High school baseball unifies tsunami-hit Japan

As far as I'm concerned, they should concentrate on saving power by cutting back on the broadcasts. Until the semifinals it's almost always the same schools anyway -- with the teams made up of semiprofessional high school players from PL Gakuen and the like.

Morale is important. I'm personally loathe to subscribe to melodramatic sports broadcasts, but if there are people out there who are buoyed by such displays, then let them have their fun. Tragedy and resource crises aside, if Japan stops all their entertainment industries to go into mourning, then truly will the country fall.

This will definitely unify Japan. So long as it's not sucking power, I see no problem.

Until the semifinals it's almost always the same schools anyway -- with the teams made up of semiprofessional high school players from PL Gakuen and the like.

????? Wouldn't you mean its the same teams after the semis? It's impossible to have the same teams earlier but new teams later.

I think Spring Koshien is very important for the country. Koshien is always one of the things that unites the country as people everywhere have their TV or radio tuned in to see how their local teams are doing. After the disaster, this normalcy is even more important.

"But the damage has been done. “These are very unseemly debates,” said Yale’s Kelly. “Baseball has struck out.”"

Yes. When I want to know waht's happening on the ground in Japan, I seek out the athority of a Yale professor.

???!

The writer of this article seems to want people to believe that koshien is suddenly important, because the pros have dropped the ball, whereas Koshien has allways been something of great interest and importance to the populace.

The kid's speech does indeed seem quite moving, and I definitely agree that Koshien is 'purer' than pro-baseball due to the latter being focused more on money (especially the demand's that some players make if they have a chance to go to the MLB in the US).

"Baseball, long popular in Japan, rallied the country after World War II, providing welcome distraction while serving as a symbol of the cooperation, hard work, and self-sacrifice needed to rebuild the devastated land."

Not sure how it symbolizes self-sacrifice, though.