Nikansport article using the word “are” to describe the Hanshin victory.
Japanese professional baseball team Hanshin is just one step away from its first “are” in 18 years.
The “are” in this context is the “are” when you say this, that, and the other.
Hanshin
swept Yomiuri 4-0 in a Central League (CL) home game at Hanshin Koshien Stadium on March 13, led by Teruaki Sato’s (佐藤輝明-24) three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning.
The win was Hanshin’s second 10-game winning streak of the season, 스포츠토토 improving their record to 78 wins, 4 draws, and 44 losses (0.639 winning percentage).
On the other hand, CL runner-up Hiroshima lost 1-5 to Yakult on the same day to fall to 68 wins, 4 draws and 58 losses (0.540 win percentage).
In doing so, Hanshin earned the right to shout “Ote!” or “General” (in Shogi).
A win against Anbang Yomiuri on the 14th would give Hanshin his first ‘it’ since 2005.
A sign offering 1,000 cups of sake for achieving the are.
The reason Hanshin fans have come to refer to winning the league as “it” is because of head coach Akinobu Okada (岡田彰布-65), who took over the reins of Hanshin after 15 years at the end of last season.
On October 24, last year, the first day of fall camp, Okada met with the team and said, “I’m going to challenge for the championship right away next year,” adding, “I said ‘championship’ today, but from tomorrow I’ll say ‘it’.”
According to the Asahi Shimbun, the first time Okada used the phrase “it” was in 2010, when he was at the helm of the Oryx.
The Oryx, a member of the Pacific League (PL), were on the verge of winning the Goryusen (交流戰), which pits CL teams against PL teams.
Worried that the Oryx players might feel pressure, Coach Okada used the word “it” instead of “championship” in an interview.
The Oryx eventually won the first Koryusen title in team history with a 16-8 record (0.667 winning percentage).
During fall camp, Hanshin players also started using “it” in their interviews, saying things like, “I will play hard for it.
Hanshin head coach Akinobu Okada with the team’s catchphrase.
In fact, this year’s Hanshin team catchphrase is “A.R.E.,” or more precisely, “A.R.E.”.
As Hanshin explains, “It means ‘set a clear goal (Aim), remember to respect baseball and your seniors (Respect), 토토 and become more empowered (Empower).”
“There was originally an original version with different words in the places of Aim, Respect, and Empower,” the Asahi Shimbun reported.
“But Okada, with the help of his wife, who is fluent in the language, sent in the new words, and the revised version was eventually adopted.”
At first glance, A.R.E. may seem like a catchphrase for an esports team, but as “it” becomes a reality, it’s been well-received both inside and outside the organization.
There’s even a growing consensus within Hanshin that they should continue to use the catchphrase next year.
There’s no law that says you have to change your catchphrase every year, so if “it” becomes a reality, we may see it again next year.
Oh Seung-hwan
Who played for Hanshin in 2014 and 2015, visits Hanshin’s spring camp this year.
Hanshin, based in the city of Nishinomiya in Hyogo Prefecture, is a popular club in the Kansai region, but they’ve only won “it” five times: 1962, 1964, 1985, 2003, and 2005.
In 2005, the last time Hanshin made it, it was Okada who was at the helm of the team.
Also, there has only been one other time that Hanshin has gone beyond that and won the nihon-ichi (Japan一 – Japan Series title), in 1985.
The captain of Hanshin in 1985 was Okada, who was batting fifth for the team at the time.
Coach Okada is also a “seongdeok”
(successful dude) who started playing baseball because he wanted to be a Hanshin player and has been the team’s manager twice.
So it’s safe to say that he’s the perfect person to bring the Nihon-ichi to Hanshin.
In fact, Okada was rated this way back in 2005, but Hanshin went on to lose the Understanding Japan Series by a combined score of 3-44 in the four games: 1-10 in Game 1, 0-10 in Game 2, 1-10 in Game 3, and 2-3 in Game 4.
The Kernel Sanders doll in question.
In 1985, when “it” became a reality, Hanshin fans gathered in Osaka’s Dotonbori neighborhood to celebrate and then tossed a Kernel Sanders doll in front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet into the river after rinsing it off.
Despite the different administrative areas, it’s only about 20 kilometers from Dotonbori to Koshien Stadium.
After the Sanders doll fell into the river, the expression “Curse of Kernel Sanders” was coined, as Hanshin was plagued by all sorts of bad luck.
Then, in March 2009, the doll was found during a riverbed dredging operation, leading to some hope among Hanshin fans that the curse could finally be broken.
But of the 14 Nippon Series that have been played since the doll was pulled from the water, Hanshin has never been the winning team.
If the current CL and PL leaders were to meet in this year’s Japan Series, Hanshin would face the “defending champions” Oryx.
The Oryx are also a team with ties to Osaka.
Can Hanshin finally break free of the Kernel Sanders curse this year?
Announcement from the Korean Consulate General in Osaka
With Hanshin’s “it” so close, the Korean Consulate General in Osaka also posted a notice asking people to stay safe.
The team’s name was misspelled as Hanshin’s Tigers, meaning “big” instead of “there.
In fact, even in Korea, we often write ‘Tigers’ because of KIA, but the team name is ‘タイガース’ in Japanese, which means ‘s’, not ‘z’.
So Oh Seung-hwan isn’t the only one who misspelled ‘are’ as ‘under’. 스포츠토토링크