The nation of Japan has many ancient, cultural activities, and while the world is familiar with Sumo and their adoptive favorite, baseball, many are unfamiliar with their more recent popular sporting activity, Kendama. Most may be familiar with the childlike - yet frustrating sport, interest has grown and created a
market of creativity. The Japanese have taken it to a new level, and there are
competitions around the globe.
In keeping with the PEBA tradition of embracing local culture - the
2030 golf tournament at Palm Springs and the
2031 Irish Road Bowling in Charleston West Virginia, The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance hosted their own Kendama competition on the off day prior to the game. Hosei University, fresh off the Avocat's heart-breaking 4-3 International Collegiate Championship loss to Oxford (a painful 6-4 loss, with the Dark Blues scoring three in the bottom of the 8th), was awash with excitement on this day as they hosted the event.
Kendama competitions are based on a scoring system dependent upon 'tricks' -
with tricks having a different degree of difficulty - not, unlike, diving may have. The highest score wins.
The entire All-Star roster would compete on this day, and rounds 1-3, would cut the field of All-Stars down to 8 players, was based on a simple task - how many times in (10 minutes in round one and five minutes in rounds two and three) can the player simply get the ball in the post. Simple, right? Yet a number of players failed to even do that - most notably, Bakersfield's Raul Ortega, who was so frustrated with his attempts, he finally closed his eyes for the final two minutes and, laughing hysterically, just twirled the ball around his head - at one point nearly clocking an all-too-serious Randy 'Tugboat' Smith, who grumbled, "C'mon, man - if this is my last All-Star Game, I gotta come out with some hardware!"
When the 'Elite 8' was determined, it was clear who the fan favorite was - hometown favorite, 'Dr. Evil', Naomi Homna. Lined up against Duluth's Sean Kirkland, Tempe's Rob Imhoff, Fargo's Sang-ton Kun, Havana's 'Ogre', London's 'Casino' Aguilera, Peter Mornington of the Calzones and San Juan's 'Dracula' ('Tugboat' managed just one, with many clanking off the post) - and 'The Doctor' did not disappoint. By the time he reached the final - against the surprising Rob Imhoff, who advanced by completing one trick - aptly the '
Baseball Bat' (leading many fans of Aurora thinking, 'what else is new'), and having been deemed to have come the closest to completing his other tricks. By the time the final came around, Homna had the crowd in a frenzy as he competed the complex '
Lighthouse Juggle Lighthouse' maneuver, while Imhoff tried to keep up with the equally difficult '
Moon Circle Quick Spike', but all he could grab was the string.
During the awards presentation - a bronze Kendama was the prize, Naomi Homna credited his youth baseball experience for his success. "When I was little, playing youth baseball, we used to have hours between games - and plenty of rainouts, and I always had a kendama in my bag to keep me busy and my eyes and hands working together. I think it has paid off in more than one way, right??".