Rangers manager advises Darvish: Just be Yu

Venable said. “Maybe his perception of reality isn’t right on.”

A real piece of advice for local and Japanese Media.

Let’s have an honest talk about just how good Darvish is. First off, understand that the very best athletes in the world, feel that, inside, they are better than most of their competitors. Is this wrong? Is this being conceited? Does Darvish have an ego problem if deep down he feels this way? No! Part of being good is having the belief, that on some level you are better than those around you. Having the self-confidence to think that you will come out on top is one characteristic mark of a champion. In fact, believing inside that you are the best is a necessary prerequisite for peak performance. Without this inner belief, you will not be able to stay calm and focused under pressure. Since being relaxed and focused on what’s important are absolutely essential to perform your best, then if you can’t stay loose and focused, you’ll never be able to reach your performance potential as an athlete. So what I’m saying here is that by itself, thinking that you’re the best is NOT a problem. Nolan Ryan had similar characteristics and he welcomes arrogance of Darvish.

Let’s have an honest talk about just how good Darvish is. First off, understand that the very best athletes in the world, feel that, inside, they are better than most of their competitors. Is this wrong? Is this being conceited? Does Darvish have an ego problem if deep down he feels this way? No! Part of being good is having the belief, that on some level you are better than those around you. Having the self-confidence to think that you will come out on top is one characteristic mark of a champion. In fact, believing inside that you are the best is a necessary prerequisite for peak performance. Without this inner belief, you will not be able to stay calm and focused under pressure. Since being relaxed and focused on what’s important are absolutely essential to perform your best, then if you can’t stay loose and focused, you’ll never be able to reach your performance potential as an athlete. So what I’m saying here is that by itself, thinking that you’re the best is NOT a problem. Nolan Ryan had similar characteristics and he welcomes arrogance of Darvish.

Actually, it is entirely possibly to be gifted, academically, sportswise, music, writing, whatever and still not develop into an arrogant thug. Not all people who have a special talent which elevates them in society automatically feel better than people around them, just because your so-called talent is picked upon and constantly commented on by the sycophants doesn't necessarily mean you'll turn into an egotistical, unlikeable twat, unless your personality is already pre-disposed that way. People don't get away with bad behaviour or stinking personalities, just because they have some talent or quality which sets them apart from everyone else. But I forgot, arrogance is basically an American birthright, I cringe when I hear people talking about 'my best qualities' or any of that kind of dirge. Self-confidence is different from arrogance. And it's entirely possible to be a champion without thinking 'I am the best'. Those kind of mantras are gross. Who's Nolan Ryan?

oginomeMar. 09, 2012 - 07:48AM JST. Who's Nolan Ryan?

You don't know Nolan Ryan? Ryan is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers that signed Darvish. Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. Ryan won 324 games in in career and strucked out 5,700 batters. One of the best right hand pitcher in baseball. Threw 96-100 mph in MLB.

You don't know Nolan Ryan? Ryan is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers that signed Darvish. Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. Ryan won 324 games in in career and strucked out 5,700 batters. One of the best right hand pitcher in baseball. Threw 96-100 mph in MLB.

Not everyone is American. Baseball is not popular where I'm from.

oginome: it has nothing to do with being 'American' to know who Nolan Ryan is. you are posting in a baseball topic, so you shouldn't be so incredulous just because someone ask 'you don't know Nolan Ryan'?

oginome: it has nothing to do with being 'American' to know who Nolan Ryan is. you are posting in a baseball topic, so you shouldn't be so incredulous just because someone ask 'you don't know Nolan Ryan'?

I can be as incredulous as I want. Yes, most non-Americans won't have heard of Nolan Ryan, the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word 'Nolan' is a cheesy Irish girl group from the 70s. I know who Darvish is because the Japanese media has elevated his arrogant self to demigod status. I posted on a topic regarding Darvish, not being interested in boring baseball doesn't preclude anyone from commenting on these threads.

will venable is lucky to be in the majors.

@ rmistric, perhaps, but I think he really did mean arrogance. Darvish was not being confident, but arrogant (again) and the Nolan guy said he welcomed it. sfjp330 approved of this, which is fair enough, but definitely not my view. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I'm from a country where it's considered embarrassing and shameful to talk about how good you are at anything and arrogance is an embarrassment... and no, it's not Japan ;)

oginome: you obviously lack any type of athletic ability. to criticize Darvish for not giving enough credit to a guy for getting a hit off of him is ignorant. to play any type of sport and be successful at it you need to have a bit of arrogance. to be an elite athlete you have to truly believe that you are the best at what you are doing? heard of tiger woods? Michael Jordan? Rafael nasal? Kobe Bryant? think those guys don't believe they are the best? think they would concede an inch? Darvish simply stated the guy didn't get that good of a shot off of him. What about Rory Mcilroy? think he got to be #1 in the world by conceding to Tiger?

oginome: you obviously lack any type of athletic ability. to criticize Darvish for not giving enough credit to a guy for getting a hit off of him is ignorant. to play any type of sport and be successful at it you need to have a bit of arrogance. to be an elite athlete you have to truly believe that you are the best at what you are doing? heard of tiger woods? Michael Jordan? Rafael nasal? Kobe Bryant? think those guys don't believe they are the best? think they would concede an inch? Darvish simply stated the guy didn't get that good of a shot off of him. What about Rory Mcilroy? think he got to be #1 in the world by conceding to Tiger?

