I’m still debating whether to get up at 3am tomorrow morning to watch the A’s season opener against the Red Sox in Tokyo. Back in my college days, staying up all night to finish an essay or cram for a test had little effect on me. But ever since I hit my mid-thirties, missing out on sleep affects me both mentally and physically for days. I suppose if I go to sleep about 10pm, and wake up at 3am, I could get by on five hours of sleep, but it’s not easy for me to fall asleep at 10pm. I guess it will be a game-time decision. I’ll put a game thread up, in any case, if there are any other crazy souls out there.
Starting the season in Japan is interesting, but in a way, I would have preferred seeing the two weekend games against the Japanese teams on TV, rather than the two games against the Red Sox. I mean, we get to see the A’s play the Red Sox many times every year, but how often do we get the chance to see the A’s stand in against the Giants or the Tigers?
Well, er, I mean, these (Yomiuri) Giants or these (Hanshin) Tigers. Really, though, the A’s travel thousands of miles just to face the Giants and Tigers? How boring is that? C’mon! Give us some Dragons or Buffaloes or Ham Fighters (yes, I know, I know) or Lotte Marines! Sheesh.
The A’s are technically the home team in these contests against Boston, but the crowd will likely be decidedly pro-Red Sox, because of their Japanese players. But perhaps Lew Wolff could change that. We know that when the A’s move to Fremont, he plans to name the team the Something Athletics of Fremont. Wolff probably wants to name them the San Jose Athletics of Fremont, but Bud Selig doesn’t want the A’s to name the team after a city which is in another team’s territory. So heck, why not call them the Tokyo Athletics of Fremont, officially? Play a few games in Tokyo every year, make the A’s into Japan’s Team™, and watch the dough start to roll in.
I also have a suggestion for Wolff on how to get around the problem of San Jose being inside Giants territory. Just move San Jose itself into Alameda County. It can be the new trend. Instead of relocating franchises from city to city, you just relocate the entire city. QED, problem solved.
I’m not sure how we would chant for our team if Mr. Wolff followed all these suggestions, but we’ll work something out. We’re a resource bunch, we A’s fans.
1. I know he's American (Hawaiian) but maybe Kurt Suzuki will draw a few cheers for the A's?
2. MLB.com showed a few fans who were wild about Mike Sweeney, so he may get some cheers.
Suzuki may not even be noticed.
3. I figure that since I get up around 6 am, the game should still be going on. Unless Matsuzaka and Okajima suddenly learned how to work quickly.
4. It is going to be a long night for me today. It will be easier for me to just stay up than get some sleep and wake up.
5. Ironic that being closer to Japan makes this game less convenient for you left-coasters. Six am EST is more do-able. Still, this is another reason to give in and get a DVR. I'll likely watch the game mid-day and sans commercials.
6. I have a DVR set to record the game, but I don't much like watching prerecorded sports. Usually, if I don't watch it live, I'd probably just read about it, and maybe use the DVR to watch the highlights, if there are any.
Perhaps I'd watch a little more of this game, just to get a flavor of the different atmosphere.
7. The Red Sox Patriots Day game against Texas will start at 8:05 am PT.
The game is starting at 7 pm local time in Tokyo. The time is bad for West Coasters because the difference is over 12 hours (it's 16 hours right now as Japan doesn't use DST).
The game is actually starting an hour later than most regular season games in Japan do. They normally start at 6 or 6:30. Trains don't run all night in Tokyo. If the game goes long and Kevin Youkilis starts having 15-pitch at bats and Hideki Okajima takes 5 minutes to throw a pitch, you're going to have a lot of people stuck trying to find a ride home.
8. 7 Joe Blanton works fast, so it shouldn't be too long a game.
9. 7 I have that issue trying to get back to Jersey via public transit after an Sunday Night ESPN game at Yankee Stadium; 8:05 starts and the Yankees' uberpatient lineup are not compatable with Sunday night train schedules.
Honestly, I've become quite accustomed to watching sports on DVR delay. I even watched the Super Bowl on a slight delay (big deal since I'm a Giants fan). At this point I watch almost no sports completely live.