Keio 6 vs Waseda 4 - Tokyo Big 6 University Championship - May 31, 2010

This past weekend saw the final games of the spring semester of Tokyo's Big 6 University League. As is tradition, these games featured Keio and Waseda, two of Japan's most prestigious universities, who have fought a fierce baseball rivalry since 1903. Known as Soukeisen (combining the alternate reading for the Wa character in Waseda (Sou), the Kei from Keio, and Sen which means battle), this weekend's games had some additional intrigue: the winner...

Read More

July trip to Minnesota and Iowa set!

I'm back in Japan and already itching to return to the States for more baseball. Fortunately, the Minnesota Twins have opened a new stadium this season and I am compelled to make a pilgrimage. I've chosen a weekend series against the White Sox from July 16-18 which turns out to be a nice coincidence as fellow sports road trippers Gary Herman and Mike "The King" Casiano from New York and Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell from Buffalo will be there. Gary maintains his own blog called Royalty Tours which details his adventures, and he has a lot of them....

Read More

Hamamatsu wins the bj League

While I was on my recent trip, the bj League held its playoffs over a two-week period. The quarterfinals took place on the weekend of May 15th with the top team in each conference hosting the 4th-place finisher while the 2-seed welcomed the third-place team for a two-game series. What is interesting about this format is that if the teams split these two games, a 10-minute "mini-game" is held to determine which team advances. In three cases, this wasn't required as the home team won both games. The Tokyo Apache, who finished fourth, were summarily...

Read More

Final Playoff Thoughts

Both the NBA and NHL seasons are nearing completion. Yet again the mindless media talks incessantly about the NBA, which saw 3 sweeps in their conference semi-finals and what looked to be a couple of boring semi-final series before Phoenix won the last two over the Lakers and Orlando found a heart. Still, a rather dull playoffs overall but the American media yaks on and on about LeBron and he's not even playing!The NHL, on the other hand, has put on a great show to almost no fanfare. Philadelphia's comeback over Boston, Halak's performance in the...

Read More

Looking Around Los Angeles

I like to post a little about each city that I visit. Perhaps an attraction that might not get much notice, or an area of town that is worth a visit. Everyone knows about Disneyland and Universal Studios in LA, but many people spend their entire time in LA outside of the downtown area, which has a few things that might be intriguing.Japanese American National MuseumThere is an area in downtown LA known as Little Tokyo which is historically where...

Read More

Toronto Blue Jays 6 at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 0 - May 25, 2010

After a busy sports Sunday in Phoenix, I woke early Monday morning and spent 6 hours along I--10 driving to Anaheim. It was a good drive with no traffic jams and I arrived around noon, in plenty of time to see the Jays taking on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the first of a 3-game set.Getting TicketsI arrived quite early at the ballpark and approached a ticket window. I noticed that the lady had a sign indicating that she spoke Japanese. With...

Read More

Los Angeles Lakers 109 at Phoenix Suns 118 - NBA Western Conference Finals Game 3 - May 23, 2010

Jump ballWhen the Phoenix Suns defeated San Antonio in round 2 of the NBA playoffs, I knew that they would be playing sometime around the time I would be visiting the city. But the NBA initially scheduled only the first two games that were to be played in LA. I worried that they might set games 3 and 4 in conflict with the Jays games that I was planning to see, but NBA commish David Stern is a regular reader I guess as he kindly set game 3 for Sunday...

Read More

Blue Jays take 1 of 3 in Phoenix

From section 300, row 32, seat 1 - farthest seat from home plateInterleague play began this weekend and the Blue Jays were in Arizona to visit the Diamondbacks. I had circled these 3 games when the schedule came out late last year as it combined my favourite baseball team and favourite baseball destination. I've posted plenty on Phoenix, so will just talk briefly about each game here as detailed recaps are available in about a million places on the...

Read More

San Francisco Giants 7 at Arizona Diamondbacks 8 - May 20, 2010

I'm back in Phoenix for the 3rd time in 3 years. I love the hot desert weather, the In-N-Out burgers, and the scenic drives nearby. Of course, right now Arizona is going through some problems with their new immigration law that permits police to stop those they suspect of being illegal immigrants. As a foreigner in Japan, that sort of treatment is something we are also subject to. It's never happened to me, but friends have reported the occasional...

Read More