Colonel Sanders is Back
The Colonel Sanders will finally make an appearance back at the Koshien Stadium in front of the Hanshin fans. We mentioned earlier in the year that the famous Colonel Sanders statue has reemerged from the riverbed of the Dotonbori.
Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd. announced that the statue will make an appearance to the public on September 9th near Gate 5 starting from 3pm until 6:30pm. Fans will be able to see the statue without a game ticket.
The Hanshin Tigers are 20 games back from first place Yomiuri Giants and are 3.5 back from the last playoff spot. If they are able to slide in to take the last spot from the Yakult Swallows and eventually reach the Japan Series, Colonel Sanders should get some serious consideration for MVP votes.
06/09/2009 at 12:31 am Permalink
20 games behind the CL leading Giants, 7 games under .500 and still in contention for a playoff spot?
The playoff system the NPB has right now is probably generating some money but it’s completely ridiculous.
06/09/2009 at 7:40 am Permalink
A wild card team winning the World Series ahead of the division champion. Drawing a line is always arbitrary.
06/09/2009 at 8:59 am Permalink
passerby: The wildcard sucks worse than the NPB system but both are lousy. The wildcard makes no sense because it’s a competition between teams playing different schedules. At least in the NPB system all the teams competing for the three playoff spots are all playing the same schedule. Still with only 6 teams per league it seems ridiculous to need to send 3 to the postseason. I’ve never understood how a few short playoff series are more “dramatic” or “exciting” than a good pennant race where only the 1st place team wins.
06/09/2009 at 11:09 pm Permalink
“I’ve never understood how a few short playoff series are more “dramatic†or “exciting†than a good pennant race where only the 1st place team wins.”
You do realize there would be no interest left whatsoever in NPB by mid august if that was the case. It’s still only half the teams like most leagues and 3rd place finisher must win 2 out of 3 then 3 out of 5 with no home games and draws counting as losses so it’s not like they’re starting the playoffs on equal footing