September 5, 2022: Toyama – The Lupin Cliff Hangers posted a Wicker (*) notice earlier today that strongly suggested they had held a secret meeting last night with members of several of the club’s most outspoken fan clubs.

(* For those behind the times, Wicker is the latest new and fabulous social media system, and is making a name for itself as a place for classic text and imagery, as well as holographic posting … or as it is known among the kid who use it most “dropping a hole.”)

“It’s always great to chat with the oendan,” the clip read. Then it faded to a brief clip of highlights from this season (we did say it was brief, didn’t we?) before finishing with the Up-Tag ^T1CH4, which is thought to mean Toyama First, Cliff Hanger Forever.

Shortly after this posting, TBF (Toyama Baseball Fans) leader Okai Tsumata posted a series of intriguing lines, including: Still not sure what the Hangers are doing ^T1B4, and a video clip of a high school game in which local star Yashiko Fujita drives a double into left field.

Assuming we’re reading this right, the clandestine session likely represents the club’s attempts to ease tensions they’ve had with fan groups over the past several months as the Cliff Hangers have faded from contention and as rumors about the team’s financial management practices began to leak out. General Manager Ron Collins was put under heat at first when he did not sign any one of several high-profile free agents. It was only when the fans began to grumble about the disrespect it was showing to captain Shiro Adachi (and who the team had not budged to resign), that Collins first noted that owner Paul Walked as accounting things in such a way as Collins’s hands were effectively tied.

At this point, things got worse, with the TBF specifically calling Walker out for his miserly ways and more than suggesting that his type were not appreciated in the TBF’s city.

One wonders if this was an attempt to clear the air, to discuss each other’s dirty laundry, to get on the same page, or whatever other quaint cliché you want to add here. And, given Tsumata’s response, one is also left to wonder if the club is tone deaf enough consider their efforts to have been successful.