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Happy New Year 2005

Discussion in the NPB News forum
Happy New Year 2005
Video Message [MP4 format - 8.3MB]

Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu.

Happy new year, everybody.

2004 saw the beginnings of change in Pro Yakyu.

2005 promises more changes as several new owners come in with new ideas about how to promote Japanese baseball. It promises to be an interesting new year.

On the web front, I will continue with the Game of the Week this season. I'm not sure that Sunday nights are best as coverage of the Pacific League seems to get left out completely. And I intend on covering more Pacific League games this season.

There are a number of people who have contributed a great deal to the site over this past year who I would like to thank. Long time contributors like Albright-san, Torakichi, Kiyoshi, CFiJ, Timmermann-san, 1908, and even Steinbrennernot have provided great insight into Japanese baseball, Asian baseball, and the game in North America. The occasional comments by Japan Baseball Daily's Garland-san are always greatly appreciated. And celebrities like Robert Whiting and a number of former NPB ball players making appearances here have given us all insights to Japanese baseball that we don't normally have access to. And there have been two recent contributors who I would especially like to thank: John Brooks who combs the Internet for articles related to Japanese baseball and posts timely links, and Michael Eng for his incredible collection of data on Japanese baseball.

And speaking of data, incorporating Eng-san's data set into mine, as well as work I'm doing with the SABR Baseball-Databank, should result in a swell of data that I plan on making available to you all. I strongly feel that the more data made publicly available with easy access, the more likely such data will get corrected and more data contributed back. It's the Open Source model for database building.

Open. If any word can describe my hopes for 2005, it's that word, "open." I'm working on opening up more data about Japanese baseball to non-Japanese speaking fans. The owners are going to have to be more open with their books and dealings thanks to the 2004 contraction fiasco. And with the entry of two Internet companies to NPB, it's my sincere hope that access to Japanese baseball broadcasts opens up to the whole world via the Internet.

Open data, open dealings, and open broadcasts. Such would make a great 2005.
Comments
Re: Happy New Year 2005
[ Author: Guest: John Brooks | Posted: Jan 1, 2005 2:34 AM ]

Happy New Year to you westbaystars and to every one else visiting this forum. Also, I look forward to the 2005 season, too, as it should be a season of reform and change. The NPB has an expansion team in Rakuten, increased player awareness, and an increased voice for the Players Assocation.
Re: Happy New Year 2005
[ Author: Guest: MHStevie | Posted: Jan 4, 2005 1:27 AM ]

Happy New Year to all!

I really enjoyed the Game of the Week from last season, but I did notice the lack of Pa League coverage and a higher concentration of Yomiuri games while covering the Sunday night games exclusively.

However, I hope you don't abandon the Sunday night slot completely, as I really enjoyed following the games with everyone while doing my radio show on Sunday mornings on the US East Coast. Perhaps you could rotate the Game of the Week slot to different times so all teams will be included, but still include the Sunday night slot sometimes? I'd hate to lose it completely. ^_^;;;

But I'm just speaking selfishly. Thanks for all of your tremendous work in 2004, Westbay-san, and I look forward to following the 2005 season with you!

- Stevie
Re: Happy New Year 2005
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Jan 4, 2005 1:35 AM | YBS Fan ]

You and Babs-san were two people I forgot to thank properly for the year. You two really made the Game of the Week happen.

I mentioned it on a different thread, but I'm also thinking of changing the format of the Game of the Week to audio broadcasts. That might not be so good for you as you're on-air as well. Well, I'll experiment a bit and see what works out best - day-wise and format-wise.

Thanks for tuning in all season. Take care.
Re: Happy New Year 2005
[ Author: Guest: MHStevie | Posted: Jan 4, 2005 7:00 AM ]

Well, in my case I don't know how much thanks are in order. I was just happy to take advantage of a wonderful service you were providing, and add what little I could.

I had a question, though. One thing I liked about Game of the Week was the ability to discuss stuff during and after the game. It was a nice sense of community when we could all talk about the various developments throughout the season last year. Would this transfer into an audio broadcast, or would we just "tune in" to the broadcast? Could we keep an open chatroom as well to maintain the ability for the audience to talk with each other?

Again, thank you for all the hard work you've done on this tremendous web site! I hope the 2005 season can be even half as exciting as the 2004 campaign!

See you there!
Re: Happy New Year 2005
[ Author: Guest: Habs | Posted: Jan 4, 2005 11:38 AM ]

I, too, enjoyed the after game comments. Thank you for all the hard work you do on the web site and Game of the Week. Looking forward to the 2005 season.
Re: Happy New Year 2005
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Jan 4, 2005 8:22 AM | YBS Fan ]

- One thing I liked about Game of the Week was the ability to discuss stuff during and after the game. It was a nice sense of community when we could all talk about the various developments throughout the season last year. Would this transfer into an audio broadcast, or would we just "tune in" to the broadcast?

That is a major concern of mine. I also felt that sense of community chatting with you all during and after the game. I still want a way that the audience can participate, so I plan on opening the chat room during the game. My thought was that people could "call in" or "fax in" via the chat room and I would relay the questions to the audio and answer questions. But it would be hard to re-create the same "chatting" feeling.

Well, like I said, it'll take a little bit of experimenting to find the right formula. And I look forward to chatting with you in some form again this season.
About

This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.

It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.

Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder

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