Masters League 2003/4
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Masters League 2003/4
The 2003/4 Masters League schedule has been released. The senior league will start on October 29 at Tokyo Dome between Tokyo and Sapporo. The five teams will play a total of 40 games ending at the end of January.
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Re: Masters League 2003/4
[ Author: Guest: null | Posted: Jul 19, 2003 12:32 PM
]
It's a nice thing they have here in Japan with the Masters League, but this league is just not run very well to survive over the long haul. They don't publicize the league at all, highlights of games from the Masters League are rarely shown on the sports highlight shows, and I don't think that even hardcore baseball fans care at all about this league.
I'm a pretty hardcore baseball fan, but I wouldn't go watch a Masters League game unless I got freebies and I had absolutely nothing else to do.
So far, they've brought back Randy Bass, Warren Cromartie, and Orestes Destrade to come back to Japan to play in the Masters League, but unless you paid real close attention to the sports newspapers, you never would've heard about them coming back here to play.
I'm a pretty hardcore baseball fan, but I wouldn't go watch a Masters League game unless I got freebies and I had absolutely nothing else to do.
So far, they've brought back Randy Bass, Warren Cromartie, and Orestes Destrade to come back to Japan to play in the Masters League, but unless you paid real close attention to the sports newspapers, you never would've heard about them coming back here to play.
Re: Masters League 2003/4
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Jul 19, 2003 8:21 PM
| YBS Fan
]
You have a good point. The only time I remember the Masters League being front page news was when the pitcher for one of the teams died over night in his Sapporo hotel room.
But there have been a number of interested people asking about the league here on this site, so there is interest in the league - even in the foreign community.
A major reason that I don't cover it very well is the exact reason that you gave, you have to really look for even the smallest bits of information about it. While I often complain about the media focusing too much on some players/teams, which has the effect of making them invisible to me (I often avoided Ichiro articles for that reason while he was here), the lack of coverage for "small market" teams and the Masters League cause a "catch 22" with information - there is very little information, so there is very little demand, so there is very little information, ... I know I'm guilty of focusing on the local team(s), myself. But I can't afford a writer in every city to cover every team. Newspapers don't have such an excuse.
Nonetheless, I know that questions about schedules will be asked sooner or later, even with the Masters League, so when I catch an article like this, I translate it for you all (time permitting).
I think it would be great to cover the Masters League, but I've got a long list of things to do during the off season. Other than direct questions about it, I can't offer much else either.
But there have been a number of interested people asking about the league here on this site, so there is interest in the league - even in the foreign community.
A major reason that I don't cover it very well is the exact reason that you gave, you have to really look for even the smallest bits of information about it. While I often complain about the media focusing too much on some players/teams, which has the effect of making them invisible to me (I often avoided Ichiro articles for that reason while he was here), the lack of coverage for "small market" teams and the Masters League cause a "catch 22" with information - there is very little information, so there is very little demand, so there is very little information, ... I know I'm guilty of focusing on the local team(s), myself. But I can't afford a writer in every city to cover every team. Newspapers don't have such an excuse.
Nonetheless, I know that questions about schedules will be asked sooner or later, even with the Masters League, so when I catch an article like this, I translate it for you all (time permitting).
I think it would be great to cover the Masters League, but I've got a long list of things to do during the off season. Other than direct questions about it, I can't offer much else either.
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