Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Is there anyone who cares at all about the Red Sox and ISN'T talking about Matsuzaka?
The insanity involved in this is pure, utter Bostonishness. There are other cities that are obsessed with baseball, of course, but the Bostonian brand of obsession is a distinct and particular one. It's an obsession that does not keep baseball in its own little niche, but spills it out into all walks of life, as if Boston Baseball is some kind of molasses that you're trying to hold in your hands.
It's not just the baseball that's interesting, but everything surrounding the baseball. What does Matsuzaka look like? What does he sound like? What kind of smile does he have? What kind of glove is he using? How does he wear his hat? How well does he seem on a completely superficial level to be interacting with Varitek? Is he getting along with Okajima? What happens when he meets Manny and Ortiz? Will it be easier for him to stand Schilling for long periods of time because he won't always know what he's being lectured about?
What does the media covering this dude look like? There are teams of photographers whose job seems to be to shoot the Japanese photographers, who are there to shoot Matsuzaka. That's how freakin' meta we've gotten.
And it's not just one slightly creepy and obsessive web entity (exhibit A) chronicling his every move. It's EVERYONE, from the newspapers to the TV stations to the radio shows to the bloggers to the AP photographers. And of course that's not even getting into the constant critical inspection he's undergoing at practice every day from his coaches and teammates. This level of scrunity is not unlike that under which the President of the United States operates. It should be enough to drive most people, even "celebrities", batshit insane.
Here's the thing with Matsuzaka, though. He's from Japan. He's been a huge pitcher in Japan for a long time now, ever since he was in high school. And if there's one international baseball media market that could compare to Boston for sheer relentless obsession, it's Japan.
In a way, Matsuzaka is perfectly primed for Boston, and Boston is perfectly suited to him. He should be used to the kind of insanity that we can dish up, because he was followed so closely even before this*. And I think the language barrier may actually work in his favor a little bit; he's not going to be getting himself upset listening to the wacknuts on WEEI after a bad game. He's accustomed to the scrutiny and simultaneously more able to readily ignore it than, say, ARod (or, to be fair, Schilling).
The Japanese media, who will be probably be entrenched for the season and the long run, get a city that is less bemused by their persistence and more understanding. Boston as a collective whole doesn't really have to wonder when we see a vast horde of Japanese media sorts tailing hopefully behind Matsuzaka as he goes about his day; we can recognize a little bit of ourselves in that horde.
*Of course this assumes that Matsuzaka had learned to handle the media gracefully back home and is past the point where such intense regard could ruffle his feathers. I think he has, or he probably wouldn't have been as good a pitcher as he is, but if he hasn't, eh, you can disregard this post.Labels: baseball, Daisuke Matsuzaka, frenzy, Japan, media, MLB, obsession, Red Sox
1:10 PM
Friday, January 26, 2007
It's winter, so that means time for my own personal terrible tradition. That's right. The Winter X Games.
For some reason, I have watched these things every year since coming to college. I could not begin to tell you why. I think at first they happened to be on at times that I wasn't in class, and then I just kept on watching them out of morbid fascination and a distinct lack of baseball or whatever.
It's at the point where I recognize the names now, despite the fact that I know next to nothing about any of these sports. For instance, I think Tanner Hall's new beard looks stupid. I wonder why they got rid of the Moto-X events? And I was concerned enough about the absence of Mike Metzger (before I realized that no Moto-X events were happening) to look him up and make sure he's OK (in short, he is not... he broke his back trying to do a jump from one barge to another [gosh, I wonder what might go wrong with THAT], although it looks like he won't be paralyzed). I appreciate the female snowboarders who get good amplitude out of the pipe, because I realize that they don't usually get near as high as the guys do (and none of them as high as the skiiers).
I get a dorky kick out of Sal Masakela and that reporter with the terrible Boston accent.
I HAVE A WINTER X GAMES PROBLEM OK.
The damn things are only 11 years old, and every year there's new stuff. All these sports are actively evolving. One year, people are doing single flips, the year after someone throws down a double, and the year after that everyone has to be doing doubles just to make it to the finals. If I'm remembering correctly, nobody was throwing 1080s when this stuff started, but you see them now (and, shit, Simon Dumont just rolled a 1260 in the ski pipe). It's not like baseball or football, where there's innovation and new superstars come up, but nothing similar to this current year-to-year growth. It's like watching Darwin's finches. Only, you know, colder, and with more bad music.
The analysts use the word "gnarly" in a relatively earnest way.
At least half the people competing are younger than me, which is simultaneously awesome and extremely depressing.
Mostly, it's just fun. It's fast and bright and loud and requires exactly no thinking power to watch and enjoy. I guess you might call it the perfect ESPN-sponsored event.Labels: obsession, Winter X Games, X Games
10:34 PM
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