Hotbox08 comments

Yes, three different and interesting expressions. Kim Yu Na looks pleasantly happy, Mao Asada looks like she is fighting back tears, and Joannie Rochette looks like she could care less. In any case, great finish and congrats to all competitors! Japan having all three women finish in the top eight (and actually the same for the men for that matter), is nothing to sneeze at. Mao, keep your chin up; you'll be back in 2014! Word of advice though, Mao, you really should either fire your coach, or get a better choice of music (or better choreographer). The music you dance to are really depressing and doesn't match your image.

kavikahi, Excellent post and interesting take. I also have to admit that watching Kim Yu Na and Mao Asada skate, and comparing them is comparable to watching as if Beyonce and a younger Audrey Hepburn performed on ice. One would be doing the more sexier number (sleek, revved up going 100 mph like a big budget Hollywood action flick), while the other would be a daintier number (like a timeless black and white movie circa 1955). Mao Asada kind of reminds me of Dorothy Hamill (yes, I'm old enough to remember her).

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but the third place winner should be acknowledged as there are more than two people in the competition.

That is true, smithinjapan. Then why on the official Vancouver Olympic website, does the headline read, "Figure Skating: 'Bond girl' Kim ahead, Rochette third". Where is Mao Asada's name? It's as if there is no second place to them.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-news/n/news/afp-news/figure-skating--bond-girl-kim-ahead--rochette-third_291260NE.html

Remeber, Japan's curling team was favored for Gold

Uh, no. The Japanese media kept pointing out from the start of the Olympics that the Canadian women were favored, with China also possible medal takers. After all, I'm not a follower of curling, but somehow I knew that the Japanese women were ranked 9th in the world; not 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ... but 9th! The Japanese media at best, had the Japanese women besting their 7th place finish in the last Olympics. Alas, they did worse; hence the tears.

Good effort by Japan. Congrats to Sweden, Canada, China, and Switzerland for making the semis. I guess Canada can get another medal and move closer to their promise of 30 medals or more. I personally believe they won't reach their prediction, but hey, I guess they can try.

I heard about that too, Sarge. Those loud Canadians. I guess they are trying desperately to "help" their athletes get any medal they can to meet their 30-40 medal prediction. To me, curling is a sport like tennis or golf. They should have PA announcements like they have in those sports announcing to the fans to quiet down before a stone is thrown. It's the gentlemanly thing to do.

smithinjapan: I don't know about you, but a prediction of 10 medals as a goal by Japan is quite modest if you ask me. Did you know that Canada (the host country) had several predictions? One of which was 30 medals. Far from their current 10. Some media outlets in Canada even predicted that Canada would win 12 gold, eight silver, and 11 bronze! 41 medals?! WOW! Way off!

http://www.kelowna.com/2010/02/10/canwests-olympic-medal-predictions/

They even had an "Own the Podium" campaign where they proclaimed that they would "Own the world"! Yeah, right.

Then there are the Russian media who proclaimed that they would top the medals table. HA!

Give the U.S. credit for at least meeting their prediction of 25 overall medals.

I also see now that the Korean media has already proclaimed Kim YuNa as the gold medal winner! Well, she is the favorite, but they haven't skated yet!

Yeah, They have how many medals...3? Wasn't there a goal of 10 medals?

Yup. Many countries are finding out that they are not going to meet their expected goal of medals. Russia's goal was 40 medals overall, and it won't meet that. Canada had a lofty goal itself of 30 medals. They even had an "Own the Podium" program to promote this goal.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news;_ylt=AgIOCikEPpsVp33LbA60FKc5nYcB?slug=dw-canadapodium022210&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

"The Canadian Olympic team stepped out and spent big, talked bigger, and dreamed biggest. Its members said they were going to win the Games, defeat the world, and Own the Podium."

Yeah, right.

"Racial bashing" ?

My bad, Branded. I made the mistake of thinking that you are bashing the Japanese media, when all along you actually admire the coverage in Japan of the Olympics. Sorry about that.

I also agree with you that the coverage has been pretty good in Japan. I've gotten to know more about the nonmedalists like the speedskater Okazaki, who got married to a nonskater and had their wedding on the ice, even though he couldn't skate. Then there was the story about the 45 year-old skeleton athlete who does an awesome prerun routine before his run (making his final appearance in the Olympics). Then there were the several reports of non medalists in other countries. For example, the Ethiopian cross country skier Robel, who placed 93rd out of 95 competitors. He had very little time to train for these Olympics, but gave it his best shot. He was proud to carry the Ethiopian flag in the opening ceremonies. Then there is the story that was aired on Fuji about the Nepalese sherpa who was competing in cross-country skiing. He looked so thrilled just to be competing in these Olympics and wanted just to cross the finish line, much like the 15 year-old Japanese speedskater, Miho Takagi.

