The setting isn't my problem (this article and others like it contain an awful lot of thinly-veiled xenophobia). My problem is that despite this official opening of the regular season, there are still spring training games going on, and this has thrown off my equilibrium.

I don't care if the regular season starts in Tokyo, Singapore, Lisbon, or Lahore. To me, opening day is about new beginnings, and when you still have the final returns of the exhibition season trickling in, the fresh start that is the promise of opening day is diminished.

Thinly-veiled? I think the xenophobia is rather explicit.

Quoting Roger Kahn is the last refuge of the stupid sportswriter.

The setting itself isn't the problem; it's the 10 to 13 hour time zone difference and the ridiculous jet lag, which necessitates the sort of schedule tampering that you're complaining about. And short of getting a giant tugboat and making Japan into a sort of Californian Taiwan, I don't see any solution.

These are actually regular-season games? I didn't even consider that these might be regular-season games until just now. The media hasn't been building up to it one iota (although now that the game is actually going on, it's ESPN's front page).

Geez, what a dumb idea.

Meh, who cares.

How did they make the A's be the home team? Almost everyone in the stadium, including the sound guy, was rooting for Boston.

This is the third Japanese opener and there has also been an opener in Mexico. And yet the Republic still stands. The next thing you someone will tell me that they are playing baseball in Canada! Canada!

The A's agreed to give up the home dates. The Red Sox certainly weren't.

And the A's agreed because there's more money in it than a typical home game.

And short of getting a giant tugboat and making Japan into a sort of Californian Taiwan, I don't see any solution.

The US government could hand Alcatraz or one of the Channel Islands over to Japan, and they could play the game on Japanese soil there.

As a matter of fact, there will be a sumo tournament in Los Angeles this summer. Check it out. Sumo is awesome.

“I don’t guess that any baseball fan really likes it,” Hank Aaron said.

You guess wrong, Hank.

So I found out this morning that the baseball season started. Uhh... was I supposed to know about this? Maybe later I'll find out who won. I doubt it, though. It was an exhibition game, as far as I'm concerned.

Opening Day is still intact and I will make sure to plop myself down in front of a TV next Monday for 10 straight hours. Just because these are real game does not mean the real season has begun.

I don't know why anyone would be upset about some games getting played early in Japan. Is there not enough sports on prime-time American TV, or something? :)

Opening Day is still intact and I will make sure to plop myself down in front of a TV next Monday for 10 straight hours. Just because these are real game does not mean the real season has begun.

That is a perfectly cromulent attitude, one I share.

The Athletics had their opening day in Tokyo. Big deal. Not the Reds, not the Red Sox, not the Cardinals. The A's. William Howard Taft didn't throw out the opening pitch yesterday, Jackie Robinson did not play yesterday, and Hank Aaron didn't tie a home run record yesterday. It was your average, run-of-the mill opening day, complete with an Emil Brown baserunning blunder. The only thing that made it special was the fact that it was in Japan. So stop being sanctimonious.

I agree that the xenophobia is quite explicit. Oh no, the Japanese are stealing our Opening Day! That's OUR game! (never mind we stole it from cricket and rounders and its just as popular now in Latin America than it is here.) How DARE they get to enjoy it too!

The notion that Americans are the only ones that should get to enjoy "our game" is silly. Oakland can't even sell out its stadium for cryin' out loud, let them have a home game where they can have a full stadium.

I don’t guess that any baseball fan really likes it,” Hank Aaron said. “It’s just that everything has gone so global. But I haven’t really caught on to this. Maybe they’re doing it in Tokyo because they have a dome.

What, the people who were watching it in Tokyo are not baseball fans?

The more baseball fans there are over the world, the more money for people like you, and the team you work for.

Now there are kids asleep before the first pitch of the World Series

Poor east coast kids, who finally have to occasionally miss watching games, just like west coast kids.

Aaron is still a player at heart. He thought about the Boston and Oakland players first — the disruption to start their season, the jet lag they’re feeling over there, how their bodies will feel upon returning.

And they are being well compensated for it, ontop of their regular salaries.

coincidentally, last night I caught the episode of No Reservations (Anthony Bourdain's travel show, quite good usually) from Osaka. A good chunk of the show was devoted to the Hanshin Tigers and how much they mean to the city, and how devoted their fan base is. And for all the wacky traditions they come up with (the organized, coordinated cheering is pretty weird), damn if they're not into the game. Its worth thinking about the next time you see a half-empty Colluseum or some yuppie sitting behind home plate at Yankee Stadium talking to his stock broker.

