Early this morning, I found Derek Jeter’s announcement of his retirement at the end of this season on his Facebook page. I knew that this day would come soon, but it is completely different between what I expected to be and what it actually comes to be.
The Yankees in the 1990’s was the most brilliant team that I have ever seen, so I was really happy to watch their games. Now I can clearly remember how Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter played in the Yankees Stadium at that time.
Of course, Captain Jeter is great, but young Jeter was more impressive for me.
In the twenty-first century, it was a bit sour to be a Yankees fan, because I had to watch the old good Yankees collapsing. Paul, Bernie, Andy and Jorge retired one by one. Although the Yankees bought expensive players instead of them, they were not the old good Yankees at all.
In the last season, Mariano was gone from the field, and in this season, Derek, the last old good Yankee, finally will step out. At the end of this season, I will also stop being a Yankees fan.
A farewell to Captain and the old good Yankees.
PS
Masahiro Tanaka MUST take Captain to the world series!
In a previous entry “Goodbye My Good Old Yankees,” I wrote about my love for the Yankees in 1990s. Now, the Yankees are not what they were in 1990s at all, but we can still see Derek, Andy, and Mo, who have survived from back then to now, and are still playing on the field. However, Mo will retire at the end of this season. I read an interview of Mo, which was about his faith. It was really interesting and impressive to me. I’d like to quote a passage which interested me most.
I ask Rivera how it felt to lose the 2001 series, and he answers that God was in charge that day as he is on all others. “I did my best. I did everything within my power. I did everything within my power to win that game for us. Guess what? Didn’t happen. And you think I’m going to start like a child, Oh oh oh, I be crying? No, I did my best. My best wasn’t enough that day. I looked my boss into his eyes, and I said, ‘Boss, I did my best and my best wasn’t enough today.’ I can sleep comfortable and move forward.”
He thinks that his talent isn’t his own property but a gift from the God. He just does his best and he doesn’t care about the consequences, because only God can decide them. He looks down at himself from the God’s view, and he has been performing at his full potential. I am not a Christian, so I don’t believe that my talent is a gift from God, but it might be very important to think that my talent isn’t inherent. I can manage somebody else, because I see their ability in an objective way. Likewise, it is really difficult for me to manage myself, because I can’t objectively judge my own ability. The desire to possess leads a wrong decision. I am trying to throw away my desire and just do what I can.
The Japanese government decided to give Hideki Matsui the
National Honorary Award. Now he has been to Tokyo to attend the ceremony of
this award. Yesterday I watched the TV program about his achievement in MLB.
All members of the team were tough physically and mentally
and devoted to the win of the team. They knew and really did what each of them
should do. Shortly, they were just professional. At that time, Paul O’Neill was
the symbol of the Yankees. He couldn’t hit thirty home runs in a year, but he
was a real clutch hitter.
In the 2000s, the Yankees had changed. In 2001, Paul O’Neill
was retired, and after then the Yankees hadn’t won the world champion. In 2004,
A Rod was traded to the Yankees, and he hit over fifty home runs in 2007, but
the Yankees even didn’t win the divisional title.
Matsui joined the Yankees in 2003. The fans of the Yankees
supported him, because he played like Paul O’Neill. He was tough physically and
mentally and devoted to the win of the team, too. He also was a real clutch
hitter.
In 2009, the Yankees won the world champion, and Matsui got
MVP of the World Series. Although he did a great job in the World Series, he
was traded to Angels after the season.
I was really impressed that all of audience and the Yankees
welcomed him at Angels’ first game in the Yankee stadium in the next season. I remember
that Tino Martinez also welcomed in the Yankee stadium after he was traded to
Cardinals in 2002. Fans loved Matsui and Martinez from the heart. On the
contrary A Rod was always booed in the franchises where he used to belong to.
In the TV program about Matsui, Joe Torre said, “He is
trustworthy,” and Derek Jeter said, “He is the Yankee.”
