Shirihoudai

What a bunch of crybabies! So the coaches don’t get paid $40k for their trip to Japan like the players do and the team is all upset about it. I’m sure this will get resolved before they have to board the plane in a few hours but come on! My trips to Japan only cost me $2k at most! What the hell do you need $40k for? To eat Kobe steak every night? Trips to soapland? Buying up all the costumes and figurines in Akiba? Can’t the players chip in and pay for their coaches trips there? Thats why there is a player’s union and no coaches union, deal with it!

Do it for Daisuke! He needs this paid trip to visit his family. Oh wait, he signed a $50M contract last year. . . he can afford it.

usatoday story

I was sad and glad to see Crocop leave the UFC and go back to Japan to fight. Sad because he seemed like a shell of a fighter that used to dominate in PRIDE, but glad that he isn’t going to retire soon and we can all enjoy his decapitating high left kicks.

This Dream 1 event happened over the weekend and I totally forgot about it, damn me! But I’ll be searching the ‘net’ for the vids as soon as I finish this up. Here is a link to a good summary of what happened at Dream:

Dream 1 results courtesy of the Bleacher report

Must find this DVD!!

As reported by the AFP:

New father Matsuzaka appears set for Tokyo trip

FORT MYERS, Florida (AFP) — Japanese star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka became a father for the second time on Saturday morning and as a result is likely to throw for the Boston Red Sox in Tokyo later this month.

Matsuzaka’s wife Tomoyo gave birth to the couple’s second child and first son at 7:30 Saturday morning, the reigning World Series champions announced.

The Red Sox are without ace hurler Josh Beckett due to back spasms, making Matsuzaka a prime candidate to throw for Boston in the Major League Baseball season opener on march 25 against Oakland at the Tokyo Dome.

There was concern Matsuzaka would want to stay with his wife were she still expecting to give birth, even at the cost of missing a trip to his homeland.

Matsuzaka, who was expected to return to training camp by Monday, pitched a pre-season game for the Red Sox on Friday and was given a day off.

Matsuzaka is expected to pitch for Boston on Wednesday in the team’s final US pre-season game Wednesday against Toronto. The Red Sox plan to depart for Tokyo later Wednesday.

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Now I remember watching this guy graduating from high school and the big fuss that he was going to be the next great thing.
I thought to myself that the Seibu Lions and Japan were making such a big fuss over this HS kid that hasn’t proven himself against real competition.
There were news stories dedicated to diagramming the angles and trajectories of his throwing motion. It was INSANE!

News media following his every move. How he pitched that day, his stretching routines, his hair color, and what he ate. . . .crazy!

Saw a recent spring training picture of him and he looked like he was getting fat. Must be the stress from the new baby and/or all the greasy food in Boston.
Small meal at Eagle’s Deli.
Image via Serious Eats

Hopefully he doesn’t turn in too much of a tubby: Image via bostonsucks.net

Professional wrestling. . . such a controversial subject. “It’s fake!” “It’s not real!” “They are all on steroids!” To all the people who say those things, in the spirit of the legendary team DX, I say (does double groin chop) SUCK IT!

Of all the shows on television nowadays there isn’t anything further from being pure entertainment than wrestling. You have the heros (faces), bad guys (heels), feats of inhuman athleticism, back story drama including bad acting, and even love stories although the latter is usually some kind of twisted and demented tale.

Hulk Hogan, the Rock, former govenor Jesse “the body” Ventura, they all owe their success to wrestling.

Then there is Japan Wrestling . . . .Many American professional wrestlers start and end their career in Japan. But that topic is for a future post. There are many leagues in Japan, one of which is called NOAH. There was a recent article in the Sun talking about this promotion and how it will soon take over the world (if we can only be so lucky).

Felt compelled to write about it since the picture in that article showed the Hawt One, Yoshihiro Takayama

So the domination of the world will come through the great Japanese professional wrestlers. First Europe, next. . .who knows. If you feel yourself going faint, or you and your surrounding are melting, that is only the power of the HAWT ONE at work. Get used to it, you’ve been blessed.