Seattle Marinerds
Gee, you always get to see Kishi...
Would it be okay to send on some of the photos to my friend the Seibu fanatic? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't end up anywhere but on his cell phone, but if you object I'll refrain.
Enjoying the game reports as usual. Take care.
Sure, you can pass them along. Add the headless Watanabe when you do :)
I always get to see Kishi, but it isn't the best thing when he's pitching against the Fighters...
Thanks--I'll keep headless-Watanabe in mind. :)
Maybe you need to aim for days when Nishiguchi is pitching, or something like that. He ought to be old enough to get hit pretty good by now...
Oh. Except that was Nishiguchi. Duh. Sorry. Hope for the best next round.
Hey Deanna. I have to disagree with your comments about the Seibu Dome and accessibility. I live in Saitama Ken and find the dome easy to get to. In fact, it's much easier for me than Tokyo Dome or Jingu. And best of all, I'm not crammed into a train full of sweaty people on the way home like I would be in the "big city."
You have to keep in mind that the Lions are not a Tokyo team, they're meant for us suburbanites. There are a lot of people out here who appreciate having a team close-by.
I also don't know why you call the Seibu Dome a dump. I find it cool. I come from North America and have been to a number of horrible domes over there. Seibu Dome's unique open-air concept is fabulous - the sun was setting during the last game and we could watch from our seats. Try THAT at the Big Egg.
The atmosphere and fan experience at Seibu Dome is also great. I have a little boy. He loves the spaceship look of the stadium and to go and see his favorite player "Okawari san" play 3rd base for the Lions.
By the way, I think Darvish is overrated. Mid-range fastball with slightly above average junk. If he pitched from the stretch like he does in America, he'd get pummelled.
Well, when *I* lived in Saitama (Kawaguchi/Warabi area), for my first year and a half in Japan, it took me over an hour to get to the Seibu Dome, but 40 minutes to the Tokyo Dome. Actually, it took me the same amount of time to get to YOKOHAMA STADIUM as it did to get to the Seibu Dome. I am not making that up.
If you live on a Seibu line in Saitama, it's quite easy to get there, sure. But there are plenty of parts of Saitama where it's not all that easy.
Where do you sit in the Dome? Do you ever sit in the outfield with the cheering section? (Which is where I spend 95% of my time there?) Have you ever had the wonderful experience of sitting on the uncomfortable slanted turf and having someone spill their drink, which immediately spills downhill on the turf towards whoever is sitting below? Have you ever noticed how there are absolutely no food choices out there in the outfield?
Have you ever been there on a rainy day, and still had to go walk into the rain in order to get food or go to the bathroom? Or noticed how, when it's freezing outside, it's still freezing inside the Seibu Dome, and if it's hot outside, it's still hot inside the dome? It has all of the worst parts of an outdoor stadium and all of the worst parts of an indoor stadium, IMO. And you can watch much better sunsets at Chiba Marine Stadium.
BTW, they call Nakamura Okawari-KUN, not Okawari-SAN.
And since I'm not a Darvish fan AND don't want him to go to the US anyway, your comment is somewhat irrelevant.
Jesus, I feel like I need to write a FAQ for these things that I can point people to, since all of these are things I've discussed a bazillion times on here before. "Why does Deanna hate the Seibu Dome? Why does Deanna not really want to hear about Darvish despite that she's been a Fighters fan for 7 years?" Etc.
Seriously, if the Seibu Dome is so great, why does it absolutely never sell out? Why were there still tickets available at game time DURING THE JAPAN SERIES LAST YEAR?
The renovations are nice, but it isn't enough.
Sorry Deanna. I just don't agree. Saitama ken is huge. Of course it takes a while to get there from some parts of the region. But you made it seem like it was difficult for everyone here. And it just isn't. For me, it's easier to get to than the Rogers Centre was in my hometown of Toronto. (The John Lennon Museum in Saitama is about an hour from me. I don't criticize it for being remote. It's an awesome place).
And speaking of the Rogers Centre, which I still call Skydome, it's way more antiseptic than Seibu Dome. Seibu Dome is a lively and fun place. Rogers Centre is like a tomb. You went to the Kingdome, right? Any better? How about the Metrodome in Minneapolis, with it's garbage bag outfield walls? Or the Trop in St. Pete? Horrible places. The Seibu Dome beats them all, in my opinion.
