Written by Face it, we all knew it was inevitable. The convergence of these two powerful forces means the result was simply unavoidable.
Of course, I’m referring to the arrival of Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka here in the land of Paul Bunyan, Bob Dylan, Prince, and Walter Mondale, and colliding head first with a Twins blogdom steep with a history of expression of our devotion to our team (and the very existence of the game of baseball) through another Japanese import… yes… Haiku!
(Caligraphy:Sook Humphries)
So as we begin this week, I figured we here at Knuckleballs should be among the first to celebrate the impending opening of Spring Training with a traditional Haiku welcome to Tsuyoshi. I’ve come up with a few to get everyone’s creative juices flowing, but I’m sure there are others out there who are much better at this kind of thing than I am.
Just as a reminder, Haiku poetry (or at least our Westernized version of it) follows a simple 5 syllable-7 syllable-5 syllable pattern… and if you can find a way to fit something about “seasons” or “nature” in to the poem, as well, you get extra credit for making an attempt at producing a more “authentic” Haiku.
Let’s see what we can come up with… leave your best (or even your not-so-best) efforts in the comments section. We may even add a few more to the post as time goes on.
- JC
(Photo: MLB)
Spring Training in March.
Palm trees combine with baseball.
It won’t be long now.
Tsuyoshi’s a Twin.
Will Gardy learn Japanese…
Eat pregame sushi?
Blue skies and green grass.
Beer, dogs and brats were devoured.
Seems so long ago.
Where did he go to?
No Tiny Superhero!
Look South toward the Arch.
A tsunami here?
In Land of Lakes (not Oceans).
It’s Nishioka!
Gardy bilingual?
This should be interesting.
“How do you say ‘SH_T’!?”
Not many new names.
Will Nathan, Morneau be back?
Fan base is restless.
Great stuff. Love the poem.
2011.
Target trip possible.
Cheer for awesome team.
Check out my experiences today with Nishioka on a story I just wrote on my site.
Just read your piece, John. Good stuff. (For those who don’t know/recall, jjswol is the author of the TwinsTrivia site… go to http://twinstrivia.com/default.aspx or just click on the link in our Twins blogroll to get to there).
I’m trying not to jump to conclusions regarding his deportment toward early-bird fans at the Ft. Myers complex. I’m not sure what the NPB Spring Training environment is like that he’s coming from. I would imagine he has a lot of things that he’ll have to get accustomed to, but I certainly hope he doesn’t end up with a reputation for an “attitude” similar to what Ichiro has garnered.
For now, though, I don’t mind if he focuses most of his attention on being physically prepared to contribute to the Twins… we’ll hope his “fan friendliness” comes around later.
Teresa at Joe-Mauer.org archived a video from a few seasons ago with Twins players (and Gardy) reading haikus. Some have excellent delivery, while others leave a lot to be desired:
http://videos.joe-mauer.org/videos/38/5-7-5:-twins-are-poets,-don%27t-%27cha-know-it?