Danielle Edlund
Doug Kale
Keith Hower
The Hammer
dinkfod
Brian Fleischer
danhitt
Andy Broome
dsliepka
escaladefan
Tim Trout
chrisoldsI don’t speak Japanese.
I never pretended to be able to read Japanese. I’ve picked up the random Japanese baseball card over the years. I’ve had several early Sadaharu Oh and Victor Starffin cards and I’ve had Ichiro cards from Japan. Never learned to read the backs of the cards. I have a hard enough time with English. I really do not need to add anything else to complicate things.
I know baseball is very popular in Japan. I know Manga, or Japanese comics are big here as well as Japan. I got the idea one day that, hey! I bet there are some Japanese comics about baseball! Sounds reasonable, right? Well not really.
First off, the total number of U.S. comics about baseball equal somewhere just slightly above zero. The total number of Japanese comics about baseball that are translated into English and exported to the U.S. equal exactly zero.
Perfect.
Not all is lost. Apparently there are some great baseball comics in Japan. Problem for me is that A) they are in Japanese, B) they are in Japan and 3) they are hard to find. Well, now it’s a challenge. I can’t stop. I had to learn the Japanese word for comics about baseball. I had learn who drew this stuff and finally who the heck sells this stuff and can read my emails and take my money.
Well, I found a few. Again, I couldn’t read Japanese if it meant saving the universe but I found the books to be an interesting “read”. I was interested in seeing how baseball action is played out through the sequential art. I was a little surprised to find the stories weren’t all about baseball. I was also somewhat surprised by the amount of violence depicted in the comics. I’m sure it would all make much more sense if I could read Japanese.
This past Friday night I went to the Texas Tornado hockey game to see the Hanson Brothers. No not those long-haired kids that put out a record back whenever it was. No, I mean the Hanson brothers from the classic movie Slap Shot.
I’ve been a fan of Slap Shot since at least high school and I’ve been a collector of anything related to the Hansons for several years.
I found out they were going to be appearing at the Tornadoes game on Friday. Perfect. That’s only 13 miles from my house. So we loaded up and headed down to the arena.
The Hanson’s got on the ice just before the game and had some fun knocking over the officials and scoring a garbage goal. After the first period they set up a table and signed stuff for the fans.
Let me say that I’ve gotten a good deal of autographs over the years. I’ve jumped in the car at the drop of a hat upon hearing on the radio a player of celeb was somewhere and I’ve even flown cross country just to get some stinkin’ ink from someone you’ve probably never even heard of. I’ve met some great people.
I’ve gotten autos from people who were glad to be there. I’ve also got autographs from people who were just ticked you knew who they were.
What kind of signers were the Hanson brothers? The all-time penalty minutes leaders of the Federal League? Three of the best signers I’ve ever met. They signed anything and everything. They shook your hand. They wanted to how you were doing. They wanted to make sure you got a picture with them. These guys were happy to be there.
This was the first opportunity I have had to meet them in person so I packed all my stuff. I figured I’d pack it all and if they sign just one item I would be happy. Two of the items I got signed are pictured here: a card of Dave (aka Jack) Hanson and Steve Carlson (aka Steve Hanson). Jeff, the third brother does not have a card.
Am I addicted to cards? Well, the first thing I thought when I looked at the cards after they were signed? Man, these would look great in a BGS/JSA holder!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Massive Online Gamer
I’m very excited about issue #10 of MOG. This will be the issue in which we’re giving away an Exclusive In-Game item for EverQuest II(EQII). This In-Game item features a portrait of one of the bad bosses in the game. Now, if you’re not familiar with EQII, it’s probably the second biggest MMO game next to World of Warcraft. Yes, it includes Orcs, Elves, Dwarves and Humans. This issue also has an exclusive interview with Richard Garriott who is the creator or Ultima Online and Tabula Rasa. Mr. Garriott made the news recently because he’s the guy who paid NASA $25 Million dollars (not a typo) to go into outerspace in 2008. Plus, the guy that interviewed Mr. Garriott is also a celebrity as well – Eric Bloom, lead singer of Blue Oyster Cult. Blue Oyster Cult has several songs you’re familiar with such as Don’t Fear The Reaper, I’m Burning For You and Godzilla. This classic rock band was also made famous on a Saturday Night Live skit called MORE COWBELL – Here’s the link for the video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvVwhmmLOJw
It is hilarious… drop a comment about this video.