I grant that it's not as nice as an open-air stadium. Of course. But in a country with rainy seasons, I'd much rather have a roof over my head and watch the game rather than sit in the pouring wet, endure a cancellation and return for a make-up. And yes, I have been at Seibu Dome during the rain. It was great to run right from the train to the entrance. No problem. Try THAT at Dodger Stadium or Wrigley.
As for sitting in the outfield cheering sections, well, I do agree with you there. In fact, I wrote a piece in this week's Metropolis (Last Word) about a fight I had with a Baystars' fan in the Seibu stands in the outfield stands. Our mutual friend Baystars Matt witnessed it all... ask him about it!
I'm sorry about the mis-quote on Nakamura's nickname. I'll force my 5 year old to get it right next time! ;)
Oh and about your comments on attendance. That's a bad argument.
The Yakult Swallows draw about the same crowds for their home games. It's about 12-14,000 for mid-week games. And they're a contending team this year.
Does that mean Jingu is an inaccessible dump too? Or is it a factor of being overshadowed by the monolithic Giants and having 5 teams in the same general area (including Chiba and Yokohama)?
What about Yokohama Stadium? The Baystars are drawing less than 10,000 a game. That includes about 7,000 for your beloved Fighters. Does that mean Yokohama Stadium is a horrible place? I haven't been there, but I've heard it's kind of cool.
If you check the stats (and I grant you that Japanese attendance figures are somewhat iffy), the Lions actually drew more for games against the Fighters than the Swallows and Baystars did recently.
Yes, I SAID that there are parts of Saitama where it's easy enough to get to the Seibu Dome -- those that are on the Seibu lines and are near the stadium. But you said that "out here in the suburbs it's easy to get to the Seibu Dome", insinuating basically any part of Saitama that isn't Tokyo, and that simply isn't true, it's only certain small parts of the suburbs. It's possible to live in Chiba and be closer to the Tokyo Dome than to Chiba Marine Stadium, too.
If you want a "roof over your head when it's rainy", the Sapporo Dome, Nagoya Dome, Fukuoka Dome, and Kyocera Dome are all easily much, much, much nicer domes than the Seibu Dump. Even the Tokyo Dome is, but I hate the Giants, so I can't really say that with a straight face. Yes, I've been to every pro stadium in the country. Have you?
You can't compare MLB stadiums to NPB stadiums for the most part -- of COURSE the atmosphere at MLB stadiums sucks compared to those at NPB stadiums. I've been to the Metrodome, not the other ones, but I actually thought it was a pretty decent place all things considered. Of course, I was there to see a friend who was getting married on the field before a Twins game, but that's another story.
Uhh... the Baystars drew a low crowd for the Fighters because 1) they played a game at Sagamihara Stadium and 2) it was in the midst of a ridiculously rainy week. I'd planned to go down there originally, but then all my friends cancelled due to the weather. And the Baystars suck, too. The Swallows suffer from having a retarded front office and marketing department that allows things to happen like a Tigers store opening one block from the stadium, yet there is no Swallows team store anywhere in the area. The Lions are a good team with a non-idiotic front office, but they're really hampered by being in the middle of nowhere.
I am fairly sure that the last time the Swallows got to the Japan Series, they didn't have trouble selling out Jingu Stadium. And in past years when I tried to get Japan series tickets for Hokkaido, Chiba, etc, it was pretty much impossible. Yet, you could walk up and buy tickets at Seibu. WTF?
Look, I've hated the Seibu Dome for years, you simply cannot and are not going to change my mind. If you feel like arguing about it, be my guest, but it's a fruitless argument. You can try to convince me to like the Giants while you're at it too, if you really like throwing words into a void...
Hi Deanna. That's fair. We'll just agree to disagree. And I haven't been to the other domes in Japan - I've only been here a short while.
But honestly, I've actually written to my friends about how much I like Seibu Dome. Really! I was preparing NOT to like it when I first went, but was pleasantly surprised. Again, I love the open air concept with a roof over it. To me it's cool - literally and figuratively.
I just hate fully enclosed, antiseptic, badly ventilated baseball buildings. Yuck! Tokyo Dome and Sapporo Dome both look like mausoleums on TV. Ugh!
