Most sports in Japanese are referred to with borrow words.
フットボール - futtoboru
サッカー - Sakka
バスケットボール - BasukettoboruBut baseball? You think that’s besuboru? Hell nah, that’s mother fuckin yakyu (野球)
To me, that’s the greatest sign there is of how integrated into the culture the sport is.
That’s why we’re invading Cuba: to teach them baseball! We might even share our American love of classical cars.
Wasn’t Fidel a big baseball player/fan?
That’s fine. The more the merrier.
How many countries claim football?
Which football?
The one with the foot and the ball
If it was the American version, the question wouldn’t make any sense.
every football game starts with a foot kicking the ball, just say soccer
Rugby is also football. The official name is Rugby Football.
I didn’t say American football. That’s not really something that would make sense since it’s not the national sport and definitely not a national sport in any other countries.
just say soccer next time. the rest of the world can get football back if they win a super bowl ever
Can’t decide if to down vote you for “soccer” or updoot you for funny. Argh. Got a headache now.
Take this updoot and get out.
Baseball, huh?
That tracks
Their Little League are always top tier, and the best player in MLB is Japanese.
I would like to see what Japan could pull off playing Banana Ball.
They can have it!
Yeah that’s something we like about Japan. Our countries keep getting into things the other introduces us to.
That’s what happens to colonies. Look at how popular Cricket is in Commonwealth countries.
are you saying that japan was a US colony in 19th century?
Pretty much was after WWII.
iirc baseball was japans national sport before ww2
Really? I’m anything but an expert in Japanese history but weren’t they very anti-western back in the empire’s days?
Also not an expert, just talking from what I remember from history class: in the mid 19th century, Japan underwent a period of rapid westernization and industrialization called the Meiji Restoration. This was at least in part a response to western interference in the region, including a pivotal moment when the US forced the country to sign unequal trade deals by showing up with some big naval vessels.
So it was kind of a love-hate relationship. They didn’t like the westerners invading their country, but they also admired them enough that they not only adopted western tech, but also a bunch of social and political customs.
Most Commonwealth countries, Canada is different because of our close connection with the US.
There’s a group of Indians near me who play cricket every weekend so sometimes I’ll go by and bother them. “You’re playing the game wrong, you know. Have you guys never watched baseball before?” They’re always super nice and will spend ages explaining everything about the sport. They have a level of zeal for the sport which cannot be matched by even us hockey fans. Last summer we went down to the Galapagos and our group was mostly Brits and I would wait until late in the evening after they had started drinking and ask if they play soccer over there, and that is just as much fun to me.
ask if they play soccer
I mean, that is where the word came from originally.
I know the story: “association” → “assoc” → “soccer”, but they apparently didn’t get the memo, and there was much arguing.
We have Rugby and Gaelic Football as our sports from the Commonwealth. We just suck at them because there’s only 3 months a year to play it.
I’m a big guy, so someone decided that I’d be good at Rugby, and I got invited to the high school rugby practice. I had a good time even though the practice was in March and there was a foot of snow on the ground, but to this day, I have zero idea of how to actually play the game.
The worst part of snow is how hard the ground is.
Move ball from one end to the other, touch it down. Don’t throw it forward.
Geef me mijn HONKbal. Het is honkbal hier in Holland. Honk. Bal. Honkbal. In het Japans: honkubalu.
Also Finland
All I know about japanese baseball is the number 34-2
Who cares though? Rednecks care and who cares what they care about.
