It’s common knowledge that my husband loves sports. Football, baseball, tennis, golf, rugby..etc. Honestly, the man would watch two roaches race up the wall if given the opportunity (which may have happened in our New York apartment). Needless to say, when we moved to Japan he immediately threw himself into finding a baseball team. Having never cheered for a winning team in his life, he of course stayed true to form in choosing the Yakult Swallows as the object of his affection

This may or may not be related to the fact that Mr. Met is on some of their stuff.

While they are not the worst team in Japan, they are second to last which is almost more entertaining. Why? The second to last team in the league is known as the ”Boobie” team. (The record will show that I selected the dragons as my team and they won the series last year and are doing well again this year.) Yes, it’s childish but it remains entertaining.

During our first year in Japan T managed to go to a handful of games, but this year hadn’t been to the ballpark even once. This was not for lack of trying, but schedules and mother nature had failed to cooperate since April. With the season winding down, T was starting to get a bit antsy with the prospect of going perhaps an entire season without watching a game in person. Understanding this, I encouraged T to go to the stadium last weekend to get tickets for this weekend in advance knowing that Giants games often sell out regardless of how poor…erm…well the Swallows are playing

Usually attending a Swallows game is…well a bit boring. The ball rarely comes into contact with anything besides the catchers mit and only occasionally leaves the infield. To be honest though, I didn’t go for the game, I went to watch the fans.

In comparison to the Japanese fans, american baseball fans are far less entertaining. Sure Mets fans are able to come up with some very creative and colorful language but they don’t have half the fun that the Japanese fans have.

They chant!

They cheer!

They dance with their umbrellas when a run is scored..Note: the umbrellas aren’t to protect from rain but rather serve as a prop.

As the beer people make their rounds in rather absurd outfits the crowd loosens up quickly.

The drunken fans really are the best part of the game. They sing, dance and fall over all at the same time. One man last night began dancing with his ice cream cone. It really is more entertaining then th actual baseball game.

Sadly, it started pouring in the seventh inning and we didn’t have any umbrellas with us.

It wasn’t all bad though…

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing the scandalous pictures that the two men in my life don’t want made public..proof they like each other.