If there had been a radio broadcast of the opener this morning in Tokyo, I might feel differently about it. But ESPN on television was the only choice. I took a quick look but Steve Phillips and Gary Thorne (double ugh) quickly drove me away. They go in circles about everything. Yawn. Besides, I have no patience for television in the morning.
The other thing about the TV coverage, I had to see company logos on the players. Now if this whole venture weren't about the money, MLB would have orchestrated opening day in a Latin American country. Or in the Czech Republic or Italy or somewhere else in Europe where baseball is being seeded. Japan doesn't need to have the Sox and the A's open, especially when its own season has barely begun.
After tomorrow's game, the two teams return to the States and have more spring training games before hooking up again in Oakland to finish the opening series. What is that all about! The US opening, by the bye, will be Sunday night, when the Nationals host the Braves in their new D.C. ball park. The next day the Nats will be in Philadelphia to open the season there. Makes no sense.
For a good look at baseball and softball in Europe, check out www.mister-baseball.com. Welcome to the world of the Szentendre Sleepwalkers and the Bratislava Fighting Flies, both in the Eastern European play-offs last year. When I heard that the Phillies recently signed an 18-year-old SS in the Czech Republic, it brought back staying in a small hotel in Brno just after Easter 7 or 8 years ago. One morning at breakfast I was bemused to hear everyone around me talking baseball. A European youth league was having a tournament in the city.
