Seattle Marinerds
You know, after all these Lions teams in the same series and after my Korean friend told me that Lotte has a team in Korea too, I got to thinking...
Have the Lotte Marines ever played the Lotte Giants?
It seems to me that they should have met at some spring training camp at least once in the past, as several of the Korean teams head to Okinawa during spring as well as the Japanese teams. I just don't recall if the Lotte Giants were one of those teams, though.
Hi Deanna, sorry I couldn't meet up with you after the finals, my dad's not the type to stay around for ceremonies.
Anyways, have a safe trip back to America, and then have a safe trip back to Japan again in February! I presume you'll be going to some of the training camps?
Yeah, Lions!
The Korean teams sometimes come to Japan for fall camp too, don't they? (I know the Doosan Bears did this year...) I want to see the Lotte Giants play the Yomiuri Giants though. Or the KIA Tigers vs. the Hanshin Tigers, or the Hanwha Eagles vs. the Rakuten Eagles :)
Simon -- it's ok, was just sad I didn't get to say goodbye. I'm sure I'll see you in February. I'd like to go to spring training but don't know if it'll actually happen... I've never been to Okinawa and that seems like the time to go, but...
As a diehard Tongyi Lions fan living in Japan (and am Japanese), the game with SK was sweet, considering the same team kicked our rear end last year, beating Tongyi by 1-13. I attended the game too, and it must have drawn biggest crowd (at least in ouedan section of Tongyi) out of 4 Tongyi games. Yes, Taiwan also has the same "Kiyohara" tune, and the third You tube that you had is a ouen-ka for Yang Sen, the second baseman for Tongyi. They even have megaphone dancing for this song, just like the way they have with the Softbank Hawks. I recommend you visit Taiwan to watch games there - their ouen is quite surreal.
Also, the mascot you have with rainbow over the head is called "Open-chan", which really is a mascot for Taiwan 7-ELEVEn. The figure is VERY popular over there - can't believe they are not exporting "Open-chan" to Japan, should make a hit over here (though I understand the creator of "Open-chan" is Japanese..).
All in all, a great Series, had a time of my life (except Sunday).
David, not that you'll see this, but man, sometime next year we really gotta meet up. Like at Lotte Urawa or something.
I probably saw you if you were in the Tongyi ouendan, too.
Oh, so the running theme is a Kiyohara song? I don't really know -- it's just listed as being one of the Seibu chance themes on the site I saw. I wanted to capture the energy of the Tongyi ouendan is all -- I was really impressed, you know I'm really into ouenka and all :)
Thanks Deanna.
It would definitely be an honor for me to meet up with you, whether it be in Urawa Lotte ni-gun stadium, any other ichi-gun or ni-gun stadiums in Kanto area, or in Taiwan, pulling for the Tongyi 7-ELEVEn Lions, sometimes next year.
Aside from my loyalty to Tongi, I am a die-hard Met and Marine fans, thus had to suffer through late season, heart-breaking collapses with both teams (BTW, at the expense of successes of your favorite teams of both sides of Pacific ..) - thus, Tongyi's triumph in Tokyo really soothed me through the woes I had to suffered from past couple of months.
I do confess that I am not that dude wearing the Seibu uniform doing the Seibu running routine that you posted on your YouTube video (I wore a generic Tongyi home replica jersey that day, not like I own a Seibu jersey anyway).
My "hypothesis" asto why "Kiyohara" song is played by ouendans of Taiwan professional league (not just by Tongyi) - Sebiu had a stud Taiwanese pitcher - Kaku Taigen (Tai Yuan Guo, in Mandarin) back in mid 80s to mid 90s, and in Taiwan, they must have telecasted every starts that Kaku started for Seibu. So, Taiwan baseball fans must have heard ouendan songs of Kiyohara who practically played every games back then, even before Taiwan professional baseball league started in 1990. Thus, Kiyohara song must have caught the eyes (ears ?) of early ouendans of Taiwan league and has remained as a main stay in ouedan culture in Taiwan.
Anyhow, looking forward to see ya next season!
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