A couple days ago we took the afternoon and went to a baseball game with our team. It was a good team activity (team bonding) and something fun to do outside of basketball.
Japanese baseball games are a little different from the standpoint of how the fans cheer. If you sit in one of the outfield bleacher sections you will be pretty much standing and cheering the whole time your team is up to bat. Whether you are for the home team or the away team there will be a section for you to do this if you want to. The fans don't just yell and clap, they have actual 'choreographed cheers.' For some of the cheers the person leading it will blow a whistle and you follow what he is doing. Other cheers are led by pounding on a big drum, while others are led with a trumpet (yes all this stuff is in outfield bleachers during the game - not sure if someone brings it in or if the team gives it to the fans). And of course what would a cheer section be without chants, claps and yelling peoples names? For the game we went to - the Orix Buffaloes (the team Ichiro used to play for) and the Seibu Lions fans even had 4 massive flags that they waved around while the home team, Buffaloes, were up to bat.
(At the end of the season last year Katy, Myla and I went and watched the Chiba Marines play the Soft Bank Hawks and it was the same with the chants, cheers and flags - really cool to see)
Then in the seventh inning you blow up ballons - balloons are long, like a bat, and everyone realeses them at the same time up into the air. For the 5-10 seconds the balloons are flying it is really cool to look around the stadium and see the teams colors floating through the air. Our coach was kind enough to get a bunch of balloons and we all got to participate. (Heres a little video so you can see what it is like)
The place we went to watch the game was the Osaka Dome (Osaka is a major city that is next to Kyoto). The dome itself sticks out a little bit, as it looks like a massive alien spaceship. No Joke. When we were walking up to this thing I couldn't help but think that if the world were going to end and I needed to get out I would come here, find a seat and wait for it to take off.
Picture your stereotypical flying saucer/alien spaceship looking thing.......got a picture in your head?.......yep, this is exactly what the dome looked like. It even had little lights on the side that pretty much said, "Im ready for blastoff."
When we got to the game and got our tickets we found out that we were in the upper deck. Forget the tractor beam, I thought with all the stairs we had to go up that we were marching right up to the cockpit of the mothership. I half expected to turn around and see something staring me in the face during the game. Luckily I was spared.
I guess though if it really is a stadium and it cant fly (which I find hard to believe) than I think it should be called a UnFO (Un-identifed non-flying object).
Whatever the thing is, we had a good time in it and enjoyed the time we spent there as a team. Hope you may get the chance to go to baseball game some day in Japan as it was a cool experience - both times were (whether it be somewhere else in Japan, in Osaka at the dome, or off in some far away galaxy when the spaceship takes off).
(At the end of the season last year Katy, Myla and I went and watched the Chiba Marines play the Soft Bank Hawks and it was the same with the chants, cheers and flags - really cool to see)
Then in the seventh inning you blow up ballons - balloons are long, like a bat, and everyone realeses them at the same time up into the air. For the 5-10 seconds the balloons are flying it is really cool to look around the stadium and see the teams colors floating through the air. Our coach was kind enough to get a bunch of balloons and we all got to participate. (Heres a little video so you can see what it is like)
Picture your stereotypical flying saucer/alien spaceship looking thing.......got a picture in your head?.......yep, this is exactly what the dome looked like. It even had little lights on the side that pretty much said, "Im ready for blastoff."
When we got to the game and got our tickets we found out that we were in the upper deck. Forget the tractor beam, I thought with all the stairs we had to go up that we were marching right up to the cockpit of the mothership. I half expected to turn around and see something staring me in the face during the game. Luckily I was spared.
I guess though if it really is a stadium and it cant fly (which I find hard to believe) than I think it should be called a UnFO (Un-identifed non-flying object).
Whatever the thing is, we had a good time in it and enjoyed the time we spent there as a team. Hope you may get the chance to go to baseball game some day in Japan as it was a cool experience - both times were (whether it be somewhere else in Japan, in Osaka at the dome, or off in some far away galaxy when the spaceship takes off).
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