TBF Demands Walker Addresses Issues

The Lupin ballclub may be away at Bakersfield, but that doesn’t mean their home field is a sitting in quiet splendor. No way. Not when the core fan club is mad as scorned dragons, and isn’t afraid to tell someone about it.

Four hundred members of the Toyama Baseball Fanatics (TBF) circled the team’s ticket office for six hours yesterday, pounding their drums and chanting the team’s profanity-laden victory song at the top of their lungs. They waved flag staffs that had their own TBF banner raised up above the Lupin Gold and Lavender standard. When they weren’t singing victory songs they were chanting: “Walker! Walker! Walker! We are Toyama! We want wins!” They caused traffic disturbances and drew furtive stares from passers-by. They released smoke bombs, and taunted the occasional car that drove by sporting bumper sticker logos of other PEBA organizations.

This event is a signal that general unrest in the community of Lupin baseball fans is boiling over, and that patience with the public antics between owner Paul Walker and GM Ron Collins are not acceptable. It also suggests that the TBF sees Collins as the hero in the tale—which is not overly surprising since Collins has been public in his suggestion that Walker has handcuffed his spending despite the club being on-course to line Walker’s pockets with something over $30M.

For international fans, it may help to understand that the TBF is the most dedicated of the team’s oendan, which are independent fan clubs that grow around each organization organically in Japanese culture. The Lupin club has as many as five separate oendan, but the TBF is the most vocal, the most visible, and clearly the most emotionally tied to the team.

“This is about the city,” said Okai Tsumata, the club’s leader (known inside the organization as “The Sergeant”). “We love the club because they play in our city. We love the club because they represent our hometown. So we have certain expectations of the team.”

Right now, with Lupin’s Cliff Hangers record at 38-41 and the front office in strife, it’s clear that the TBF considers the product on the field to be sub-standard and the leadership situation to be too lackadaisical for their tastes.

“We want Paul Walker to understand that if he’s going to play the game here, he needs to represent the city.”

Okai was clear, though, that the TBF is not saying Walker has to be disposed of. “No, no. Not at all,” he screamed as the drums rattled. “Mr. Walker has brought us a championship before. He can do it again. But we demand he pay attention to our team because it reflects poorly on our city when we suck so bad it hurts.”