Yes, these games have been enjoyable to watch.

I love how the American media continues to embrace those that finish 2nd or 3rd

Oh for crying out loud, will you stop with the racial bashing already. So it's alright when Americans place second or third, but not Japanese? We get it already, you hate Japan and anything Japanese and will twist it around in anyway to get your point across. I agree that the media coverage of the Olympics in the past had been shit in Japan. But so far in these Olympics, they have been much better. I've learned a lot more about sports like the biathlon, cross country pursuit, and curling due to their coverage of these games. I especially liked the piece they had on the Ethiopian cross-country skier who finished 93rd out of 95 participants. People and organizations (of all nationalities; not only people you like) should be given another chance. There was an article about Tiger Woods on this site that is along those similar lines. People from all walks of life have made mistakes (even horrible ones, like crimes) but people have forgiven them.

But ultimately what it sounds like to me is premature excuse making.

Huh? I've heard many an athlete from a number of countries say similar things, but you go and "judge" Miki Ando as making an "excuse" based on her ethnic background? What these skaters are simply saying is that they know Kim Yu-Na is favored and they respect her ability. However, they know that they can't let it intimidate the way they do their performance. They realize that they have to just go out there and perform to the best of their abilities. In the end, favorites don't ALWAYS win. Cause if that were the case, then there would be no need for others to compete in the first place. To me, it would be an excuse if they said something like "Oh, she will probably win because she has more money" or something like that.

When someone else -- especially Korea -- rank as the champs it suddenly, "doesn't mean anything".

Where in this article did any of them mention this? Are you speculating?

There's a huge difference between judging the person and judging the behanvior.

But you have to remember that behavior is a part of a person. So if you are judging someone's behavior, you are in turn, making a judgement about that person. Without behavior, you can't be a person.

The local media sure made you believe the medals were already in the bag.

Really smithinjapan? Which program were you watching? I was watching this one program on channel 5 (or 10, depending on where you live), and the news commentators had a fair take on it (it was only that annoying Shuzo Matsuoka who was going about it the wrong way). The news commentators were saying how they were hoping that Kasai would place, but they spotlighted the fact that the medalists in the normal hill event were favored and kept saying things like "subarashii" after Ammann's and Malysz's jumps. Yet, that annoying Shuzo kept going on and on ... Kasai looked very happy in the interview that he was able to place a respectable 8th in the event. Not down at all. Daiki Ito said that he was happy to make the finals and that he will be back (after all he is still young).

I don't consider them to be Japanese either. That's not meant to be offensive, but they don't look Japanese, apparently they barely speak Japanese, and it's highly likely that they don't act Japanese.

I think you've described many immigrants in English-speaking countries. Many of them don't "look" it, don't act it, and barely speak English.

Prime Ministers, Presidents, Sportsmen and women and ordinary mums and dads, break their marriage vows.

Exactly. If adultery is good enough for Tiger Woods or these other people, it's good enough for me, and everyone else in the world. Not that I would commit adultery, but now I feel a certain comfort knowing that if I ever stray, all is okay, since everyone else is doing it.

you still have zero right to judge others.

I hope this message gets through the JT public, because there are several posters out there who continue to feel it is there right to "judge people" whether it be athletes, politicians, Japanese, etc. and continue to bash them for things that they do in their personal life. I also hate it when people take this little things and make it a forum for bashing. It shouldn't be so. You go BurakuminDes!

As for me, I may feel less of Tiger as a person, but I still think of him as a tremendous golfer. He'll be back.

If you abhor it so much, we foreigners still have the option to go home; no one is forcing us to stay here.

I agree. Many of us forget that often times the reason we are in Japan is because the job and money situation back home was and is worse than the situation we are in now. Coming to Japan was a good way for us to pay off our student loans while exploring a culture that is different than ours. Some of us end up going back home finding the situation better; others do not (and end up coming back to Japan). In any case, we all are lucky to know that if it gets to the point where all we can say about living in Japan is negative, then we can use that passport we have and go back home. I guess Mr. Cleese thought so too and has found a niche in this corner of the world. Good for him.

flavorflav, messageboards are some of the best sources of what fans really think. That is why I posted them. If anything, they know a lot more about baseball than so-called fans like eresay and you (who by the way, I've never seen posting to sports articles until now).

