now homeless, their ballpark in Sendai a shambles with flooding, collapsed ceilings and cracked walkways. As well, the Chiba Lotte’s QVC Marines Field was also hit hard.
Yusei Kikuchi, the Seibu Lions pitcher who grew up in neighbouring Iwate prefecture, told reporters: “Honestly, I cannot think about encouraging people by playing baseball now. The field I used to practice at, the beach I visited with my family, everything is gone now.”
Nippon Ham Fighters star pitcher Yu Darvish expressed similar dismay: “I am a baseball player and a human being as well. I cannot think about baseball alone as I normally do.”
Also, Japanese baseball officials have said it would try and alter the starting time of its night games to day games in an effort to preserve electricity - a tip of the cap to the efforts of the country to conserve power in wake of the current crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors that were damaged during the disaster two weeks ago.
Both leagues have stated that for now, there will be no extra innings for any night games that require them, meaning a lot more games may end up being tied.
Here in North America, where the season opens April 1, MLB (Major League Baseball) has likewise come to Japan’s assistance, with the New York Yankees donating $100,000, and the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres both pledging to raise funds at upcoming Japanese Heritage Days.
A few other professional sports are pitching in too. The unfortunately named San Jose Earthquakes, of Major League Soccer has donated $1 for every fan who attended their recent home opener (an unfortunate 10,525 people showed up - Toronto FC usually gets around 20,000 for a regular season game).
Now... in my opening statement I mentioned I was surprised - why? Well, baseball seems to have a unifying or even a rallying effect on people. I thought it might be a good way for people to stop dwelling (not forgetting!) on the disaster - to attempt to begin rebuilding some normalacy. But that's just my opinion. Especially after Sumo has had such big (no pun intended) problems with gambling allegations.
Somewhere arguing a called third strike,
Andrew Joseph
Japan's baseball leagues (the JBL) - the Pacific League and Central League - have delayed their opening days until April 12, 2011 due to the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor problems - three strikes.
The Central League had originally agreed to a government request to delay its opener until March 29, but recently agreed to the April 12 start. The Pacific League had already set the April date as its opening day, as it has teams from the afflicted area. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles are now homeless, their ballpark in Sendai a shambles with flooding, collapsed ceilings and cracked walkways. As well, the Chiba Lotte’s QVC Marines Field was also hit hard.
Yusei Kikuchi, the Seibu Lions pitcher who grew up in neighbouring Iwate prefecture, told reporters: “Honestly, I cannot think about encouraging people by playing baseball now. The field I used to practice at, the beach I visited with my family, everything is gone now.”
Nippon Ham Fighters star pitcher Yu Darvish expressed similar dismay: “I am a baseball player and a human being as well. I cannot think about baseball alone as I normally do.”
Also, Japanese baseball officials have said it would try and alter the starting time of its night games to day games in an effort to preserve electricity - a tip of the cap to the efforts of the country to conserve power in wake of the current crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactors that were damaged during the disaster two weeks ago.
Both leagues have stated that for now, there will be no extra innings for any night games that require them, meaning a lot more games may end up being tied.
Here in North America, where the season opens April 1, MLB (Major League Baseball) has likewise come to Japan’s assistance, with the New York Yankees donating $100,000, and the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres both pledging to raise funds at upcoming Japanese Heritage Days.
A few other professional sports are pitching in too. The unfortunately named San Jose Earthquakes, of Major League Soccer has donated $1 for every fan who attended their recent home opener (an unfortunate 10,525 people showed up - Toronto FC usually gets around 20,000 for a regular season game).
Now... in my opening statement I mentioned I was surprised - why? Well, baseball seems to have a unifying or even a rallying effect on people. I thought it might be a good way for people to stop dwelling (not forgetting!) on the disaster - to attempt to begin rebuilding some normalacy. But that's just my opinion. Especially after Sumo has had such big (no pun intended) problems with gambling allegations.
Somewhere arguing a called third strike,
Andrew Joseph