You don't get it, you do not NEED to be arrogant to achieve anything. Working hard to the best of your ability does not require disgusting arrogance. You can refuse to concede an inch and not be arrogant. You Americans don't understand again, because you've been raised in a culture where arrogance and confidence are one and the same. It's possible to work hard and not develop a nasty attitude problem based on an inflated sense of self.

@oginome,

While your theories may have some merit, if you are unable or unwilling to post a list of examples of successful noncompetitive people, yours is nothing more than an unsupported theory and you clearly lose the debate to the baseball fans here who can name more than enough examples to sound knowledgable.

Just be careful who you cite for your examples. Even selfless saints like Mother Teresa have their shortcomings. Christopher Hitchens wrote a book critiquing her 100% altruistic image.

Moderator: You're discussing Mother Teresa on a thread about Yu Darvish?

Readers, enough of this nonsense.

Stay on topic please.

fair enough. mod erased my post. I'm not sure what we are supposed to be discussing. maybe mod can give us an example?

“Major league hitters have more power but Japanese hitters are very good at making contact,” he said. “I don’t like either.”

Always one or the other, right? A good player is a good player -- it's not limited to nationality, and Darvish is no exception (how good he actually is we shall yet find out). Any of these silly 'us and them' generalizations can be given heaps of 'exceptions'.

Venable is correct in saying that Darvish is lucky the ball didn't go out of the park (any other place but the center wall and it would have been a homerun!). That the ball didn't go out of the park is in no way a measure of skill -- it was blind luck, and bad luck to an extent for Venable.

I think he can be a great player, but his start was certainly no raging success. And I DO hope he's not growing a mullet just to fit in!

Sorry but I have to agree with the moderator this time!!

Yu can do it !

Who's Nolan Ryan?

Oginome, listen I take your point that not all people are up to speed on American culture, but if you're going to comment, why not google search him or wiki him first? if you did you would have noticed that Nolan Ryan is probably one of, if not the best pitcher in baseball history (not american,baseball, but baseball). not a criticism, but a gentle suggestion.

Anyways, re Darvish, the whole of baseball is curious as to how he'll do and rightfully so. Here is a japanese pitcher who has dominated in Japan and has the chance to come to the states in his prime. His self belief is high and he has the tools to do well. i for one applaud Darvish as I thought he would never go to the majors, but gald to see him there. My only wish were that he were playing for Da Cubs, but heck, Epstein will probably prefer to be other players than Darvish

Rangers manager advises Darvish: Just be Yu

I thought Rangers had gone bankrupt. maybe he could move to Hibs or Kilmarnock.

You Americans don't understand again, because you've been raised in a culture where arrogance and confidence are one and the same.

Darvish is the son of an Iranian man and Japanese woman, who met while in the US. American baseball was fully integrated and international loooong before European soccer, orthe J league. We don't lectures from Irish people who know nothing about baseball

I'm from a country where it's considered embarrassing and shameful to talk about how good you are at anything and arrogance is an embarrassment... and no, it's not Japan ;)

I guess oginomi's resume and business cards have no words on them. ;-)

Ali ("The Greatest") said, "It ain't braggin' if ya done it."

Well, we can be thankful that Yu and and what's-his-face didn't start exchanging "Yo Mamma" insults!

You go, Yu! Go Rangers!

(OK, so I'm from Texas, where bragging was invented. That's why I'm not at all proud of being a Texan, however.)

Lost in translation as usual. Media making an issue out of nothing, as usual.

From Yu's tweet

昨日フェンス直撃を打ったベナブル選手への「球は捉えられてない」ってコメントがアメリカで違う捉われ方をしてるので言っときます。 「球は捉えられてないと思ったけど思ったより飛んだ。パワーありますね。」という意味です。 本人も嫌な思いをしていたら嫌なので、誰か伝えて貰えると嬉しいです。

"His comment "he (Venable) didn't get all of it" comment is somehow misinterpreted. My stance is "despite the fact that he didn't get all of it, the ball went further than I thought. He has power". If he is having some animosity, I hope someone can relay this message."