The five hour Hanshin Tigers pep rally.
What would a stay in Japan be without sushi, hot dogs and Major League Baseball?
As American as ... Not!
The Hanshin Tigers were on a winning streak and many of our students were telling us how exciting the games were. A bunch of teachers and myself decided we needed to see what all the hub-bub was about on TV and in the newspapers. So we jumped on the Hanshin train from the Hanshin department store and made our way out to Hanshin Stadium (most all teams in Japan, and the train lines, are named after their corporate sponsors).
We were impressed with the size of the ball park and the capacity of the crowd. The fans were right into the spirit of the game by wearing jerseys of their favorite players and color coordinated clothes, and banging stubby plastic bats. On the first beers we were having a good laugh at the group chants led by a team of drum and bugle players who made their way around the stadium.
The five hour Hanshin Tigers pep rally.
By the middle innings all the noise was becoming rather annoying and giving us headaches. The thing was, the pep rally never let up. Even when the teams were changing sides, the ra-ra-ra never stopped. On top of that, the game was boring as hell. One single hit by the eighth inning and the score was still 0-0. We left with splitting headaches before any teacher could assault a fan with their plastic bats...
