Transcripts

MIKE: What was it like when Larkin hit that ball into the outfield?

JOHN: Well, it was just incredible here. The Residence Hall lounge was packed with about 150 students. Oh, I'd say probably 50-50 American students and Japanese students. And when the fly ball hit, it was probably louder here than it was in the Dome. It was just amazing.

MIKE: Louder there than in the dome?

JOHN: Well, that'd be my guess. I don't know. We didn't have a decibel gauge here, but it was incredible. People were jumping around and screaming and the trumpet was playing. And it was amazing.

MIKE: The trumpet was playing? Where was the trumpet playing?

[COUGHS]

JOHN: Well, we had one student, Maureen Miller, who's a student at the University of Minnesota from Minneapolis. And she periodically would play charge and while students alternated between yelling charge and banzai in keeping with our location. So when the fly ball hit, she went into a rendition of charge and the place erupted.

MIKE: Well, baseball's a pretty big sport in Japan, isn't it?

JOHN: It sure is. In fact, the seventh game of the Japanese Series was also finished yesterday and the Seibu Lions defeated the Hiroshima Carps.

MIKE: How would you compare those two teams, the Seibu Lions and the Minnesota Twins? What do you think would happen if the two of them met?

JOHN: Well, I don't think it would be a good contest. I think the Twins would dominate pretty readily at this point.

MIKE: How come?

JOHN: Just too much power and the pitching would be overwhelming, I believe.

MIKE: What's the difference between baseball in Japan and baseball here in the States?

JOHN: It's very localized here in Southern Japan. Northern Japan where we are really does not have a professional team. And so it's more difficult to follow in Northern Japan. Of course, most of the population in Japan is in Southern Japan. Fan reactions are also different. The fans at Japanese baseball games are continuously noisy. It's sort of like a Florida State football game. There's a chant, and it goes on forever and ever and ever. And it's very enthusiastic. And I think the quality of American baseball is still superior, though.

MIKE: Tell me something. Let's get back to the World Series Championship and the bedlam that erupted over there in Akita. Tell me something, John, about how the faculty and the students interacted in all of this.

JOHN: Sure. We had talked about canceling classes and decided not to do that and thought every student should make their own decision and every faculty member should also make their own decision. There were quite a few faculty members who chose to cancel classes and some attended the game. One faculty member in particular came into the lounge I think probably just to check on the score and about the seventh inning and found most of her students sitting in the front row.

[LAUGHTER]

And she was coerced into joining them in the front row. And so class got canceled. One of our English is a second language instructors decided that about the sixth inning, when his class was getting ready to start, that he would bring his class into the lounge, his Japanese students, and that they would have an impromptu course on American/Minnesota culture and watch the game together. And so it was really-- we're a small community. We're a small university and everyone knows everyone else. And so it's a pretty friendly place. And it was really a very good spirit of camaraderie.

MIKE: So now things get back to normal there in Akita?

JOHN: Well, I think so. Yeah. Unlike in Minnesota, it's tough for us to continue the celebration. We're a little bit cut off from what's going on. We're lucky to get the games broadcast in English as they occurred. But we're really cut off from the rest of the celebration. So we're pretty much back to normal now.

MIKE: Well, you know that today in Saint Paul in Minneapolis there's a big parade in both cities. And then there's a big event at the Dome. And the dome is sold out this afternoon for that crowd to come in and cheer the Twins on.

JOHN: Well, we wish that was televised here. During the game, we had some students we were-- we only had a few actual homer hankies here, but we had students who were making homer napkins with red magic markers and cafeteria napkins.

[LAUGHTER]

MIKE: Well, anything that helped. And we know that it helped because we won.

JOHN: Yeah, that's right. Obviously.

MIKE: You bet. All right. John, thanks very much.

JOHN: Mike, thank you.