Top League Rugby Doubleheader - November 27, 2010

I'm going to stop posting detailed recaps of games I see where there is nothing new to report. For example, this past weekend I went to a Top League Rugby doubleheader which was completely uneventful. I saw a couple of games in this league last year, and had found it somewhat entertaining, so was looking to make a return visit. A friend of mine had expressed interest as well, so I invited him along last weekend to attend what would be my final sporting...

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Okinawa Options

Okinawa is the resort island of Japan, located about 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, or a 2.5 hour flight from Haneda Airport. The main island, known as Okinawa Island, is where most of the sights are, but there are plenty of smaller islands further south that are used as resorts and are excellent for scuba diving and other water pursuits. Okinawa was once called Ryukyu and was a completely separate entity from Japan, which allows it to retain some...

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Honda FC 2 at FC Ryukyu 2 (JFL) - November 21, 2010

I'm in Okinawa, the southernmost island chain in Japan, famous for great food and warm weather. As Tokyo begins its descent into another dreary and depressing winter, I decided on a few days here to visit with friends and take a break from sports. Or so I thought.Before leaving, I did a cursory check to see if the bj League's team in Okinawa, the Ryukyu Golden Kings, had a home game while I was here. They did not. So I figured I wouldn't bother with...

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Staples Center Sports Spectacular

Sports roadtrips are fun but can be tiring. When I'm alone, the goal is to see a game a day which means that I rarely spend more than two days in the same city, moving from hotel to hotel, packing and unpacking, and getting very little time to relax. I've always wanted to spend an extended period of time in one city watching games - it can be done during the baseball season where teams often have 10-game homestands, but is much more difficult during the winter where hockey and basketball teams rarely play back-to-back home games.However, sometimes...

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Asian Championship Doubleheader - November 13, 2010

In a rather interesting coincidence, two sports held their continental championship games in Tokyo on the same day. Suffering from a lack of live sports recently, I decided to check out both matches.Game 1 - Chiba Lotte Marines 3 SK Wyverns 0 - Japan-Korea Club ChampionshipBetween 2005 and 2008, the four Asian baseball federations (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China) held a tournament in Tokyo to decide the Asian champion. It wasn't particularly exciting...

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Year-end Road Trip Schedule

Next month I'll be taking a five-week trip to Canada and the US to see 25 or so games. I originally had planned 7 weeks in North America, but the dollar-a-day rental car special added a wrinkle that changed things quite a bit. I also need to return to Japan in early January, so the week of AHL games and the Boston visit in the middle of the month was deleted from the plan. So here is the final schedule:Dec 1 Washington Wizards at Toronto Raptors 7:00Dec 3 Calgary Flames at Minnesota Wild 7:00Dec 4 Cleveland Cavaliers at Minnesota Timberwolves...

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Why Ties Suck in Baseball - 2010 Postseason Edition

Regular readers know I don't particularly like a lot of things about Japanese baseball. The long games are the most annoying problem, but a close second is that ties are part of the game. I've posted how ties are ignored in the standings which is stupid because teams with more wins end up with worse records.Well, I now have another reason to hate ties. Last night's Japan Series game went 15 innings and finished 2-2. The Chiba Lotte Marines led the series 3-2 over the Chunichi Dragons and both teams had their aces going, so it was expected to be...

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Nabisco Cup Final - Jublio Iwata 5 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3 - November 3, 2010

This past Wednesday was Culture Day in Japan which meant it was time for the final of the Nabisco Cup, the J League's equivalent to the Carling Cup. I watched it last year so won't write about the tournament structure this time, interested readers can check out last year's post.The TeamsAlthough the game is played in Tokyo, the teams are labeled as visitor and home so the fans buy the right tickets. The visitors were Sanfrecce Hiroshima. I actually...

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Watering Down the Playoffs

Well, the baseball season is over and the San Francisco Giants have won the World Series. Fortunately, they are a deserving team, having won their division. Their 92-70 record wasn't spectacular, but it was good. That makes sense as they are a good team, and it showed in the playoffs as they won 3 series in convincing fashion.Now comes word that Bud Selig is pushing for an extra wild card team in each league starting in 2012. As a Blue Jay fan, I should be happy with this idea as it gives them an increased chance at the playoffs. But instead, I...

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