Wow! What a culture shock trip just to watch the Red Sox game last night. Mlb.com carried it live. The coverage began without announcers and just filmed the opening ceremonies and national anthems without commercial breaks. There was a lot of camera time for Dice-K, of course. Eventually the game began. And it wasn't until then that I realized that there were no announcers. I thought it was odd that mlb.com didn't send their boys but whatever. Then suddenly men begin what seems like yelling in Japanese. OMG! The announcers are Japanese! I don't know why it came as a surprise to me, but it sure as heck did. How funny to hear their commentary but not understand a single word. I realized how much I depend on the commentator to keep reminding me of the count and the outs.
The Japanese men didn't use a score line on the screen except for every once in a while. OH and they don't have commercials at all. Well, maybe they do in Japan, but none were shown. So the men stopped talking at the 3rd out and the cameras just scanned the players and scoreboard until the next inning started and the men suddenly started talking again. Very entertaining! Because of the late hour and the long innings, I only got half way through the game. It was highlighted by Papi's first inning homer and Drew's 3 run homer. Drew is going to have a fantastic year, I'm sure! Buchholz had a great 1st inning but failed to impress after that. I'll have video clips later, after I finish the game....
