82nd Spring Koshien: A pitching duel, Chiben Wakayama is out, Chuukyoudai keeps on rolling

I didn’t have a chance to watch the whole game, but the first few innings of the Kouryo vs Miyazaki Kougyou game were pretty exciting. The first thing that struck me were the unusual mechanics both pitchers had when they were throwing to home plate. During the first inning Kouryo’s starter Arihara (I hope I got the name right) looked almost untouchable, looking like he was going to strike out two batters on six pitches. The way he carried on seems to have been fantastic as he was pitching a perfect game until the 5th inning. His counterpart wasn’t bad either as both were exchanging zeros until the 9th inning when things started to fall apart.

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The songs of Koushien

Alright, so I’m a freak for cheering sections and the songs they sing and play. Which is one reason why I really like to watch the Koushien games. The way the brass band is playing there is simply astonishing. Not only do some schools have a song for each and every player on the team (at least it seems that way to me), but they also have a special song they play each time the team gets a hit or scores a run. And they instantly switch from the player’s song to the score or hit song. Pretty disciplined band(s) if you ask me. So while surfing around the youtube-universe I came across some samples from what bands might play ad I thought I’d share them. Some I never heard before, some even I recognized.

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First baseball post of the season: Spring Koshien and spring training

I have to admit that the more I get into baseball the more anxious I am for the season to begin. I was following the off season moves very closely thanks to the great mlbtraderumors.com crew who write their postings so even newbies like me can understand what’s happening around the league.

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Lazing around, going for a walk and too much food

There wasn’t anything to do after we returned to Toronto on Sunday because the rain was pouring down all the time. So instead we stayed at home and relaxed. Which was nice as well, having nothing to do and just hanging around at home.

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Niagara Falls in the Rain

For the weekend my hosts took me to what I guess is the biggest tourist attraction in this area. Everybody all around the world knows about Niagara Falls and that’s where we went yesterday.

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Rainy Toronto

There wasn’t anything to do really as the weather changed dramatically. When we all woke up it was raining and the CN Tower had disappeared behind a wall of mist. So me and my host hung around for the morning without doing anything before leaving for a mall in the city center.

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Hockey, of course

For the first day my host showed me around downtown as we first stopped by a small bakery right in the neighbourhood. Apparently the shop was run by Sri Lankans but the sweet stuff there was amazing. He took me to a small coffee shop afterwards where we had a very delicous coffee indeed while we were eating what we got at the bakery.

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Arriving in Canada for a one week stay

Finally I have some time to write something here as I wasn’t able to do anything over the past few months. Ever since I got back from my trip to Japan I was drowning in work and, to be honest, I wasn’t feeling like writing stuff on this blog anyway. But, hey, now I have some free time again and I’m in Canada right now.

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