shohei ohtani alert

(^^^shot in Tokyo, pardon me!)

that one appears to be RHD based on the second and third pics?

he’s probably getting out of the passenger side after one of porsche’s pro drivers took him for a lap

kinda surprised he can fit in that porsche

I join this thread in clowning Ohtani's taste in cars. wack tbh

kinda surprised he can fit in that porsche

Yeah but is that the largest auto he could afford

Monster truck doesn’t fit the vibe

My sad urbanist take: It's very telling that here is a kid who grew up in rural Japan who moved to the extreme north of his country (akin to moving to somewhere like Juneau for Americans) who NEVER needed nor felt the need to have a driver's license even as a celebrity and the best player in NPB.

When he first joined the Angels, he lived next to Angels stadium and would "walk to work" until paparazzi and fans bugged him and honked at him and then Ippei started driving him.

Did America (Anaheim)'s car-centric post-war urban design warp this carbrained mentality for Shohei and create eventual additional codepedency layers between he and Ippei? Is Walt Disney at fault because he created a carfree Utopia (well, except for Autopia) positioned in the middle of several thousand acres of parking lots which used to be endless citrus groves? Do you know in Japan you can take the commuter train directly INTO both DisneySea & Tokyo Disneyland?

The only city in Japan I’ve been to is Tokyo and my single criticism is what the FUCK is the deal with the various metro and train lines all being run by different providers, and no integrated transport system for payment? Otherwise 10/10 experience outside rush hour.

I read that many Japanese MLB players prefer to live in the cities they play in - this is said to be part of Imanaga’s draw to Chicago. Maybe he should have taken a leaf out of Yoshida’s book

NHK filmed Masataka Yoshida riding his scooter around Boston.

He’ll be on Monday’s episode of Sports x Human. pic.twitter.com/HEVAFMfDHV

— Jason Coskrey (@JCoskrey) August 13, 2023

More seriously, LA Times alluded to this when he signed & interesting to see ESPN make the same point:

At the beginning of spring training, Roberts, perhaps jokingly, nominated outfielder Jason Heyward to be the one on whom reporters could rely to contextualize Ohtani's achievements when Ohtani chooses not to -- a designated speaker of sorts. It was a nod to Heyward's experience and statesmanship, but it also served to emphasize Ohtani's lack of availability. In Anaheim, the guys speaking for Ohtani were Zach Neto, Taylor Ward and Logan O'Hoppe. When it's a team filled with All-Stars and three other MVPs, maybe the most accomplished collection of talent in the past several decades, it's a tougher sell.

He seldom speaks for himself. "I know," catcher Will Smith said during spring training. Then, perhaps thinking that it sounded harsh, he quickly said, "And I'm fine with it."

...and no integrated transport system for payment?

There are integrated forms of payment FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY (except Okinawa) even as long ago as 25 years ago (via mobile phone!!!) which blew my fragile american mind... but they are not easy for tourists to navigate.

What I mean is if you’re buying a ticket and changing to a line owned by a different company than the one you started with it’s confusing. I’m sure permanent residents have passes that navigate all that but it was confusing to me

ime a pasmo or suica card is all you need to get around tokyo? even when transferring to different lines.

leaving tokyo was where things got squirrelly for me

yup, add Suica, Pasmo or ICOCA in wallet (or watch) and tap transponder- voila. We (SF) didn't have that tech (FeLiCa NFC) until 2021 I want to say...?

Fellas did I mention I’d never been there before

did you go to a baseball game (y/n)

The run line on this game was BAL -1.5 ... Ippei could have easily thrown $500k on that.

xp I didn’t care about baseball in 2018 & it was December so no :(

The run line on this game was BAL -1.5 ... Ippei could have easily thrown $500k on that.

i’ve only been to tokyo twice! and we got pasmo cards the first time. it was as easy as using an oyster card presumably is (i’ve never used one).

I like buying the tickets because you get to put them in the turnstiles afterwards for them to eat.

Nah I’m telling you if you don’t know what an Oyster card is you can buy a paper ticket for the day that covers you everywhere and it’s easy to find and buy. But I’m not comparing it to London, which I’m obviously very familiar with comparing it to taking public transport in Moscow, Paris, Hong Kong etc.

Looks like Ippei and his fat wallet paid off the 3B coach B-)

#ippeicurse

Does he ever not get on base?????

Do not feed the Oyster~🎵🎵

(xps: You can get a multi daypass for all JR regions (7/14/21 days iirc) *OR* Tokyo Metro/Osaka Metro (1-day open) but all are independent agencies which I believe is gyac's gripe. And that's not even mentioning the regional railways.... Keisei and Seibu lines may have some form of daypass? In Kyoto there is an obscure pass that gives you access to all buses, tramways, ropeways and funiculars if you are feeling adventurous.)

Next time I go to Japan I’ll ask you for tips (and Dayo too?)

Jr railpass jacked up the price significantly a few months ago, sadly not worth it except foe the fastest travellers now imo

Would you believe... that once upon a time (pre-mobile gps/OCR trans.), the JTB used to heavily subsidize airfare & railpasses because Japan tourism was considered too daunting due to language & cultural barriers?

I wonder if the JTB even exists anymore, they used to have a huge office downtown but it closed 7 years ago.

Last night I watched Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist on Netflix which is about Manti Te'o and his dead girlfriend who Manti found out was a fake/hoax/catfish and in spite of that, he still wove the story of her death into his Heisman campaign in the days/weeks after finding out the truth.

