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Off-Day Pissing Contest

April 12, 2010 by 17 Comments

I’m starting an irregular tradition, although there are better things, even on this site, I could be doing with my time.

I’m giving our loyal and friendly readers, which would be you, something to talk about on a day with no game.

I’m going to pathetically brag, in the hope that you will one up me or fill in my gaps, and we’ll have something to talk about until the next game.

Here goes:

  • I’ve seen every team in NPB play at least one game, every season, since 2004.
  • I’ve seen Tokyo play every team in the NPB, at least once a season, since 2006.
  • I’ve seen Tokyo play in every stadium in Kanto (Jingu, Tokyo Dome, Yokohama, Chiba Marine, and Seibu Dome) at least once a season for each of the past three years.
  • I’ve seen seen Tokyo play an away game against every other Central League team at least once.
  • I’ve seen ten of the 12 NPB teams play regular season games at home.
  • I’ve seen regular season games at 9 of the 13 regularly-used NPB stadia (I’ve seen games at the old Hiroshima Civic Stadium and have been to the badly-named Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium Hiroshima, but not seen a game there.)
  • I’ve seen Tokyo play at three irregular stadia (Kure, Matsuyama, and Sagamihara.)

In MLB:

  • I’ve been to only four teams’ stadia: Cubs, Indians, Marlins, and Nationals (but I’ve been to both Cleveland Municipal and Jacobs Field.)
  • I’ve seen the following MLB teams play regular season games: Cubs, Indians, Marlins, White Sox, Brewers, Yankees, Red Sox, Rockies, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, Mets, Rays, Braves, Tigers, Angels, Giants, A’s, Mariners, Rangers, and Astros. I think that’s it.

CPBL:

  • I once watched most of a Brother Elephants vs. Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions game on TV in a hotel room in Taipei while drinking Taiwan Beer. (Not impressive, I know.)

Top me. Beat me. (In a nice way.) Let’s go from here, sports fans. Enjoy the off-day.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zebulun-Paul-Benbrook/672272151 Zebulun Paul Benbrook

    I've been to one Swallows game, but I've seen two Bay Stars games while they were on the road.
    I watch games online when I happen to be up in the middle of the night.
    I've been to a Cardinals game once, and I've been to see the Rangers AAA affiliate, the Oklahoma City Redhawks/89ers, a few times.
    My pee is barely dribbling out compared to yours. Still, that's a damn impressive resume.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryo-Uchida/1486756389 Ryo Uchida

    I think I wrote about it here before, but I saw Shiroishi's lone hit of the 2008 season live at Skymark Stadium. That was pretty exciting seeing his average hiccup from 0 to two-digits.
    Besides that my resume really sucks.

    • http://tokyoswallows.com/ Garrett DeOrio

      Ryo, you saw Shiroishi hit. You win. (And I've never been to SkyMark.)

  • http://www.facebook.com/Kozo.Ota Kozo Ota

    You're list is quite impressive, and certainly more impressive than mine, but let me see if I can fill in some holes.

    NPB:
    -I've seen the Hawks play at the Yahoo! Dome. (I'm assuming this is one of your missing stadium visits.)
    -I saw Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch to Ichiro at the Seibu Dome in 2000. (Fairly impressive when you consider they only have 2 seasons in common in NPB.)
    -I've only been to the Tokyo Dome for Nippon Ham home games. (That will change when I see the Swallows/Giants game during GW.)

    MLB:
    -I've been to both Canadian Major League stadiums, the Olympic Stadium in Montreal and the SkyDome in Toronto, and only those two stadium.
    -I've also managed to see a Toronto vs. Montreal game in each season from 1999 to 2004. The only games in Major League baseball where the American national anthem was not played.
    -I've also seen every National League team play at the Olympic Stadium over the years 1994 to 2004.
    -I've also seen the Yankees, Mariners, Tigers, and White Sox, play regular season games. (I'm sure I've missed an AL team or two.)
    -Finally I saw Hideo Nomo throw his second career no-hitter live on television. Not as impressive as seeing a no-hitter live, but still pretty cool.

