Is Chunichi Unpopular?

You're right about the lack of TV coverage of Chunichi's clinching game (in Tokyo at least). I was astounded, too. I couldn't follow it at all as the only team whose home games I can't watch on satellite is Yomiuri.

And it was me who made the Hanshin love-in comment, but that's neither here nor there.

FWIW, the pennant-clinching game was broadcast live on TV. At least I saw it on BS1, and they showed the whole game plus interviews.

- At least I saw it on BS1, and they showed the whole game plus interviews.

This is true, but many people (including myself) don't have the BS channels.

It wasn't shown on any regular terrestrial channels.

I saw the game in Korea as they pick up the broadcast due to Lee playinng for the Giants.

The Dragons are a solid and well managed team. They deserve to be champs this year. They most likely will win it all and then Nagoya will have both the best economy in Japan and the best baseball team.

Chunichi's fans seem to be solidly entrenched in the Nagoya area. I don't think they attract many bandwagoners like Hanshin (or the Fighters because of Shinjo in recent years).

Please, let's not introduce the bandwagon fan thread to this one as well. It's well covered in others ("What's the Deal with Hanshin and Can Hanshin Win).

I did start a congratulations to Chunichi thread which didn't attract many comments at all. Also it's a pity that most people don't have BS television as this represents the best baseball coverage in Japan. The entire games are covered together with interviews at the end and intelligent informed commentary throughout.

One would have thought that the commercial channels would have wanted to show the winning game, but it seems not. With Chunichi, they just don't seem to have the pulling power and I would suggest that, to some extent, this also represents the short-sightedness of the sports editors of the major channels. However, I did expect more commentary from Chunichi fans on this board. Maybe the Tigers fans are more voluble.

Clarification: obviously I meant terrestrial channels.

And apologies to Yakulto-san for the mistaken quote. The salient point is that it was a valid comment. I can understand that there isn't much Orix traffic because there is not one registered Buffs fan here, but you'd think the Ce League champs might get a bit more chatter.

Anyway, I just thought it was a bit strange.

Sorry, my bad, I didn't get that you were referring to the commercial channels and, since you said it was second-hand information, I thought I'd try and give some additional info.

BTW, I'm sure it has been discussed already on these Forums, but the commercial channel's coverage of NPB is absolutely ridiculous.

I don't see how they can rationalize showing meaningless Kyojin games and shunning the amazing Pacific League race we've had this year.

I really hope they discover soon that there's some great baseball out there, and it doesn't have to involve Kyojin to get viewers interested.

- I don't know that much about other teams, so I can't contribute to many forums that don't concern the Tigers, but the fan chart shows that 15 of 121 people (12.4%) are Chunichi fans, yet apart from the recent flurry of activity from Firearmofmutiny, we've hardly heard a peep out of them.

That's called "I have nothing better to do outside of work than watch NPB and post about NPB." With most of my friends in America, and most of my co-workers here in Japan working 'til 10 PM, it's most of what I have here.

What is there to say? We're happy the Drags won, glad the Tigers made it such an exciting season, but there's no point in nyah-nyah-ing or rubbing it in the rest of the league's collective face or anything (though I will remember to bring it up frequently when I talk with my Giants-fan in-laws).

I mentioned on another thread that I'm pleased, but that already there are rumors that Ochiai won't be back next season, and winning will just mean more squabbling when they argue about salaries next season, which usually trashes the chemistry for at least the first few weeks of the season. I'm just savoring the present.

It's all low-key, like the Drags themselves, who have gone another whole season without media-friendly tags like the "machine-gun dasen" or "roku-ten dasen" (was it roku?) or having a JFK.

I'm not surprised that the clenching game wasn't broadcast on terrestrial TV (in Tokyo). If Tokyo teams aren't in the race at the end of the year and there is no other inspiring story that might draw viewers, they tend to pull back from regular-season baseball altogether in their broadcasts. Even TBS Radio stopped carrying most regular Giants games about a week before the Drags clenched (though they did air the PL playoffs). I bet they would have carried the Dragons-Tigers game if that were potentially the decisive game.

Plus, why would NTV/Yomiuri, which usually airs Giants home games, want to air the deciding game if it is potentially at the Giants' expense and in the Giants' home park (and I think the game went on so long the conclusion would have been well after the usual broadcast cut-off time anyway, though they'd have shown it all if it were the Giants clenching and not another team).

- ... if it were the Giants clenching ...

But they were clenching - their teeth, that is.

Haha, I'll bet they were! The number of Dragons fans in Tokyo Dome for the win, all the streamers they threw around as if they were in Nagoya and not on the road, the way they finished that game - even NHK's coverage of the game never even bothered to pan over to the Giants bench or Hara. And after having beaten the Tigers the previous game, I'm sure the Giants wanted to play the spoiler one more time.

