Yomiuri Giants Fire Flyjin Pitcher

Want to know what the Japanese think about the foreigners who left?


The Flyjin controversy is getting hotter and hotter amongst the foreign circles in Japan. Weird, but these people should wake up and figure out that it doesn't matter what the foreigners think - it only matters what the Japanese think. (But, then again, the amount of panic was in inverse proportion to their Japanese ability, so I guess they care about the foreigners as most of them live a life shelled inside a foreigner community bubble in Tokyo). 


You know, this issue would probably die down if these dumb foreigners who split would just wise up and take my advice:


1) Be humble, bow their heads profusely and say "Sorry!" repeatedly - quietly in private to  those they betrayed.
2) Quit making excuses. No one wants to hear your lame excuses. Do you want to hear excuses when those around you screw up? No!
3) Shut your mouths and don't talk back and make excuses when you do apologize. There is a word for talking back when you are being reprimanded and it is "iikaeshi" (言い返し) - don't do it. Shut your mouths and say "Sorry!" ("Sumimasen. Moshiwake arimasen!" is preferrable).*


I am sick of this subject and am really sick of people attacking me for telling you what was going to happen, before it happened; also while it happened; and after it happened (like I am doing now). The Japanese don't like what you guys did and you destroyed a ton of trust and probably can't recover that. 

It's ugly but it's a fact. Get mad at me for telling you that all you want, but it won't change the reality. Here's more proof of what the Japanese think about Flyjin: 

From Yahoo! Japan Sports:

巨人のブライアン・バニスター投手（３０）が２日、３月１５日付で制限選手公示された。再来日の意思がないことから巨人が、日本プロ野球組織（ＮＰＢ）の加藤良三コミッショナー（６９）に申請し受理された。

　バニスターは東日本大震災後の３月１５日、米国に無断帰国。３月末に「再来日の意思がなく引退する」と連絡があった。球団関係者は「かなり一方的。代理人も含めて断固、厳しく対処する」と説明。米国を含む他国リーグへ移籍ができない拘束力を持つ制限選手とする決断に至った。

Translation: It was announced on April 2, 2011 that Yomiuri Giants pitcher Brian Bannister (30-years-old) was released on March 15. Since the Giants have no intention of returning him to Japan, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) commissioner Ryozo Kato (69-years-old) has accepted the application.

March 15, after the earthquake, Bannister returned to the United States without permission of the Giants front office. He stated, at the end of March, that he had no intention of returning to Japan. A Giants spokesperson said, "His actions are very one-sided and so we intend to deal with him (Bannister) and his agent harshly." Through this incident and the agreement between the baseball leagues around the world, Bannister has now been forced into retirement and is no longer eligible to play baseball professionally in any country in the world including the United States. (emphasis mine)

This is proof positive of how these foolish Flyjin messed up their own lives and have negatively influence ours with their selfish and irrational behavior. 


As long as these people fail to recognize the damage they have caused themselves (and the rest of us) and continue to make excuses in public forums rather than apologize to those who need it in private, then to hell with them.


And make no mistake about it, this is not so much a breach of contract as a breach of trust issue. 


That baseball player, Bannister, did not even discuss leaving with his employers the prospect of leaving Japan. What makes him different than these foreigners in Tokyo who split without discussing amongst their Japanese staff? 


I think the answer is self-evident: There is no difference.


*Take my advice when you apologize to your Japanese boss and peers and do it exactly like I have described here. It just might save your job.


UPDATE:


Here's a ton of stuff the Japanese are saying. One guy, a foreigner (became a nationalized Japanese) and famous soccer player for Japan national team, Ramos, says that "the foreigners that ran away shouldn't come back and that the Japanese don't want them back" Tons of Japanese comments that agree: 逃げたい外国人　さっさと帰れ　もどってくるな http://ameblo.jp/ramos-ruy/entry-10834259061.html

UPDATE TWO: 


More on Dempa 2ch (famous social networking site in Japan) and even a community started that is anti-Flyjin in the Japanese community: http://logsoku.com/thread/hayabusa.2ch.net/livejupiter/1301439006/

Point? See?The fool who ran away have screwed things up not just for themselves... regardless of their excuses. Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

Sumo is Fixed Like All Other Professional Sports

I've been telling people for years that all professional sports are fixed. They are. Now, today, thanks to my slim and trim friends in sumo, another sports has provided evidence that what I have said is true.


Other sports, baseball, soccer, football, cricket, etc. even tiddley-winks have provided, with amazing regularity, evidence of corruption, one needs only perform a Google search to find enough literature on the subject for a lifetime.


I have been a professional announcer and have worked in the news and the mass media for over 30 years. I've even been a professional sports announcer. I know what I am talking about.


All professional sports are fixed. Japan's sumo is no different. The only professional sport that is on the "up and up" is , amazingly enough, professional wrestling. At least in pro wrestling they tell you that it's entertainment at the start, they don't try to act like "everything is real" like the other sports do.

Jaba the Match Fixer

The reason why I say this is because all professionals sports are corrupted by money. Professional sports are entertainment for the masses. Professional sports are big business. The people who run these leagues are not doing it for fun... If they want to do something for fun, I'm sure they'll do something like stamp collecting or chasing wild women...