    • http://tokyoswallows.com/ Garrett DeOrio

      Kozo, you definitely win a few points there, my good man. I've never been to a Canadian MLB stadium. To see every NL team play a now moved-on team surely gives you all kinds of nostalgia and irreplicability points.

      • http://tokyoswallows.com/ Garrett DeOrio

        And, yes, Fukuoka is one of the two teams I've never seen play at home. Orix is the other. I've been to Fukuoks, Kobe, and Osaka – and like all three – but I have some work to do yet.

        • http://www.facebook.com/Kozo.Ota Kozo Ota

          Fukuoka Dome is a pretty fun time. Their version of Patrick Yu, DJ Max, is absolutely ridiculous.

      • http://www.facebook.com/Kozo.Ota Kozo Ota

        Nostalgia and irreplicability points, and a lot of bittersweet memories. I basically watched a franchise die a slow death, knowing that any success we saw on the field would be fleeting.

  • http://japaneats.tv/ Christopher Pellegrini

    I once spent the entire duration of two rain delays (20 minutes each separated by about 30 minutes of rainlessness) dancing in the picnic area at the back of the right field bleachers.

    • http://tokyoswallows.com/ Garrett DeOrio

      Zero points. The hardcore always stay out in the rain. I will now point out that, having been a fairly heavy smoker prior to this season, I have spent very little time abovedecks during rain delays.
      Twenty minutes barely counts.
      You can scrape some credit up if you can establish that your dancing both drew a crowd and was scandalously sexy.

      • http://japaneats.tv/ Christopher Pellegrini

        Oh, I was out in the rain, baby. Just me and Sugi-san getting all interpretive with the J-Pop groove being thrown at us by the loudspeakers. No real audience to speak of other than Naka-san who was laughing hysterically at, and occasionally mimicking, us–absolutely beside himself with shochu.

        But we were dead sexy.

        • http://tokyoswallows.com/ David Watkins

          Knowing you both, that last line can't possibly be true.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=595987775 Kyoko Yoshikawa

    I waited for Dobashi and Furuta outside of the stadium after the game for over one hour.

    • http://tokyoswallows.com/ Garrett DeOrio

      Did you get a date?

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=595987775 Kyoko Yoshikawa

        “Between two stools you fall to the ground.” :'(

  • MooreyTokyo

    OK, with 4 years of Swallows supporting under my sleeve, I have a few points. Not to match Garrett, but hey – he wouldn't have started this thread if he didn't fancy his own resume as being pretty strong…

    * Swallows lost every one of the first 8 games I saw live, the first ever being a 9-1 reverse at Jingu Vs Hawks. At the 9th attempt we finally won. I wish I could remember the game, or the score, but it was 4 years ago and the stadium beers did their evil worst.

    * I've seen Swallows play every Central League team at least once a season since 2006. And every Pacific League team at least once period.

    * I've seen Swallows play in 4 of the 5 Kanto stadiums at least once a year since 2007. Jingu, Tokyo Dome, Yokohama and Chiba. This year, I will add Seibu to the list….

    * I've seen Swallows play a 3 game away series in the Climax Series. Obviously, that means Dragons away last year.

    MLB
    * I've only ever been to 1 MLB game (I'm English) but it was an absolute cracker. In (the amazing) CitiField I saw Fernando Tatis hit the first pinch-hit grand slam in nine years for the Mets. if you're interested….

    http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=2…

    James

    • http://tokyoswallows.com/ Garrett DeOrio

      Nicely done. with this:
      “* I've seen Swallows play a 3 game away series in the Climax Series. Obviously, that means Dragons away last year.”
      . . .you score a big point over me. I've never seen the Swallows play a postseason game in person.

      I feel obliged to up the ante now. Being from South Florida to begin with, I managed to use a trip home to catch a couple of WBC games at Dolphins Stadium (since renamed, again – worst venue in MLB) to bring my 2009 WBC total to 8 games: all six in Tokyo, two in South Florida (they call it Miami, but the stadium is in Miami like the Marines play in Tokyo.) Airfares in the US being fairly cheap and not having been to Southern California since I was 14, I thought about flying out to LA to watch the final until I looked at the absurd ticket prices – $50 for a spot on a bench in exile, and up to $600 for the best seats in the house.