small-market club

I feel like talking about a baseball today because my family send e-mail about it.

My sister is a die-hard Carp fan. The Carp is a small-market club whose owner is Matsuda Ford. And my father is a great fan of the Tigers which is a big-market club of a big railway company named Hankyu Hanshin Holdings. It seems the domestic conflict has been starting with start of the baseball season. It is not only a matter of winning or losing, but also a problem that the Carp is called farm team of the Tigers.

I'm not so keen to baseball but I like the Tigers rather than the Carp. Because I felt that the Tigers players were more attractive than the Carp when I was child. But I am going to cheer for the Carp (or the Carp fans) this year since I feel sorry for them.

Although the Carp is famous for developing great players from nowhere. But if they would become something, they depart from the nest via free agency. In the last off-season, a cleanup batter Arai and ace pitcher Kuroda declared their free agency from the Carp. Kuroda decided to try for the major leagues, and Arai was traded to the Tigers.

Another cleanup batter Kanemoto also had departed to the Tigers in past years, so the Arai's decision was extremely disappointing to the Carp fans. Kanemoto became a role model in the Tigers as well as in the Carp, then he developed younger members in the way of the Carp spirits in the Tigers. Also Arai longed for Kanemoto, that's way Arai wanted to be traded to the Tigers.

I know there's nothing wrong with the Tigers. However I can't stand the ones who betray his fans. I remember my sister asked me to make a booking for a replica uniform last year. I asked her which uniform number I had to choose, and she said both Arai's and Soegi's is better than other. So Arai must have been one of her favorite. Poor my sister.

I really hope that the Carp will win the games whenever she go to the home ground of the Carp.