Poor east coast kids, who finally have to occasionally miss watching games, just like west coast kids.

East coast kids don't occassionally miss watching games, they almost always have to miss watching games, especially post-season games, unlike west coast kids, who can generally watch almost everything. Its been this way for a while now.

Its seems like no one here thinks there is anything special about opening day. I disagree with you - opening day used to be a big deal for me. I got excited for the first pitch of the regular season, regardless of who is playing. People are all hung up on the Japan thing - its not about that, I don't care where its played. I do care that the game is played on March 25th, at 6 in the morning East coast time (3am west coast), while other teams still have exhibition games to play.

I don't feel for the players, but I don't like it anyway.

I care about Opening day for my team, but I really don't care when the MLB schedule opens up for other teams. I mean, didn't MLB already "sell its soul" when it decided to start playing that ESPN Sunday night game before Opening Day?

Opening the MLB season in Japan is dumb just like opening the Premier League's season in the U.S. would be dumb. These sorts of things should be limited to goodwill exhibitions.

The only thing about this that bugged me was that the countdown ticker to Opening Day on MLB.com always counted down to this game. I'd go there, see Opening Day was in 6 days or something and get all stoked before I remembered that, no, it was really in 12 days. I'm an A's fan and I don't consider the season underway. When my ass is parked on the couch with games on TV and others on my laptop on Monday, then the season will have begun.

I'm not a big fan, but in the interest of "globalizing the game" I think it's the only time they can get a regular season game in. I also don't like the ESPN-special opener either. In my perfect imagination I'd like all the teams to open up on one day, but that would require (gasp!) some thought towards the fans. I don't feel bad for OAK one bit. They still have tickets avail on their website for the Home Opener Part Deux. Does that mean they are boycotting? My guess is no.

I don't like having the regular season for a team start at a practically unwatchable time for local fans of that team. I think the first day my team plays a game that counts is a big deal and I try to watch it live or at least listen on the radio if I'm working.

That's not xenophobic or selfish. Oakland fans practically couldn't watch the very first game of the regular season; it started at 3am local time. Sox fans could wake up a little early but it was a real stretch.

It seems like it would be relatively easy to have a better start time to favor local fans if both teams come from the same time zone. Japan is 13 hours later than the east coast so even a 7am viewing time for Boston is a 8pm start in Japan, which isn't that bad (alternatively, start the game at 11am in Japan and it's like a west coast game that starts at 10PM locally). The west coast is 16 hours earlier so a 12:30 pm start in Japan is an 8:30 pm start in Oakland, which is even easier.

That's not xenophobic or selfish.

Absolutely not, but read the article, and it reeks of "our game" and how Japanese fans aren't real fans. There are legit reasons not to like MLB opening the season in Japan, and Schultz manages to avoid most of them.

I think it would be a good idea for Aaron and those like him to realize that baseball fans exist outside of the US. Likewise, it would be good for MLB to realize that it has fans in the US, in three time zones (sorry, Srul, four).

I like the ESPN Sunday "Opening Night" game. I get to see the first real game of the year because it is not while I am at work, and it is not out there in the middle of spring training like the Red Sox/A's are now. Spring training would end Sunday afternoon, the season starts Sunday night.

In an ideal world, Andy H., MLB opening day would be a national holiday and all games would be day games. On grass.

Likewise, it would be good for MLB to realize that it has fans in the US, in three time zones (sorry, Srul, four).

I hope they realize at least that they have teams in 4 time zones.

You are absolutely correct, Mr. Miserlou.


:)

See parenthetical, duck.

Easy mistake to make. 3 hour time difference = 3 time zones.

Actually, I typed a post that had something to do with you dissing Alaskans, but just before I hit submit, I realized that there ARE 4 time zones in the CONUS.

See parenthetical, duck.

Well, MLB has U.S. fans in six time zones (or more, depending on your view of territories). It has actual teams in four, which is what Misirlou was pointing out.

never mind we stole it from cricket and rounders

This is a misconception. Apparently rounders developed either after baseball or parallel with it. There was a fascinating book on the subject that came out a couple years ago. I can't recall the title though.