My in-laws are just glad the season is over and that they've re-signed Lee.

- Chunichi survived an interesting pennant race to clinch the title - good on them. But does it appear to anyone else that no-one cares?

This board is overwhelmingly populated with Tigers fans at the moment. I'll admit that's what drew me to register in the first place, and I'm not the sort of person that usually is a prolific poster.

As to why the Dragons are not wildly popular like the Tigers or Giants, I have a few theories. Part of it might be about the city of Nagoya and the Chubu region itself. This region in particular is always looked at like a backwards province from people in the Kansai and Kanto areas. Never mind the fact that the economy here as of late has been booming and the city of Nagoya itself is the fourth largest in Japan (and the third largest metropolitan area.)

In the minds of many Kansai and Kanto-jin, Nagoya is just a Shinkansen stop on the Tokaido main line and the birthplace of pachinko. It's a reputation I hate regurgitating for everybody here, but it's a realistic problem. It's not just Nagoya that has to deal with such an image problem either; take your pick of any mid-to-large sized metropolitan area in the world and I'm sure you'll find similar PR issues.

The Dragons as of right now are a regional team, and the loyalty of their fans is secure around the Chubu region. Go outside of this area though, and you'll see little presence.

My loyalty to the Dragons is mainly due to convenience and a bit of "fair weather fan" syndrome as well. I was never a baseball fan in the States (hard to be when the Milwaukee Brewers are your hometown team). Nagoya has been my home in Japan as long as I've lived here, and since their performance as of late has been impressive, it's hard not to like them.

In short, I think a lot of it has to due with Nagoya's relatively negative image inside Japan. Unfortunately, said image has rubbed off onto the team itself. Does it matter a whole lot right now? I doubt it, as Dragons fans are more concerned right now about winning the Japan Series.

Then again, there's the possibility that the Chunichi Media Group has no desire to turn the Dragons into a team with an extra-regional fan base. In that case, any criticism about the Dragons not being popular outside their region is moot.

Well, now I'm going to throw something admittedly ridiculous into this mix - Names, Mascots, Team Symbols, Collectibles. You can cuddle a soft souvenir stuffed tiger. Kids love Lucky and To-Lucky (me too!). In a country where Hello Kitty could become Prime Minister if she ran, cats, kittens and tiger cubs are a very big deal.

This has nothing to do with baseball, of course. But It's hard to cuddle a Dragon, a Marine, or a Fighter, and I've never figured out what that bunny mated with to produce a Giabbit. Speaking only of those occasional fans, fair-weather fans or even the wholly non-baseball-inclined altogether, it's a point to be made that whatever represents the team visually is a selling point for fandom.

Interesting too, to contrast the use of tiger symbolism in Osaka vs. Detroit. When you see the TV images of the stands, Koshien is just ablaze in yellow-orange. But in Detroit there's almost none (just lots of caps with the team "D") - or at least it seems that way, watching the recent playoffs on TV. Obviously there's a very different fan reaction between the two Tiger teams, in terms of clothes, mascot collectibles, etc. Just an observation which to me suggests some part of team popularity not based on the game itself.

But, but, the Dragons have three - count 'em - three wovely, cuddly-wuddly mascots tripping over each other for you to choose from!

• Shaoron, the blue smurf-dragon that is supposedly connected with Chinese for "little dragon";
• Shaoron's "good friend" Paoron, a raspberryish-pinkish version of Shaoron;
• and the elder states-mascot of the group, Doara-chan, the big blue Dragons koala, celebrating the Dragons holding their spring camp in Australia. Er, when they used to hold their spring camp in Australia. A few years ago, ah, er.

Doala-chan does all the heavy lifting, high-fiving players after home runs and all that.

Well, wait a minute. The Fighters finally ditched that ugly pink whatever-the-heck-Fighty-bird-was mascot and picked up BB the Bear, who is cuddly albeit dorky, and I know I saw many kids in the stands with BB stuffed animals. Teddy bears are cuddly!

The Marines mascots are cuddly enough in their own right if you like ducks - and heck, they even have a series of overly pink gothic Lolita Rine-chan stuff, which frightens me, but I'm really not their target audience.

If you want to be frightened by a mascot you can't hug or cuddle, I suggest the Yokohama BayStars big star-face Hosshey. (Sorry, Westbay.)

As far as visuals go, though, I love the current Chunichi uniforms, probably more than any others in the CL. They're just so simple and elegant, in font choice, logo, and color simplicity. Most of the fonts that Hanshin has used for their uniforms are definitely unique and recognizable, but a little too round and goofy for my tastes.

But yeah, this is entirely subjective. I bet there are kids scared of Slyly, too, whereas I think he's the best NPB mascot since I grew up with the Philly Phanatic.