What do you know about Japanese culture? Tea ceremony (茶道), zen (禅), ukiyoe (浮世絵), sushi (寿司), or otaku (オタク)? In a Japanese tea ceremony, the essence of Japanese high culture is condensed. A Japanese tea ceremony is performed based on the beauty senses, “wabi” (侘) and “sabi” (寂), which are the most sophisticated ones in Japanese history. If you are interested in the traditional Japanese high culture, it would be worth learning about the Japanese tea ceremony. On the contrary, otakuhood is one of the contemporary Japanese subcultures. Otaku people indulge in “vulgar” things: such as anime or video games. In a sense, they refuse sophistication. I guess that foreign fans like otaku culture because it is a kind of kitsch. Both the Japanese tea ceremony and otaku are well known in the world. Even now the VIPs visiting Japan are invited to tea ceremonies at Kyoto, and the tourists that are interested in otaku culture go to maid cafes at Akiba (秋葉原). As I wrote, Japanese tea ceremony is high culture and otaku is subculture, so, in fact, people that like them are minority in Japan. There is another dominant culture in Japan. Do you know “yanki” (ヤンキー) or “yosakoi?” The origin of the word "yanki" was "Yankee." They are a type of delinquent youth mainly living in rural areas. I will introduce a movie about yanki, “Kamikaze Girls” (下妻物語). A picture is worth a thousand words.
Momoko's fashion is called “gosu rori (ゴスロリ)”, which means “gothic lolita,” and she is a kind of otaku girl. On the contrary, Ichigo is a typical yanki girl. Momoko as a gosu rori girl is lonely especially in a small town, Shimotsuma (下妻). She should go to Daikanyama, Tokyo to buy her gosu rori outfits. I'm not saying that most people in rural areas are yanki, but yanki taste is actually quite popular there. Ichigo could buy her yanki outfits in a local supermarket. I’d like to introduce another example. This video is the song “Rising Sun” by Exile, one of the most popular groups of singers and dancers in Japan.
Back dancers in this video perform the dance of yosakoi festivals, which are rapidly getting more popular in Japan. I don’t know about yosakoi well, but in my eyes, their costume is really yanki tasted. Otaku is an urban subculture, and yanki is a dominant culture in rural areas.
In this off-season, the Yankees didn’t actively acquire new
players, because the owner of the Yankees, Hal Steinbrenner, decided to avoid
pay luxury tax.
In MLB, teams whose amount of salary of their players exceeds
a limit should pay luxury tax. If a team
wants to avoid luxury tax, it shall reduce the amount of salary.
Consequently, the member of the Yankees in this season was
much worse than the previous season.
Furthermore, leading players got injured continuously. Now,
there is no Jeter, Teixeira, Granderson, or A-Rod in the Yankee’s
bench.
At the opening game in this season, Sabathia, who is the ace
pitcher of the Yankees, was in bad shape. In addition, Kuroda, who is the most
reliable rotation pitcher, was hit at his right hand by a line drive at the
next game.
Misfortunes never come singly. This is the worst season opener
of the New York Yankees in these twenty years.
In other words, it is worst now. I hope that it will not be
worse than now.
Before an MLB game, the national anthem is performed. After a game at Yankee Stadium, Frank Sinatra’s song “New York, New York” was played. When I went to Yankee Stadium to see a Yankee’s game, I was heard “New York, New York” while leaving the stadium. For Yankee’s fans, “New York, New York” is the anthem of New York.
But “New York, New York” seemed to be out of date. I heard Spike Lee say that “Empire State of Mind” was the anthem of New York, and I realized that this song was the anthem of New York after September 11.
I’m wondering if we have the anthem of Tokyo. Although I don’t know if people living in Tokyo would agree with me, for me, Happy End’s“Gathering Winds” (「風をあつめて」はっぴいえんど) is the anthem of Tokyo. I translated the lyrics of “Gathering Winds” into English in this entry.
The Yankees was swept by the Tigers in the American league championship series and this season ended for me as a Yankees fan. As I wrote the entry "Goodbye My Good Old Yankees", I loved the Yankees in the 1990s, including Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Petite. They were really tough stuff. Paul O'Neil had never got any batting title, but he really was a clutch hitter. He was the symbol of the golden age of Yankees in the 1990s. This season I expected that the Yankees would get the world champion. I was anxious about their starters, but I was satisfied with their lineup. And I thought that they were really in good shape at the end of this season, so they would do best in the post season games. But they disappointed me deeply in the American league championship series. Starters were far better than thought. They did really good job. I wasn't disappointed with Alex Rodriguez, because I've already known that he couldn't hit at the tough situation, but why couldn't Robinson Cano hit at all? Only Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez, who were the former Mariners, could hit. In the top of the twelfth in the first game Jeter's ankle was broken, and the series substantially ended. And then the Yankees did NOTHING. In the third game, Raul Ibanez, who caused miracles in this post season games, became the last batter. In the fourth game, C. C. Sabathia, who was an ace pitcher of the Yankees, got hammered. The Tigers was a good team, but there was no tough player in the Yankees. What will the Yankees without Derek and Mariano be?
