A Race for the Ages

Oh man. I was looking up information on something else when I came across this:



Is that not awesome? For those who don't know what Mama Charis are, here's a link.

There are even standard rules for what type of bikes you can use.



To get an idea of how the races are, check out this video via this blog:


Pay special attention to the :45 mark or so when someone (who actually looks like they are falling down) thinks they are in Road Rash or something.

Man, seeing this got me all pumped up to get outside on my bicycle. Then I realized that I had to exert myself physically to get anywhere so that feeling disappeared rather quickly.

Anyway, a photo gallery is here. And to read about someone participating in these races in English, go here.

And yet this isn't the most awesome Grand Prix being held in Japan. There is also a tricycle race and one for Pizza delivery mopeds called the Pizza Cup (which unfortunately had to postponed due to - surprise! - a lack of entries).




There will be SASUKE content soon, I promise.

Somewhere in the TBS studios...

Sometime this month, somewhere in the TBS Studios

TBS Producer (TP): Right. We need a song for our WBC commercials. Something that will get the audience pumped up for the games.

Staff Guy (SG): No problem boss. But our budget is kind of tight. The higher-ups said we can only use songs from these two CDs.

TP: *Sigh* Alright. Well, what have we got?

SG: Here -




*Both look at Edward Furlong album*

Both: Nah.

TP: OK, well that leaves us with Journey. Let's go track by track and..you know what? We're running out of time. Just put a song on at random.

*SG puts on random. CD goes to track nine.*

TP: WOW! That's great! That goes perfectly with what we want! That's the kind of thing that gets the audience to their feet and rocking! Yeah! What's the name of the song Staff Guy?

SG: Umm. Let's see. It says here "Separate Ways" on the jacket.

TP: That's a great title! It can refer to the rift between Korea and Japan especially! Ever since *Insert random controversial viewpoint about Japan/Korea relations* they've gone their "separate ways". Great! Put it in!

SG: You're the boss.

http://www.tbs.co.jp/sports/wbc09/

...

A month goes by.

...

TP: Hey, mail. It's a youtube link from Staff Guy! It says.."Boss, maybe you should see this." I wonder what it is? *Click*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxxOyGK1pMk

TP: Well, crap.






I kid. I loved that album when I was young.

Japan wins 2009 WBC in 10 innings, 5-3

In a victory sure to irritate lots of people all over the world, Japan beat Korea 5-3 in ten innings to defend their World Baseball Classic crown.

Ichiro basically erased his bad hitting prior to today's final by going 4-6 and driving in the winning runs with two outs in the top of the 10th inning.

Japan hammered out 15 hits to Korea's 5 and left the bases loaded several times, stranding 6 runners in scoring position.

Yuu Darvish got the win while Chang Yong Lim got the loss, making him the goat for Korea (I was only following the gamecast on ESPN but it sure looked like he lost either control or composure in the 10th) but ironically making him a friend to all his teammates on the Yakult Swallows.




For the record, this means that Japan won their overall series 3497 - 3496