Oh and 39 players played for Yankees last year not the 50 to 60 you quoted.

eresay, thank you for providing proof for RogueFive's fabrication. If what you say is true, that 39 players played for the Yanks last year, then his/her claim of only 20 having played then is false. Heck, I'm not a Yankee fan and can name 20 players who played for the Yankees last year. In fact, (as most true baseball fans know) in addition to the 39 players you mentioned who are on the active roster on any given day, there are several players (e.g. Kei Igawa) who was called up from minor league affiliates every now and then.

In any case, RogueFive is trying use a poll which he says measures THE PLAYERS THAT FANS WOULD LIKE TO SEE REACQUIRED IN 2010. This was in response to my statement that most fans LOVE MATSUI and consider him to be THEIR FAVORITE YANKEE. Do you see the difference? Wanting to have a player be resigned is a business decision with no personal attachments involved. Fans don't really like ARod, but understand he has talent and will show it at times, so would like to see him continue to be a Yank. It was a similar case with Ken Griffey Jr, when fans in Cincinnati loved him, but realized that he just couldn't play like he used to (hitting only 18 HRs in 2008). Thus he was traded to the White Sox for two little known players. Even then, fans loved him, but knew he couldn't play like he used to. Even in Seattle now, he is loved, but fans are iffy when it comes to him playing or not.

The bottom line is, why is RogueFive trying to use a poll which has nothing to do with the popularity of Hideki Matsui. Fact is, Matsui has done nothing scandulous, has endeared himself to the public, has donated his time and money to worthy causes, always did his job when it came to baseball, and has always been a monster in the clutch; and thus the fans love him for it. Casual baseball observers will say "But he didn't drive in 90 runs this year", while true baseball fans will realize that many of Matsui's hits came in clutch situations. Often times it is not how many hits you get, but when those hits are gotten, which is why I can't see how everyone loves Ichiro. After all, Matsui has a higher RISP and Clutch rating.

As a side note, RogueFive, pop quiz, name the TV station which showed the program with the poll you mentioned?

RogueFive, didn't you say this:

The survey I saw was on television (or tv, if you will) last week. About 65 percent of those polled said they wanted the fire-breathing menace in the line-up for 2010, which the Japanese commentators thought wasn't too bad, until they put it into persective and ranked it against other players' ratings, and he came in at a low and disappointing 15th or 16th.

Notice the last part where you say, 15th or 16th. Which is it?

For your information, there are more than 20 players on any ACTIVE roster of any Major League organization. Also, when September rolls around, teams are allowed to expand that roster. Fans who watch their players at the stadium and on television know all active players whether they be on the bench or playing in the field. Managers rotate their starting lineups constantly throughout the season and call up players from the minors all the time. So, even the average season ticket holder will see on average 50-60 players playing at least once during the 162-game season.

Fact is, Yankees fans are only capable of naming up to 20 playes max

No, fact is that true Yankee fans know more than just 20 players. In fact, I peruse major league messageboards all the time and see posters always talking about the prospects that they have coming up through the farm system. Only casual observers would think that players like Joba Chamberlain was drafted last year, when in fact Yankee fans knew about him since 2006.

Again, thank you for stating your source. I've read it again, and it said that all "260 players" were considered, and fans voted Matsui 15th or 16th out of 260 players, meaning that he didn't come close to dead last.

FYI, in addition to the Yankees major league team, there are:

The Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees Trenton Thunder Tampa Yankees Charleston RiverDogs Staten Island Yankees GCL Yankees DSL Yankees 1 DSL Yankees 2

Of course, several of the players who played in 2009 on these farm systems have been either promoted (like Xavier Nady), or traded (like Angel Berroa), or are considered on the DL for the time being. But on average, there is a total of 220 players.

About 65 percent of those polled said they wanted the fire-breathing menace in the line-up for 2010, which the Japanese commentators thought wasn't too bad, until they put it into persective and ranked it against other players' ratings, and he came in at a low and disappointing 15th or 16th.

Yes, but 15th or 16th out of 260 Yankee players is not bad. After googling the show you mentioned, it said that a poll was taken of all 40 players on the active roster + the 220-man roster of all eight minor league Yankee minor affiliates (AAA, AA, and A); which boasts players like Kei Igawa who are either nursing injuries from being on the DL, or are often called up for spot duty on the active roster. That would mean that there are 245 players that Yankee fans would like to let go before Hideki Matsui. That's not bad if you ask me.