The best part of Seibu Dome is that it's a wonderful place to bond with my son. He's absolutely crazy about the Lions and so looks forward to the whole experience. He likes the shops, fans, ice cream, cheerleaders, mascot Lions, etc. He talks about it all day to his friends at school.
Even my wife, who's not a baseball fan, likes going to the Dome. And she never watched on TV. Go figure!
Ticket sales? I think the economy has something to do with it. Remember, there are lots of struggling factories and other businesses out here, which is a blue collar area. Also, I would imagine the Giants sell many corporate packages that fill the stadium. The other teams around here probably not so much. And again, why should someone from Tokyo make the trip to Da-Saitama when they've got 2 teams in the city?
The Yankees aren't selling out their new stadium. Why? Overpriced tickets and a slumping economy. And I remember easily buying tickets for the 1993 World Series without a problem. So it wasn't a sell out either.
I'm enjoying this discussion. But it's funny how we can disagree on something so trivial as a baseball park, isn't it?
I think another thing that I like about the Lions is that they are an exciting team. Nakajima and Wakui are world class players. Kishi is pretty awesome this year too and what can you say about Okawari-KUN?
The Lions play an aggressive, non-Japanese style of baseball. They don't bunt all the time and wait for banjo hitters to get singles. They slug away. Sometimes it hurts them, but it's exciting to me.
You... easily... bought tickets for the 1993 World Series? I lived in Philadelphia and my mother was a former Phillies season ticket holder and my grandfather before her. I went to the 1983 World Series with her. But by 1993 my mom had moved to VA, and my dad and I couldn't get tickets to that World Series in Philly no matter how hard we tried. I still remember watching Joe Carter's home run with my dad -- it was probably the first time I ever saw him throw something at the TV during a baseball game.
The joke to make would be that Canadians simply don't care about baseball, but I don't think that's entirely true.
Yeah, the Lions are a great team. They have a lot of good players. Kuriyama is hot. I'm not a fan, and they are infact the team I love to hate in the Pacific League. Agree to disagree on this too, please -- you're basically being a new Oakland A's fan walking onto a Mariners blog trying to tell them how great the team is and how they should be a fan. It wouldn't work there either.
I am fairly sure you will be pretty impressed with any other stadium in Japan you go to, if you are this easily impressed by Seibu. If you lived in any other area, near any other stadium, your son would love it just as much and be just as excited about it and talk to his friends at school about it. Really.
Getting 1993 and 1992 world series tickets in Toronto for non season ticket holders came down to a mail-in lottery...
As a non-winner, I'd definitely argue that getting tickets wasn't exactly easy.
I have the ticket from the World Series game framed. The Jays were a hot ticket in those days, but I was able to get a pair no problem. Perhaps the Phils weren't used to being there - so didn't distribute tickets that well? LOL!!!
I would like to see other Japanese stadiums. However, as I mentioned, I detest closed domes. So I can't imagine liking the domes in Tokyo or Sapporo. I'd like to go to Mazda or Jingu.
As an aside, a true story for you. The singer in our band is an Australian. He's not into baseball, really. And he lives in Tokyo. Yet he went to Seibu Dome last Sunday (all the way from Tokyo) and says he had an awesome time! Says the stadium is very cool - it's actually an amphitheater carved into a mountain! Waaay cool! Can't say that about Sapporo Dome or the Big Egg.
Perhaps your Seibu Dome experience is clouded by the fact that the Lions are the team you love to hate?
I like apples. You don't like apples? What kind of freak are you? Holy crap, you should go eat apples, because they are really good for you, and you can't live without them. The fact that you like oranges instead of apples is totally making your quality of life worse for you. I can't believe you've been a fruit enthusiast for the last 7 years and don't like apples.
And OMG my friend ate fruit for the first time and had apples and said they were the best fruit ever! Said they were sweet and cold and pleasantly tangy! So obviously you shouldn't say that apples suck. Sheesh. I am going to go visit your orange-loving blog and spend a ton of effort convincing you and your readers that apples are the best thing ever.
How'd you know I hate apples? Wow! Psychic! (Or psycho?)
Hey, btw... that Joe Carter HR?? My number one sports moment.
Funny part is that 10 years later I became a huge Pat Borders fangirl, really.
Borders was a great guy. I covered the Jays for a year. Ran into him one day in the Skydome elevator. We had a nice chat. A really genuine, down home guy.
I like him too. Pat Hentgen was also like that.
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