japan Page 10 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Incomparable Ichiro Swings Through
Two surefire Hall of Famers played in the Bronx last night. One is having the worst season of his career at 37 years old, hitting nearly 60 points off his lifetime average, and still getting paid $17 million. The other one is Derek Jeter....

Watch The Gut-Churning End To The Women's World Cup
The U.S. women's national team's run came to an end today in Frankfurt. Here's Abby Wambach's go-ahead goal in extra time, Homare Sawa's nifty conversion off of a corner kick soon after to tie it up, and — for the U.S. and for me, at least — the heartbreaking end in penalty kicks. I still advocate...

And Here's The Japan Goal That Sent The World Cup Final To Extra Time
The US was sloppy in front of its own net, and this is what happens, from the handy foot of Aya Miyama. Why can't we have nice defenders?...

Soccer Analysts Find Many, Many Ways To Call The Japanese Short
On Sunday, the US Women take on Japan in the Women's World Cup Final. It will be a "tall order" for the Japanese, who have a "height disadvantage." Nay, a "major size disadvantage." The "small Japanese" will "lack height" against the Americans. But despite a match pitting "the smaller Japanese again...

Watch The Goal That Clinched Japan's Remarkable Upset Of Germany In The Women's World Cup
Germany was hoping to win its third consecutive Women's World Cup and had home-pitch advantage to do so. Alas, Karina Maruyama of Japan's extra-time goal in the 108th minute relegated them to also-ran status. Japan advances to the World Cup semifinals, where they'll face the winner of tomorrow's S...

Kobayashi Somehow Sets A New, Totally Unofficial Hot Dog Eating Record
With the Empire State Building as a backdrop and a drag queen named Mimi Imfurst cracking jokes about stuffing wieners into Anderson Cooper's mouth, Takeru Kobayashi executed an improbably perfect "up yours" to the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, from which he's been barred over a long-running cont...

The Lonesome Independence Day Of Kobayashi, Eater In Exile
On a May evening, in a cramped biergarten behind a German restaurant off the Bowery in Manhattan, Takeru Kobayashi sat down to a plate of Rheinischer Sauerbraten mit Kartoffelklößen und Rotkraut. First, he produced a small camera and began photographing the sauerbraten for his blog, where he catalog...

For Just $3,000, You Can Own LeBron's Japanese Handprint
When you think of LeBron James, what's the first thing that comes to mind? If you are precisely no one, the answer is $3,000 Japanese handprints. But, lo, a presumably fine fellow from Upper Deck passed along a press release today announcing the sale of those very handprints. There are only 26. In t...

This Nine-Year-Old Kid Might Well Be The World's Next Greatest Soccer Player
This lad, who has yet to be publicly identified, is being called "The Japanese Messi." For good reason. The kid's got footwork, pace and panache to the point where the guy who coached "The Real Messi" as a youth has linked to this clip via Twitter. Or, it could just be a farce, which would be sad....

Lakers Blogger From Japan Offers Disaster Updates, Perspective
Don Landrigan, who blogs about the L.A. Lakers at With-Malice.com, lives with his family on the southernmost of Japan's main islands. What that means is he's not in the heart of earthquake-and-tsunami disaster zone, but his take on the subsequent devastation doesn't match what he calls "half-crazed...

Bleacher Report Uses Japan Earthquake As Excuse For Sports Slideshow
"Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The Worst Natural Disasters in Sports History." Seriously....

11 Sumo Wrestlers Involved In (Text-Only) Text Message Controversy
Wrestlers and stablemasters in the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) have long been suspected of match-fixing, but now there might be some textual messages to prove it. Let's hope this doesn't all trace back to a stubby-finger typo....

Last Night's Winner: The Greatest Hitter In Japanese History, This Ginger Kid
In sports, everyone is a winner-some people just win better than others. Like Japan's new all-time single-season hits leader, Matt Murton. Yes, the same Matt Murton who washed out in Chicago, Oakland and Colorado....

Spider-Man 2: Yet Another Japanese Outfielder Makes Incredible Catch
Mere weeks after introducing the world to the original Spider-Man's home run saving grab, it happens again. Same ballpark, same teams, same pitcher on the mound....

Spider-Man Outfielder Makes One Of The Greatest Catches Ever
This is from last night's Yokohama BayStars/Hiroshima Carp game. Breaks like this are why the BayStars are in last place, though I think Hiroshima would take issue with any other city calling itself unlucky....

World Cup Open Thread: Cameroon-Netherlands; Denmark-Japan
Cameroon is playing for pride and the Danes must win if they want to advance. Talk about the different nations' cuisine and follow the game action in the comments below....

World Cup Open Thread: Netherlands-Japan
These teams have their work cut out for them if they're going to give us as exciting a game as any of the ones we had yesterday. Order a hash brownie California Roll and comment below....

Japan Wins Eighth Consecutive World Cup Costume Contest
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and internets to bring you everything you need to know to start your day....

World Cup Open Thread: Japan-Cameroon
Japan's captain Makoto Hasebe is reportedly fully healed from a back injury, but can he lead Samurai Blue past Internazionale badass Samuel Eto'o and the rest of the Indomitable Lions? Should be a sizzler, so comment below....