THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210514
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Another country heard from:
Japan, this time, via the Internet. Regarding Norfolk Tides manager Bobby Valentine, who last year turned around Japan's woeful Chiba Lotte Marines but was fired after clashing with team management.
A quirky e-mail about this arrived a while back from a Kazuo Miyata of Nagasaki. He writes in part:
``I really miss Mr. Valentine, who left a great footprint in Japanese baseball. I would like to send an exclusive CD of James Taylor as a present to him. P.S. I really hope that you would understand my poor English.''
I understood fine, and wanted to know more about Valentine's impact and the huge fan outcry following his firing. Mr. Miyata addressed the Valentine phenomenon when I e-mailed him some questions.
Why did Bobby Valentine leave such a ``great footprint?''
``He was the first American manager with success in Japan. As I know, there were two American managers before him. When they left, each team's grade was not so good. Now, look at Valentine! He led poor, weak, and miserable Marines up to the second of the league. It was a miracle using his good personality.''
Why are you sad that he won't be coming back?
``Because he was very very different from common Japanese managers. Traditionally, Japanese managers would take baseball very strictly as SAMURAI spirit or something. I am sick of it. They remind me of old-fashioned KAMIKAZE-HARAKIRI businessmen. Valentine looked like a sophisticated person and I think that many business people would choose him as an ideal big hancho.''
Was he one of the biggest news stories in Japan?
``Yes, he was. Not only sports news. The reason was that some media seemed to take the tragedy (presumably Valentine's firing) as one of the friction between the U.S.A. and Japan.''
What was it like after it was announced Valentine had been fired?
``Marines fans declared anti-Hirooka (the general manager) in Marines Stadium actually and started the signature-obtaining campaign for Valentine. In the end, Japanese baseball fans lost a great American manager.''
Meanwhile, the sophisticated American hancho Valentine left culturally and financially enriched -- not to mention the increase by one to his James Taylor collection.
Virginia Beach sprinter Randall Evans, who now trains in Raleigh, N.C., enjoyed a solid indoor season but faces long odds of making the Olympic team in the 100 or 200 meters. The former Salem High School runner won three indoor 50- or 60-meter titles in lower-echelon indoor meets and was third and second, respectively, in weightier meets in Tennessee and Fairfax, Va.
However, Evans, 25, is unranked. And at June's Olympic Trials, he'll have to deal with such world-class sprinters as Jon Drummond, Michael Johnson, Mike Marsh, Dennis Mitchell, NCAA champ Tim Hardin, Leroy Burrell and Carl Lewis in the 100 or 200.
Then again, Edwin Moses came out of nowhere in 1976. You never know.
Speaking of track and field, Great Bridge's Lawrence Johnson recently won the NCAA indoor pole vault title for Tennessee and will defend his outdoor championship in May in Eugene, Ore.
Like the sprints, the Olympic Trials also will be loaded with vaulting talent, USA Track and Field spokesman Pete Cava said. ``We're going to leave home somebody good.'' The top three finishers in each Trials event make the Olympic team.
Psst! Olympic visitors. Having trouble finding a hotel room within a two-tank drive of Atlanta? Have I stumbled across a deal for you:
A restored Victorian less than a mile from the Olympic Stadium; three bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, maid service, computer and fax, cable, central air, gas grill, kitchen, dining room, baby grand Young Chang piano.
That would be, um, let's see . . . here it is - $1,800 per night for a minimum three-week stay.
Sigh. Can we please hold an Olympics here? I've got a couple of rooms and a TV. I'd like to retire young, too. ILLUSTRATION: Color file photo, The Virginian-Pilot
Bobby Valentine, fired after last season as manager of the Chiba
Lotte Marines, left behind at least one Japanese fan.
by CNB