Japan Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
MLB Teams Will Soon Bid On The Latest Touted Japanese Pitcher
It's happening. Masahiro Tanaka, the right-handed pitching sensation from Japan, will be starting an MLB career after being posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles. The only question is, which team?...
Every Leader Of The Japanese PGA Is Resigning In A Yakuza Scandal
This past spring two officials of the Professional Golfers Association in Japan played golf and dined with a known yakuza mafia don. Naturally Shinsaku Maeda, who was the vice chairman, and Tadayoshi Bando, who was the board director, had to go, and they were expelled in October....
This Robot Wins At Rock-Paper-Scissors Every Single Time
In the coming robot war, the only advantage we humans will have against the machines is our irrationality. They won't expect us to smuggle the nuke into their underground server farm at the cost of our own lives. They won't expect us to throw paper again after throwing it three times in a row. Tha...
Unspinning The Mythical Gyroball, The Demon Miracle Pitch That Wasn't
Once feared, now largely forgotten, the gyroball retains a stubborn hold on the baseball imagination. Perhaps Red Sox closer Koji Uehara can put the pitch to rest:...
Is Wladimir Balentien Having The Most Dominant Baseball Season Ever?
Wladimir Balentien, the impeccably named, once-heralded Mariners prospect who hit just .221 in three seasons in the majors before retreating to Japan, is smacking the everloving shit out of baseballs right now. Friday he hit his 52nd home run—three shy of the Nippon Professional Baseball record—and ...
This Air Hockey-Playing Robot Is Here To Ruin Your Shit
Japan—of course it's Japan, home of the Messi-stopping goalkeeper robot—has found a way to win all the Dave & Buster's tickets....
A Japanese Team Was Interested In Alex Rodriguez
There's nothing the Yankees can do about the five years and $114 million remaining on Alex Rodriguez's contract unless he retires, or unless they can find a Japanese GM who hasn't been paying attention to MLB for the last three seasons....
The Japanese Version Of <em>Sport Science</em> Is Awesome
We've said before in this space that ESPN's pseudoscientific Sport Science segments are "sneakily awful," but this weekend I happened across something from Japanese national broadcaster NHK that puts ESPN to shame....
The Art Of The Japanese Bat Flip
This video was put together by some unknown Japanese hero a year ago, but it's making the rounds today (I think it popped up first on Fangraphs last week). And that's 100 percent of the background on the video you're going to get....
The Cubs' New Japanese Pitcher Accidentally Told The Press He Wouldn't Care If Chicago Traded Him
Today the Cubs officially introduced new signing Kyuji Fujikawa, because any time you can lock up a 32-year-old middle reliever who's never pitched in the MLB for two years and $9.5 million, you have to pull the trigger. Fujikawa met with the media at Wrigley Field, and though he speaks a decent amo...
Cheerleaders, Endless Chants, And Fan-Created Performance Art: Why Baseball Games In The Far East Feel Like College Football Games
On my flight to Busan, South Korea I sat next to an older Korean woman sporting a Detroit Tiger hat. It seemed serendipitous that I'd be seated next to a fellow Tigers fan on a vacation planned entirely around seeing baseball games. The issue, which was a big issue, was expressing this....
South Korean Soccer Player Did Not Receive His Medal Because Of Politics
Park Jong-soo played all 90 minutes in South Korea's 2-0 win over Japan in Friday's bronze medal game. As he walked off the field he held up the sign you see, which apparently reads "Dokdo is our territory." The reference is to a group of islands between South Korea and Japan in waters (the Sea of ...
Was This Disgraceful Olympic Boxing Match Fixed?
Knockdowns are exceedingly rare in Olympic boxing. Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu knocked down Azerbaijan’s Magomed Abdulhamidov five times in the third and final round of their bantamweight bout yesterday. And yet, the judges scored the round in favor of the one who spent more time on the canvas than on ...
Olympics Fans Are Fat And Tired: Foreign Olympics News For The 6.7 Billion People Not Watching NBC
Deadspin and Gelf Magazine bring you the best (or at least the most interesting) foreign-produced journalism about the London Olympics. ...
Japan Made Its Women's Soccer Team Fly Economy, While Putting The Men In Business Class
Despite winning last year's World Cup, the Japanese women's national soccer team couldn't escape economy class on their Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo to Paris this week—despite the men's national team riding in business class....
Japan Is Still Nutso About Hideki Matsui
This is the pregame media scrum around Hideki Matsui, who was called up from Triple-A and will make his Rays debut in St. Petersburg tonight. The spectacle of Japanese fellows swarming their prey with cameras and notebooks is not a new one, and it's something we've come to expect every time a new NP...
70-Year-Old Japanese Equestrian Earns Spot In London Olympics
Hiroshi Hoketsu (who turns 71 on March 28) earned the spot by winning an international dressage meet in France earlier this week. It remains unclear whether he will actually compete in the games, but Japanese Equestrian officials not only exist but will also announce Hoketsu's participation status ...
The Rangers Tossed Yu Darvish The Most Money, Dmitri Young Is Still Skinny, And More Hot Stove News
Your roundup of all the hottest hot-stove items of the day (and whatever shit Ken Rosenthal is throwing against the wall). This is ... HOT FUCKING STOVE!!...