Posts Tagged ‘sports’

World Cup Facebook Status Updates: Remember Pearl Harbor / Bomb Japan / Here Comes Another Tsunami

The 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship match between the United States and Japan will be held on Sunday in Germany. A lot of American soccer fans have posted Facebook status updates expressing their support for their team. Most are good-natured displays of excitement about the upcoming match. However, it would appear that quite a few people have written cringe-worthy updates that call on team USA to get revenge for Pearl Harbor, drop bombs on Japan, or unleash a new tsunami on the Japanese.

Here is a sampling of ugly Facebook status updates from some nationalistic Americans [found via the OpenBook.org's search function]:

Read more…

Japanese Soccer Fans Taunt Iranian-American Coach

Fans clashed at a J-League soccer match after somebody unveiled a banner meant to insult an Iranian-born head coach:

The incident took place during Saturday’s match between Shimizu S-Pulse & Júbilo Iwata. Supporters of Iwata made a banner that said “To Ghotbi: Stop Making Nuclear Weapons!” It was meant to mock Shimizu head coach Afshin Ghotbi, an Iranian-American who coached the Iran national team from 2009 to 2011.

The banner offended and angered Shimizu fans. Here’s a video that show some of them rushing towards the Itawa supporter section of the stadium:

Although there was a physical brawl between some fans, no injuries were reported.

After the match, both teams held an emergency press conference. The president of the Júbilo Iwata club apologized and said that fan-made banners would be checked in the future to prevent such an incident from occurring again.

The banner was created and unveiled by two teenaged Iwata fans. According to Jiji Press, they said didn’t really think much about it before creating the banner (“何の考えもなくやった”).

The incident has been formally reported to J-League authorities and an investigation is underway. The Júbilo Iwata club could face some form of formal punishment.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

The End of Asashoryu?

Mongolian-born sumo grand champion Asashoryu is in deep trouble after drunkenly assaulting a man in Tokyo:

The latest indiscretion by sumo’s perennial “bad boy” purportedly took place outside a nightclub in Tokyo’s Nishiazabu district in the early hours of Jan. 16 during the recent New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.

Asashoryu is alleged to have punched an unidentified man, who reportedly works at the nightclub where the wrestler was drinking, causing the man injuries that included a broken nose, lacerations of the lip and bruises to the back of the head, as reported in the Feb. 4 edition of the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho.

The JSA is set to determine what punishment, if any, Asashoryu will face after its board of directors election Feb. 1.

A few more details from ABC:

….the wrestler punched the man while leaving the club, then offered to talk things over in his car.

It then quoted the victim as telling Asashoryu that the incident was “water under the bridge”.

Asashoryu then reportedly told his driver to take them to a river, saying he would kill the man there.

The man only escaped after screaming out to police who were attending a nearby accident. He was left with a broken nose, a busted lip and bruises to the head.

Unlike the soccer-playing scandal of 2007, this is very serious business. It’s fine for sumo wrestlers to occasionally act like arrogant jerks, but assaulting and threatening to kill people is too much.

Polls, such as the one in the video below, show that the public expects Asashoryu to be banned from the sport:

The last known incident like this took place in 1987, when yokozuna Futahaguro allegedly assaulted the wife of his stablemaster. The JSA voted to accept his “resignation.” Many believe the JSA will follow this precedent and force an end to Asashoryu’s career.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Hatoyama’s first pitch

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama throws the ceremonial first pitch at special baseball game held on the 22nd to commerate the 60th anniversary of the Central/Pacific league:

Hatoyama was able to throw it all the way to the catcher, and the umpire apparently called it as a strike.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Dragan Stojkovic ejected from game after scoring a goal

Nagoya Grampus manager Dragan Stojković gets ejected from a game after making an impressive kick:

“Being angry with repeated failures of his players, he kicked a rainy wet ball with normal shoes and got a goal… “

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

A bizarre bowling team

A team of non-pro bowlers in Kyoto who use bizarre techniques [clip from "Nanikore Chin Hakkei"]:

Apparently they are capable of regularly getting scores of around 200.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)