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Baseball in Shanghai? Another American Sport Exported to China
As an athlete (or at least having been an athlete in the past) and a sports fan, one of the difficult things about finding myself on an extended stay in Shanghai, China (setting up sporting goods manufacturing and other business contacts) is the...
Great Quotes
Great Quotes
I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking.
"It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn't in the stands." - Monte Irvin (Newark Eagles...
How to find the right paintball gun for you
Sports and hobbies have a special place in our lives. They are not just responsible for our physical and psychological development but also act as our best pals especially in times of aloofness. Since Homo sapiens are different by birth, they have...
Pitching Machine Versatility
While pitching machines are most often thought of as tools to aid in batting practice, there are other situations in which the right pitching machine can be an invaluable tool for the results-oriented coach or manager. Many modern pitching machines...
The Penalty Box
Nowhere can an example of the corrupt capitalistic society be found more perfectly than in this NHL labour dispute. This is essentially a battle between the Haves and the Have Mores, who are scratching and clawing each other over their share average...
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World Series In Russia – Huh? What?
As we watch the Astros choke or White Sox perform valiantly depending on your point of view, I am reminded of my baseball experience in Russia.
World Series
I always find it interesting that most of our professional sports call the championship round the World Series or some similar variation. Clearly, there are games being played elsewhere, so how can it be the world championship? With baseball, the arrivals of Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Tadahito Iguchi of the White Sox certainly suggest baseball in Japan must be of a high quality. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that some sports aren’t even acknowledged in other countries as I found out in Russia.
Siberia does not have cable television nor can one pull up anything other than CNN. This made watching the World Series a bit difficult. Resorting to my usual tactic, I started hitting up my students for inside information on any parents that might own a satellite dish and could get the games. To my astonishment, not a single person knew the World Series was on or much of anything about baseball. Nobody had even heard of the Yankees! A few students had heard of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was unbearable for a person from San Diego. It was time to set these innocents right!
The classrooms I taught in were pretty large. Everybody stand up! Desks were moved to the walls, books were placed in the appropriate places and the rules were written on the board. Forget constitutional law, we were going to play some baseball!
Institutions of higher learning are sacrosanct in Russia. It is serious business where deep thinking occurs, everyone studies like mad and the teacher is obeyed at all costs. For example, the students all stand
up from their desks when a teacher enters and leaves the room. Serious stuff.
The game was proceeding nicely. Everyone was getting the hang of it, the rolled up paper ball was surviving and the broken desk leg would’ve put any bat to shame. And then the Dean walked by the door. And stopped. And stared.
The University Dean, Tatyana, was a great person and I liked here a lot. In turn, I am pretty sure she thought I was a raving lunatic, but didn’t seem to mind since the students enjoyed my classes. Alas, I thought I had crossed a line with the baseball game.
The Dean opened the door and entered the room. Simultaneously, students looked for places to hide and I tried to come up with some reason why playing baseball was critical to the education of future judges. Tatyana took the bat from the hand of a student, looked at and stared at me. It was one of those stares where you could tell she was considering sending me back to San Diego. There would be no chance of explaining this one away.
After what seemed like minutes, but was probably five seconds, she did the last thing I expected. She took her stance.
The game was on!
About the Author: Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of writing journals. Travel journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for student travel, family vacations and adventure travel. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more travel articles.
Source: www.isnare.com
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