I edited 31 just to be an ass. I don't know if it's an easy mistake to make, but it's embarrassing nonetheless. Damn.

SoSH - what is the sixth? I have the Alaska-Hawaii zone as the fifth. If I don't count territories, what is the sixth? EDIT: I forgot Canada, didn't I?

I mean, I'm sure they have some fans in all the time zones.

SoSH - what is the sixth? I have the Alaska-Hawaii zone as the fifth. If I don't count territories, what is the sixth?

Hawaii is in the Hawaii/Aleutian time zone. Alaska proper stands alone.

edit: Alaska and Hawaii used to be the same, but Alaska moved 1 hour east in 1983.

SoSH - what is the sixth? I have the Alaska-Hawaii zone as the fifth. If I don't count territories, what is the sixth?

Alaska is No. 5.

Hawaii-Aleutian No. 6

Edit: Damn, Misirlou is quicker than me again.

Opening the MLB season in Japan is dumb just like opening the Premier League's season in the U.S. would be dumb.

Opening the MLB season in China / England / France / Germany is dumb just like opening the Premier League's season in the U.S. would be dumb.

I think the first day my team plays a game that counts is a big deal and I try to watch it live or at least listen on the radio if I'm working.

That's not xenophobic or selfish. Oakland fans practically couldn't watch the very first game of the regular season; it started at 3am local time.

As a supporter of the A's, I had no problem with this game. I've been wanting the team to try to get money out of Japan for years.

I have no problem with having to watch the game at an inconvenient time, if it means more money, now and potentially in the future, for the team.

I find it really curious MLB has never asked the Mariners to play in Japan. Aren't they like the most popular MLB team in Japan? Maybe the second most popular after the Yankees?

Likewise, it would be good for MLB to realize that it has fans in the US, in three time zones (sorry, Srul, four).

I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning, just in time to watch Manny hit his second 2-run double, and almost get thrown at second because he took too long admiring what he thought was 3-run shot.

2 Doubles, 4 RBI, and 1 paradigm Manny-being-Manny moment. I think he is going to have a big year.

I mean, I'm sure they have some fans in all the time zones.

To get really technical and geeky, since an embassy is considered sovereign territory, the US has fans in 21 time zones. All except GMT -1 which contains only the Azores and Cape Verde islands, and a tiny swath of Greenland, GMT - 2 which is the Falkland and South Georgia islands, and GMT - 12 which doesn't seem to have any land mass. Actually, it's more than 21, when considering funky half and quarter hour offsets like India.

As a sidebar, who knew than Greenland had 4 time zones? GMT, GMT-1, GMT-3 (the vast bulk of the land mass), and GMT -4 (the area around Thule AB.)

I confess to being impressed; I'm usually the time zone geek in conversations and I'm getting schooled.

Anyway, thanks.

In appreciation, I'll share my favorite time zone oddity: http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-russia1.htm

Check out the several locations in Russia where crossing from one zone to another adds (or subtracts) two hours. My wife had this experience over the summer. She said it was pretty hard to keep track of what time it was because lots of little towns took it upon themselves to choose an alternate zone. Or just go with local time.

Here's a useful map.



When traveling from China to Pakistan, one gains 3 hours. 3 1/2 hours to Afghanistan.

What's with Tonga at GMT + 13? That shouldn't exist. One hour and 1 day earlier than GMT -12.

edit: fixed some math.

Tonga must have decided it doesn't like the date line being moved to accomodate Fiji. I mean, they should be east of the line, but it appears to have been moved so as not to divide Fiji. That's all I can figure. Why they couldn't just put the date line between the two countries, I don't know. Once you move off 180 longitude, I don't see why it needs to be any particular place.

And I hadn't realized Alaska and Hawaii weren't on the same time zone any longer. 25 years isn't too long to miss that.

In my world, Opening Day begins when a pitch in Cincinnati and Detroit are thrown.

I believe the M's were scheduled to play in 2003, but got cancelled due to the war in Iraq.

what about newfie time!??!

Starting a game at 8 pm Tokyo Time wouldn't work in Japan. Games in Japan usually start at 6 so people have enough time after the games to catch trains back to wherever they need to go. The Giants games tend to start a little later, but still before 7.

Can anyone explain the 1/2 hour difference in countries like India and Iran?