Summer Koushien in 2006

My friend, I know I wrote about this TOO MUCH....but please read this!!

Do you like baseball? I LOVE watching beseball games! Every summer, I used to be excited to watch "The National High School Baseball Tournament in Koushien" in Japan.
"Koushien" is the name of a baseball stadium in Osaka. Many professional baseball games are held there. But if a Japanese says "Summer Koushien," it means "The National High School Baseball Tournament" because it is soooo popular nationwide!! It started 88 years ago. This year, 4,112 high school's baseball teams participated in the LOCAL tournaments in their prefectures. Japan has 47 prefectures. Tokyo and Hokkaido( The northern land of Japan. My home town is in this land♪) have two local tournaments. Therefore, 49 high school beseball teams participated in the NATIONAL tournament.
" Having games in the Summer Koushien" is a big dream for EVERY high school baseball boy! " Becoming a campion team in the Summer Koushien" is the biggest dream for them! Many recruiters of proffesional baseball teams have been looking forward to seeing this. If you are very active in this tournament, you may become a pfofessional baseball player!! But I think most baseball boys do not pursue "private success," but "team victory" because so many Japanese support their home prefectures' team!! You also can become "a local" or "a national" hero!!

I also have been supporting my home prefecture's high school! That is "Komadai-Tomakomai" high school. Itn't it a LONG name? "Komadai" is an abbreviation of "Komazawa University." "Tomakomai" is the name of a small city which is located near my home town, Sapporo, in Hokkaido. The "Komadai-Tomakomai" is a special high school for the "Summer Koushien."　(This is the team's photo: from http://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/ ) Recently, the team became "the champion" two years in a row!!! So, if the "Komadai-Tomakomai" won this year, they would be the champion three years in a row!!! That was really a big thing, so many baseball fans have been interested in the team. Why is this such a big deal? The reasons are the following:

1. Members of high school baseball teams are changing every year. Seniors have to graduate, so if your team has talented players who are seniors, it would be difficult to win next year.
2. Players who are from the Hokkaido area have disadvantages. It is a very cold area, so they have A LOT OF snow every year. When they have snow.. they can't do the "usual" baseball practice. Also, it is an isolated land, so it would be hard to have games against other area high school teams. In fact, Hokkaido's teams used to lose the first games at the Summer Koushien! The Western summer around Osaka is so hot and humid. It's very different from Hokkaido's summer. It is not so hot, and comfortable. Many Northern players got tired because of the different weather.
When the Komadai-Tomakomai became the campion in 2004, it was the first time for northern teams to be a champion.
3. Now, in this world, you can get important information easily. Once you become a champion of the Summer Koushien, every high school team would try to get your team's information. If your baseball style is well known, it would be hard to win.

The "Komadai-Tomakomai" team overcame these difficulties;
1. The manager, Mr, Koda has been trying to let the sophomores or juniors in the major tournaments.
2. Even though it is in the middle of winter, they practiced on the snowy ground. Their "sense of balance" has been trained on the slippery icy ground by Mr.Koda.
When they played in the Summer Kousien, everybody was suprised how much difference this made.
3. Mr. Koda has tried not to make "a superstar." If your team has "a super star," he would be noticed by everybody. Your team's condition is supposed to change depending on his condition. Mr. Koda have tried to have "the team victory."

Anyway, the "Komadai-Tomakomai" continued to win, and they played the final this year! You know what? This is my THIRD Summer in the U.S. We can't watch live games of the Summer Koushien here. But since I came here, my home area high school has continued to win at this big tounament!!
Therefore, whenever the "Komadai-Tomakomai" has games, I have been STUCK in front of my PC for 2-3 hours. Some Web-sites provide "flash news" of the live games, so I often click "republish" key to know what is going on at the games!! Do you think "Oh, Keiko has so much free time?" I won't make an excuse...
I just believe I SHOULD SUPPORT MY HOME AREA HIGH SCHOOL BOYS!!

The result? It's hard to say... Eventually, they lost the final. I would say "the second final" because "the final" ended in a draw. Both of the teams got 1 point, but they couldn't get an extra point. The game went into extra innings.. but after they played 15innings, the game was stopped. There is 13-hour-time difference between Japan and here. It was Sunday morning here, and it was Sunday afternoon in Japan.
After "the Girl's Night!" party was over, I was just STUCK in front of the PC from 1:00am-4:30am!! This game reminded me of the intense extra innings of the last world series game in the U.S:The Chicago White Sox versus the Houston Astros.. The audience gasped at each team's play. Nobody expected which team would win.

The next day, they had "the second final." Unfortunatelly, my "Komadai-Tomakomai" team lost. The score was 3-4. It was very close to becoming the champion three years in a row!! However, I think players on the "Komadai-Tomakomai" have learned a lot from this defeat. I've heard some of them started to practice just after the "second final" was over.
Next year? I hope they will come back to the "Summer Koushien," to make me STUCK in front of the PC!!

By the way... can you say "Komadai-Tomakomai" without stopping? Like a tongue twister? It's hard to say even for Japanese. My husband has been saying,
"Tomadai-Komakomai!"

Thank you for reading this through! I appreciate you♪