In this month Barça came to Japan and completely beat Santos in the Club World Cup. I watched Cesc work for Messi and Iniesta. I remembered that he played (not worked) free football as the captain of Arsenal. But it's his position now.
A few days ago I watched Nasri and Clichy wearing not red but a blue uniform on TV. Manchester City got many star players and they are contending the top of the Premier League against Manchester United in this season.
I love Arsenal. In a more precise sense, I love what they used to be. Arsenal lost Cesc, Nasri and Clichy and they depend on van Persie's ability to score goals in this season. I think that it's not the style of Arsenal.
Their style was so beautiful and fragile. When they win, they pass a ball each other and get goals gracefully. But I've watched Chelsea crashed Arsenal by their physical power at the end of season. I knew that it was hard for them to win Europe Champion keeping their style, but I supported them eagerly.
Every team has its own time. I love the New York Yankees of the 90's. (see "Goodbye My Good Old Yankees") I couldn't watch such a team forever. My "Arsenal" has gone and exists just in my memory.
I can't say that I love it, but at least I like the movie "When Harry met Sally", which is one of Meg Ryan's (many) romantic comedies. Of course it wouldn't change anyone's life but it's good enough for two hours of entertaiment and I have it on DVD.
Back then, Meg Ryan was really cute and dominated the Hollywood romantic comedy scene. I also like Billy Crystal (I can laugh at him more than Tom Hanks), who played opposite. The script of this movie written by Nora Ephron is excellent. "When Harry met Sally" is a so called "well-made" comedy, like Billy Wilder's "The Apartment".
(Shirley MacLaine was so cute!)
In addition the beautiful scenes of New York City in every season in this movie are wonderful. The DVD also has an interview with the director, Rob Reiner. In this interview he spoke about how he and his stuffs looked all over New York City for beautiful places where Woody Allen hadn't yet shot. I think that their efforts got rewarded for these beautiful scenes. (Rob Reiner was born in Bronx, as was Woody Allen.)
When I see places where I know in movies, it somehow makes me happy. If it's a favorite place, I'll be even happier. New Yorkers are lucky, because Woody Allen shot many films there. It's really wonderful that they can see the street, fashion and atmosphere of New York in such beautiful and sweet films as "Annie Hall" or "Manhattan" whenever they want.
Woody Allen's New York might be nostalgic (he is alive but shoot films mainly in Europe, now), but New Yorkers now have Spike Lee shooting post 9/11New York.
In this video Spike Lee said, "'Empire State of Mind' became the anthem of New York City".
I named this weblog "A Daily Life in Uptown Tokyo". I love Tokyo and I want to convey how attractive "a daily life in uptown Tokyo" really is. But my ability to describe it is so limited. There were a lot of literary works about good old Tokyo, written by the authors born in Tokyo such as Soseki Natsume, Ryunosuke Akutagawa and so on, but I can't find the author who expresses the attractiveness of today's Tokyo. I hope that we, people born in Tokyo, will one day have our own Tokyo Woody Allen or Spike Lee and "Empire State of Mind" of Tokyo (How about "Tokyo Tower of Mind"?)
I'm planning a trip this summer vacation with my wife. Traveling is fun, and planning a trip is also fun.
We'll visit New York to see Ground Zero and a New York Yankees game. I've not been to New York since the summer of 1998, before 9/11. I remembered that I looked up at the World Trade Center at that time. I think that I should see Ground Zero after the death of Osama bin Laden.
I loved New York Yankees in the 1990s. They play really smart and cool baseball. They didn't have any macho power hitter, but all of them were devoted to the win of the team. Nobody played selfishly.
They rarely won by a big lead, but they often came behind late in a game and won by a narrow lead. Their games were full of tension and really fun.
On a sunny day I was sitting on seats in the Yankee Stadium. At that game Andy Petite was a starter. At first Royals had the lead on Yankees, but Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams beat Royal's pitchers and turned the game. Finally Mariano Rivera closed it. It's a really perfect game for Yankees' funs.
Andy, Derek and Mariano were so young and bright. Bernie was in his golden age.
But now Andy and Bernie have retired, and Derek and Mariano are in their last years. The special air, which Yankees in 1990s had, is gone now. Alex Rodriguez is a good athlete, but he isn't suitable for Yankees. He doesn't look like he is playing for the team no does he look smart.
I barely find the smells of Yankees in 1990s only from Derek, Mariano and Jorge. They will retire in a few years. And then my good old Yankees will be gone completely.