During one interview Manti mentioned that Notre Dame had hired a PR crisis management team, and admitted that he didn't tell the truth but rather what the PR crisis tea and lawyers told him to say instead.

This has obviously nothing to do with Shohei & Ippei but I did remember the level of scandal reaching a similar fever pitch.

One thing that also stuck out for me was that the 2 main players in the documentary (Manti Te'o & Naya Tuiasosopo) both went on and on about their strict religious faith but were revealed to be compulsive liars to their family, friends, associates and even strangers.

I was kinda thinking of the Manti Te'o thing too, because it's a really wild story that ultimately became too complicated and weird for your average fan to keep track of, and as such it didn't really stick with him the way scandals usually do. Even though it was like, front page sports news for a week. Wild to think it was Deadspin who actually broke that story. Ohtani's probably gonna have the same thing, like in a year we'll all be like "oh yeah what was that about? did we ever get to the bottom of this?"

Why do this, it’s such an unforced error

The fan that caught Shohei Ohtani's first Dodgers home run received a signed bat, ball & two hats.

But the fan and her husband say the Dodgers separated them, refused to authenticate the ball & pressured her into a quick deal.

Here's what they told me: https://t.co/PnnSywQBiq pic.twitter.com/MXjn1RbrgU

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) April 4, 2024

Another important element of this story:

Shohei Ohtani said (via interpreter Will Ireton) that he met with the fan who caught the ball.

“I was able to talk to the fan, and was able to get it back."

Ohtani never met the fan.

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) April 4, 2024

Agree that the Dodgers look terrible. And I understand the human impulse not to want to appear greedy. But I don't know why people continue to return these baseballs. Hang on to it, pick your spot, and try to sell it for as much as you can. The feeling that you owe some sort of obligation to the game or to players who make this much money escapes me entirely.

A rookie's first HR, I guess I'd return that--but I don't think I'd be in any rush if it were Wyatt Langford or Jackson Holliday.

the refusal to authenticate the baseball by the stadium is pretty bush league. i wonder what they could do to get around that?

It’s definitely a dirty bit of business. Given how much the ball was worth if sold, it really underlines how bad the handling of it was.

He's waaaaaaaarmiiiiiing

Things I love: Teoscar Hernandez throwing sunflower seeds at him whenever they're in the same frame

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/business/shohei-ohtani-ippei-mizuhara-plea.html

The biggest unanswered question, imo, was "how would Ippei have taken that much money from Shohei without him knowing?" and the NYT report clears that up: https://t.co/QvDtdzj29r pic.twitter.com/mquNvwR8pi

— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) April 11, 2024

oh dear lol

Ippei Mizuhara has been charged with stealing $16 million from Shohei Ohtani

Investigators also relied on recorded phone calls from the bank in which Mizuhara falsely identified himself as Ohtani to "trick and deceive" bank employees into authorizing the transfers.

What the fuck these details are insane

"MIZUHARA messaged BOOKMAKER 1 stating, “Have you seen the reports?” BOOKMAKER 1 responded, “Yes, but that’s all bullshit. Obviously you didn’t steal from him. I understand it’s a cover job .. MIZUHARA then responded, “Technically I did steal from him. it’s all over for me.” "

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) April 11, 2024

Here's the complaint against Mizuhara. It's 37 pages.https://t.co/ZiewNKezAT

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) April 11, 2024

So yeah, that Ohtani statement where he was very unambiguous about what happened, because the forensic information backs up the story of the theft:

In an interview with law enforcement, Victim A stated that he did not authorize these transfers from the x5848 Account.

6. The transfers from the x5848 Account were made from devices and IP addresses associated with IPPEI MIZUHARA, an individual who was, until recently, employed as Victim A’s translator and de facto manager. Text messages on MIZUHARA’s mobile phone show that in September 2021 MIZUHARA began gambling with BOOKMAKER 1’s illegal sports book, and began losing substantial sums of money in late 2021. Bank A records show that during the same time period, the contact information on the x5848 Account was changed to link the x5848 Account to MIZUHARA’s phone number, and to an anonymous email account which is connected to MIZUHARA based on data found on MIZUHARA’s mobile phone.

g. On or about November 17, 2023, BOOKMAKER 1 messaged MIZUHARA stating, “Hey Ippie, it’s 2 o’clock on Friday. I don’t know why you’re not returning my calls. I’m here in Newport Beach and I see [Shohei] walking his dog. I’m just gonna go up and talk to him and ask how I can get in touch with you since you’re not responding? Please call me back immediately.”

On or about January 2, 2022, MIZUHARA asked BOOKMAKER 2 if BOOKMAKER 1 could “reload my account? I lost it all.”
BOOKMAKER 2 responded, “BOOKMAKER 1 bumped you 50k.”

On or about January 15, 2022, MIZUHARA told BOOKMAKER 2, “Fuck I lost it all lol . . . can you ask BOOKMAKER 1 if he can bump me 50k? That will be my last one for a while if I lose it.”

I can’t stop reading this, I’m in the horrors

On or about November 14, 2022, MIZUHARA messaged BOOKMAKER 1 stating “I’m terrible at this sport betting thing huh? Lol . . . Any chance u can bump me again?? As you know, you don’t have to worry about me not paying!”

it gets so much better (worse)