There's nothing at all wrong with wanting to make tons and tons of money (nor in chasing wild women)... But, in the case of sports, they always promote professional sports as a primitive  "man vs. man" or "man vs. nature" challenge. 


You won't hear the truth about how money is the #1 motivating, compelling and driving part of the story behind the modern sports of today.


Pro sports are multi billion dollars businesses. The people who own and run these businesses and leagues do not run them to lose money.


So, why are the sports fixed? Because, like I said, they are entertainment. Since they are entertainment, someone has to pay to see the games. 


Once you consider that we are dealing with entertainment - entertainment that must compete with all other forms of entertainment - and, in turn, compete for the same money that other entertainment is competing for, then you realize that professional sports need to well, entertain.  


Sounds silly, but it's not. Sports must compete for the same dollars that Hollywood movies do. It's that simple.  


That means we need to get people to come to our entertainment events (sports games). That means tickets must be sold and someone must pay big money for their broadcast of these games. That means people and sponsors expect to get their money's worth.


This is important. Keep it in mind.


Take the example of CBS who used to do the Superbowl every year. CBS sells commercial time on the Superbowl for tens of millions of dollars. CBS wants to sell 4 or 5 hours of this commercial time to a sponsor. 


If the games are blowouts and 70% the viewers turn off their TVs before the first half ends, sponsors are very upset. When sponsors are upset, the TV stations are very upset. Why? Because, if games are boring and people tune out, if this happens too much and too often then sponsors won't want to spend big money next year because they fear the same thing will happen.


If the sponsors don't pay big money, then who doesn't make big money? The league and team owners. 


If you are an American, you might remember the Denver Broncos getting to the Superbowl in the early 1980s. They got blown out two years in a row. The games were basically over 1/2 way through the second quarter. The viewers turned their sets off. There haven't been any blowouts since then. Is it any wonder why?


Like I said, pro sports are a big business. The leagues have a product to sell. That product is supposed to be an exciting sports event that last for 4 hours and is profitable to their mass media partners too. When the game is over after 45 minutes, there are some very unhappy sponsors and media partners.


The league cannot afford to have that.


This is why, over these last 20 years or so, all major sports events always go down to the wire; especially American sports such as the Superbowl. In recent memory, these games always go down to the last minute... And with that, people complaining about the poor refereeing and bad calls.


Don't people realize that they are not bad calls, they are calls to extend the game to the last minute. They are not bad calls, they are opportunistic calls made to stretch the games out to the end. Like the director makes an edit to a movie script, the league makes sure that the important games stay close until the last minute. 


The game has an exciting finish, the sponsors are happy. Everyone gets their money and we can do the same thing next year.


It's all a scam. All professionals sports are this way.


I've been saying this for years. People always get mad at me for this.


Recently, Japan's traditional sport (it's been fixed for at least a few decades) has been "found out." Matches are fixed and the proof is out. 

Sports are fixed here? Shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

Of course they are. What pro sports isn't?


Kyodo reports:


Two sumo wrestlers and one elder have admitted to being involved in fixing matches in high-profile tournaments, Sports minister Yoshiaki Takaki said Thursday, in the latest blow to the traditional Japanese sport that was already reeling from a string of scandals. The unprecedented revelation angered Prime Minister Naoto Kan and prompted the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which oversees the JSA, to reconsider the association's future as a government-affiliated entity.


The funniest part about this is the last sentence, "The unprecedented revelation angered Prime Minister Naoto Kan and prompted the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which oversees the JSA, to reconsider the association's future as a government-affiliated entity."


Ha! Ha! Of course they are corrupt! They are a government-affliated entity. All governments are corrupt too! What do you expect? You just can't make this stuff up. (Psst! Don't look now, but have you ever wondered why the government allowed gambling on horse racing all those years and why racing associations are government run or sanctioned?)


Before you write to me claiming that your favorite sport is not fixed, please Google search, "Bribery, scandal, (your favorite sport's name)" then, write to me about it.


By the way, do not misunderstand what I have written here. I don't hate sports. I like sports. I hate professional sports and nationalism inducing sports circuses like the Olympics too. If big money is involved then it is not honest. Sports are supposed to be honest.


If you want to see honest and real sports, then go to the playground and see kids playing little league soccer or baseball or ?. Those are real sports. The kids are doing those games for the love of the game, not for money. They are trying their hearts out. They cry when they lose. The pros? When they lose, they just worry about their contract next year and wonder what city they will be playing in.


Professional sports are entertainment... No more, no less. Sure, they can be fun to watch while having a beer with friends, but to actually care who "wins" is childish. You'd think that people, after graduating from, say, high school  would be mature enough to throw away the tribalistic type of thinking that makes them feel better and superior about themselves just because a bunch of clowns in leotards can throw a ball in a bucket more than the other guys or something.


Once again, all pro sports are a scam; they are big money entertainment. In truth, they mean absolutely nothing important at all. 


It reminds me of a passage in George Orwell's 1984 when protagonist Winston Smith goes to the restroom at work and meet his boss. His boss says, "Smith? Did you hear the big game last night?" Smith answers, "No!" To that the boss responds, "Now that was an exciting game. What a finish! That's the best script we've written in a long time!"   


Here's another article I wrote about this very same corrupt subject over 5 years ago.






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