Here’s the thing. I know there are many reasons to complain about the Opening Day games in Japan on the players behalf. They have that horrible flight to make, there’s all the jet lag, Japan already embraces baseball and therefore it seems silly to bother, etc.
That being said, I have a totally different reason for disliking these games: It is ruining my day.
When the games happen in the afternoon or in the evening and the Red Sox lose, I am grouchy and irritated and screechy. However, usually within a few hours I go to sleep and by the next morning I have calmed down to resignation or annoyance. You know, unless it was a bad loss to the Yankees or Eric Gagne lost an entire game or three all by himself after we have traded away adorable little sox-up-wearing David Murphy for him. Those days it is generally best to avoid the subject of baseball completely with me. But usually–USUALLY–I have had enough time, sleep, and hard liquor to become zen about a loss and realize that we’re not going to win every game.
I guess.
So when these games are on at the crack of dawn in the morning, and I am rushing around trying to watch baseball while I get ready, and the Red Sox manage to not hit the ball worth a crap (SEAN CASEY, with your pinch hit GIDP)–let’s just say that it all adds up to a very foul mood for me. And worse, while I have the time to get over it, there isn’t much sleeping or drinking of hard liquor that can happen at work. Instead I have to sit at my desk and growl and glare at people. This makes me very popular around the workplace, as you can imagine.
I propose that these games be played at 6 am Tokyo time from now on. We’ll see how THEY like it.