I'd Give Him Some Chin Music

My favorite oddball-Japanese news source sometimes ventures into the world of sports, and of course, Japan's number one sport is baseball. While Americans focus almost exclusively on major league competition, the high school tournaments are pretty close in popularity to Japan's NPB.

I've yet to see a high school game here, though I'd really like to. Some of you know that I used to teach high school in the US and I even coached the baseball team (disclaimer: as an assistant coach). So seeing the contrast would be an added bonus to just watching some fun baseball.

Now, having been to my fair share of high school and professional baseball games, I've seen plenty of players with unique approaches to getting ready in the batter's box. Of course, there are superstitious ticks like touching different parts of a uniform or refastening batting gloves. We all know the batting stances of Jeff Bagwell and Julio Franco. And beyond that, there are different things players do to stay loose and ready in the box between pitches.

And then there's this guy:

I feel compelled to remind you, as you watch this, that high school baseball is a big thing, so the school band performs during the match (in this case, a cover of a classic Queen song of all things), and pretty much every town has its own A/AA-size baseball stadium that the high school teams also use.

If I was on the field, after I stopped laughing and peeing my pants from the insanity of the whole thing, I would have done something. As the catcher, some quite unkind words would slip out from behind the mask. If I was the umpire, I would have told the kid to quit delaying the game or he'd be thrown out. As a pitcher, I'd be sure to keep that kid moving by bringing the ball just a bit too far inside. And if I was that player's coach, he'd be on the bench.

What do you think?

I originally saw this video on RocketNews24, posted by kenanasq on YouTube. That user has a bunch of videos of high school games and various local stadiums that might interest some fans. And coincidentally, the games/teams that are shown - at least recently - are all in my area. Many of the videos are of the cheers that the band and cheer teams do.