The Beginning

This is the beginning.

Otaku - Japanese for a person who does not know limits, an otaku is not a fan, an otaku is a maniac. While the word is most commonly attached with anime/manga/gamer types, it can be used for anything, trains, chinese characters, or in my case, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Not quite sure how I'm gonna get any sort of readership on this, but I'm tired of feeling like I have something to say and not being able to fit in in the comment boxes on the Dodger sites I like to visit. Plus I'm tired of avoiding getting a blogger account because all the helps show up in Japanese due to my living in Tokyo.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jon. I am a Dodger Otaku. I visit mlbtraderumors.com, espn.com, mlb.com, and dodgers.com multiple times daily. I also regularly visit my favorite blogs the East Windup Chronicle, Sons of Steve Garvey, Dodger Dugout, Diamond Leung, and Tony Jackson of the Daily News. I've listened to Dodger games on the radio since I was a little kid (26 now), and still catch the gameday audio since Mlb.tv is regularly blacked out here in Japan (troy from West Virginia I feel your pain.) I voted for the Joe Beimel bobblehead a few months back, as well as the Rickrolling of the Mets (Rick Astley being another young childhood memory, mind you not as high on the list as Vin Scully and Orel Hershiser, or even Tom Candiotti). And I will make short paragraphs, even if I haven't completed a previous thought.

I have lived in Tokyo for the past year, have become an official fan club member of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, since I couldn't stomach the other local team, the Yomiuri Giants, and you can guess why (I also couldn't bring myself to cheer on the other local team the Seibu Lions, since they play in the equivalent of the American League, DH and all). The Swallows, by the way boast well known former Dodgers such as Adam Riggs, Wilson Valdez, Masao Kida, and until this season Kaz Ishii.

I have my opinions on where the Dodgers have been, are, are going, and should be going. I have opinions on the front office, on the field, the importance of certain statistics and leadership roles, etc., and how good Juan Pierre is. I debated in High School, which makes me surprisingly open to seeing the other side of an argument, assuming it's a logical one and I'm not pissed off about yesterday's sumo outcomes or seeing Frank McCourt on the frontpage of Dodgers.com, again (better owner than Fox Sports, but why do we have to see him so much?).

But enough about me, lets talk about the Dodgers! We're a game out of first place, but 3 games under .500, and I doubt 81 wins will be enough to get in the playoffs this year. And man, I really hope I can navigate all these Japanese instructions well enough to add things like pictures and such. Go blue!