American Baseball vs. Japanese Baseball

[beargrowlz]

Just saw the quote below from Ichiro in the Boston Globe today and it caused me to think about how our two cultures -- Japan and the United States - view baseball so differently.

Just some random thoughts of mine, because I've always taken the view similar to the Bart Giamatti's of the world, that baseball was an art, it's peceful placidness and artistic symetry, a love rather than the passion of being in love.

Compare that to Ichiro's comments and I get a whole new perspective on the game; honor, passion, a torrid love affair, duty, the darkest reaches of the soul. Very samurai.

Anyway, I know I'm over-generalizing, but just some thoughts that occurred to me when I read his quote. I think it's pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Bart Giamatti in "The Green Fields of the Mind"

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.

Originally Posted by Ichiro

"I hope he [Matsuzaka] arouses the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul. I plan to face him with the zeal of a challenger."

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ichiro
"I hope he [Matsuzaka] arouses the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul. I plan to face him with the zeal of a challenger."

ok bro, take two steps back. keep your hands where I can see them.