He could have tried harder to show his appreciation to his fans, if he has any. (He doesn't.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arn-tellem/hideki-matsui-an-agelessb351519.html?page=2&showcommentid=34380065#comment_34380065

If I go to my mother's town, calling a cop is almost like asking a god to help you, because he may the one taking your money.

Seems like skipthesong has already given up on law enforcement. I on the other hand continue to have faith in our loyal men and women who serve and protect. Yes, there are cops you can't trust, but there are many more who are doing their best to uphold the law and protect us. To slip into the idea that the only way to protect ourselves is through the ownership of a gun totally bewilders me.

Even at a rate of 33,000 a year, which is one out of every 9,214 people is still lower then Japan. Your suicide problem is greater then our gun problem.

Yeah, but waynegrow, I'm not afraid at all about some bloke who decides to kill themselves. Yes, it's sad, but it causes no loss of life to me. On the other hand, people carrying guns do scare me, and have a greater possibility of causing bodily damage to me. Nearly every suicide in Japan is a sole suicide. Yes, there is a higher sole suicide rate in Japan, but the murder-suicide rate is higher in the U.S. Estimates show that between 1,000 and 1,500 people in the U.S. die in murder-suicides alone; and over 92% of those are due to a gun; which is staggering considering many more than that die from a straightforward homicide, robbery, or assault.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/11/recent_murder-suicides_follow.html

Sorry, in no way is a public message board a credible poll.

Well, it is a lot more credible than a so-called survey that RogueFive claims there is, but refuses to state his source for:

One survey I saw had him at 15th or 16th for players people wanted the Yankees to retain into 2010.

Sorry, you need to state the source. I simply don't believe that.

eresay, here you are:

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy (The Official New York Yankees homepage)

http://www.forums.mlb.com/ml-yankees

(The yankee forum board where several fans write in and create independent polls of their favorite players. Mind you that most of them seem to think that only players they have seen in their lifetime can be considered as "all-time", which I failed to mention in my previous post)

Bah I say good riddance to this fire-breathing menace called Matsui.

Rogue, tell me one bad thing that Matsui has done. He has not done one thing scandalous in his whole career spent with the Yankees. In fact, that is probably the only bad thing you can really say about him; his personal life outside of baseball is boring. What you can say and that every Yankee fan has said is that Matsui always comes each day to play and play hard. In fact, Godzilla is the polar opposite of Ichiro. There's always been rumors of Ichiro's clubhouse aloofness. Not so with Hideki. Guys like Jeter gush about how much he loves Matsui and wishes he could stay.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2009/11/05/2009-11-05_harper_hideki_matsui.html

"It's not a stretch to say Matsui is as responsible for Japanese interest in the Yankees as Yao Ming is for the NBA in China. Matsui has yet another virtue that goes beyond mere statistics. In an age when athletes mock our reverence daily, he's exemplary in every aspect of his life. In January of 2003, his very first request upon landing in New York was to be taken to the Twin Towers memorial to pay his respects. He did this without publicity or fanfare. He did it because, he said, it was "the right thing to do." After the tsunami hit Indonesia at the end of 2005, Matsui, out his own sense of decency, donated $500,000 to UNICEF. He's one of those rare superstars who recognize the unique role his astonishing talent has given him and the good he can do for others."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arn-tellem/hideki-matsui-an-ageless_b_351519.html?page=2&show_comment_id=34380065#comment_34380065

One survey I saw had him at 15th or 16th for players people wanted the Yankees to retain into 2010.

Yeah, but another poll had him listed as their 2nd or 3rd favorite Yankee of all time, behind Derek Jeter of course.

Looking at the New York Yankees homepage, all I can see are a lot of people who are sad to see a standup humble guy like Matsui go. A lot of New Yorkers considered Matsui their favorite Yankee, after all the out-of-baseball turmoil that guys like ARod created. Yet, they all wish him the best and are glad that at least he isn't going to their hated rivals the Boston Red Sox. I was especially impressed with his loyalty to New York, even though his could have commanded a bigger contract when he was a free agent several years ago. New Yorkers still remember how quickly he got his new contract worked out and thus remained a Yankee. All I heard this guy do was show up for work and play his hardest for his team. He also regularly donates much of his money to charity, like the 500,000 dollars he gave towards relief victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

Good luck with your new team Godzilla!

Gaming has allowed me to fill a void in my life.

Good point. Gaming is a better way to fill one's day than other more violent ways which I'm sure some people fill their lives with. I would rather encounter a hardline gamer, than a gun-toting radical anyday.