First ever Japanese NHL player and ECHL Bakersfield Condors goalie Yutaka Fukufuji has hinted on his blog that he’s looking outside America for a team to play next season. With his former Asia League team Kokudo/Seibu team folded, I’m not sure whether he means a return to Japan (the newly formed Tohoku Free Blades? Very unlikely), move to Europe (ECHL goalie would translate to second division in an elite nation?), or maybe he’s just yanking our chain and is looking into Canada 😛
Posts Tagged ‘LA’
Fukufuji next season
Posted by japanstats on 2009 May 24日 Sunday
Posted in 02_English, Asia League Ice Hockey, ECHL, hockey, information, Japan, opinion, tokyo | Tagged: bakersfield, condors, free blades, Fukufuji, goalie, kings, Kokudo, LA, los angeles, prince rabbits, seibu, tohoku, yutaka | 2 Comments »
WBC attendance analysis
Posted by japanstats on 2009 March 23日 Monday
An interesting analysis of WBC attendance on Baseball Analyst. Pretty much predictable, but demographic split in bracketing still seems necessary to avoid mostly empty seat stadiums, so a soccer World Cup style one country hosting all games is probably still too early for the WBC. Good to see healthy crowds at Dodger Stadium for the semis and finals (probably) though.
Posted in 02_English, baseball, culture, information, opinion, statistics, tokyo | Tagged: 2009, attendance, LA, los angeles, marketing, wbc | Leave a Comment »
福藤選手のPV サンプル
Posted by japanstats on 2008 October 1日 Wednesday
Posted in 01_日本語, Asia League Ice Hockey, ECHL, hockey, information, NHL, tokyo | Tagged: anaheim, アイスホッケー, ゴールキーパー, ビデオ, bakersfield, condors, 福藤, ducks, Fukufuji, kings, LA, video, 日本人, 映像 | Leave a Comment »
グレツキー:世紀の大トレード20周年
Posted by japanstats on 2008 August 11日 Monday
2008年8月8日は北京五輪開幕と共に、カナダ(とアメリカの一部)では世界最高のアイスホッケー選手、”The Great One” ウェイン・グレツキーがスタンレーカップ覇者のエドモントン・オイラーズから、ホッケー未開拓の地のロサンゼルス・キングス(後に福藤選手も少しプレーしたチーム)への電撃トレードの記念日として知られています(当時のNHL はプロ野球みたいで、大物選手のトレードはほぼ皆無でした)。これに従い、NHL.com でもこの電撃トレード特集を組みました。
グレツキーがLA に行かなければ、アメリカ南部の各地で起こっているホッケー革命(アナハイム、サンノゼ、ダラス等ではホッケーの裾野がゼロから広がり、近年ではNHL にもドラフト指名される選手が、この様な地域からも出てくるようになった)は起こらなかったでしょう。しかし、もしグレツキーがロスにトレードされずにエドモントンに残っていたら、あのメンバー(メシエ、コフィー、アンダーソン等)でなら、実際に勝ち取った5つ以上のスタンレーカップを手にしていた可能性もかなりありますので、考えさせられますね。
Posted in 01_日本語, hockey, information, NHL, opinion | Tagged: アイスホッケー, エドモントン, オイラーズ, キングス, グレツキー, グレート・ワン, ニューヨーク, レンジャーズ, ロサンゼルス, gretzky, LA, NY, the great one | Leave a Comment »
Sumo in LA
Posted by japanstats on 2008 February 25日 Monday
Ozumo (the professional sumo circuit) is making an appearance in LA this June after putting on a performance in Hawaii last year, which was the first time in 14 years for the former sumo wrestler producing island.
Pretty slick site considering how analogue the sumo world is (many sumo-beya training stables now have their own sites and top ranked sekitori wrestlers have their own blogs, so the ancient world is slowly becoming digitized). Introductory video is nicely produced and contains lots of great scenes often not seen by the public, like all the training sessions. But it seems to overuse the Japanese sumo words so people need some prior knowledge of the sport, otherwise they’ll get lost quickly in all the lingo. Then again judo pretty much exclusively uses Japanese terms and it’s an Olympic sport, so that seems to be what sumo’s aiming at.
One FYI: about 40 wrestlers in the upper ranks of makuuchi make it to these overseas 2-day tournaments, but they always fly in two separate planes. This is to avert a situation where the world’s top sumo wrestlers are all lost in one plane crash.
PS: There should be a Mongolian tournament in the works as well, as Mongolians currently dominate the sumo world and Ozumo is watched regularly by Mongolians on TV. Sort of like how Japanese watch their major leaguers on TV broadcasts.
Posted in 02_English, information, sumo | Tagged: LA, los angeles, Mongolia, ozumo, sumo | 1 Comment »