Kuwana, Japan

May, 13 2018

Tricia Takanawa

 

 

 

 

Kuwana Steel Dragons owner Michael Chance gave an emotional speech today regarding the great start to the 2018 season. When asked by reporters how he felt he said the following.

 

Dressed in a dungy gray sweater, eyeballing all of the reporters, Chance stated emotionally:

 

“Your greatest obstacles in life are created by GMs and owners who try to put limitations on you.”

 

Michael looked around to fullly captivate his audience.

 

“The greatest thing about playing baseball in the League of The Rising Sun is we play to win the game. Every owner, every GM, and every player, we play to win the game!”

 

Arms flailed to his side at times.

 

“Hello…We play to win the game! We don’t play for the sake of playing baseball. We all play to win the game. That’s the great thing about the LRS you play to win.” I don’t care of you have zero wins like the Lupin Cliff Hangers or you have five wins like the Nihama-shi Ghosts we all play to win.”

 

Michael pointed to the reporters one by one.

 

“When you start talking like is doesn’t matter, then you should retire, leave the sport, because it’s nasty.”

 

Michael, shaking his head back and forth, lightly chuckled

 

“This whole conversation bothers me.”

 

Michael Chance quickly headed back stage.

 

When I finally spoke to him back stage, I asked where this emotional speech came from.

 

Mr. Chance: When you have a player who comes up to you whining about playing in Ibaraki Mothra our AAA afiliate, that bothers me. The game is not about you, but those around you, the team. Baseball is a team sport. It is not like the rest of the PEBAverse sports. We look at The PEBA Golf Tour; it is a single player game.  Hell, they got rid of caddies 15 years ago to make it more about the golf player. If you want to play by yourself play golf.

 

Takanawa: Was there a specific player we are talking about? Something had to hit hard at home for you to be so emotional today.”

 

Mr. Chance: You know, to be frank, yeah. We let a player hit free agency last year because it was best for the team.  Did we think about what was best for the player? Hell no. I told GM Mark Kierstead to hand him his walking papers.

 

But mere weeks later this player is signed back to the team! I guess on the premise of a bigger deal. You have to talk to Kierstead about that though. So said player comes to my office and is upset with me. When I had nothing to do with his dealings!  All Taro Kudo whined about was ‘me, me, me.’  Not once in the 30-minute conversation did he mention the team, organization, or anything except himself.

 

Takanawa: So why let a player do that, you could have just gave him a pink slip?

 

Mr. Chance: That’s a good question. To be honest, I was upset when Kierstead signed him back.  But what the GM showed me next made sense. We demoted Kudo to AAA for the better of the organization. We wanted him to be a leader for the upcoming players, to help win the game as a whole. We told him straight up: if you want to play solo, retire. If you want to stick with the team stay around.

 

Takanawa: Your speech is already having an effect across the league as many owners as well as GMs have showed the footage on PEBATUBE.com, It has gone viral, with over two million hits in a matter of minutes.

 

Mr. Chance: I am happy that it has gone viral.  For years we the LRS have been the sister league of PEBA. It is time we come out of the shadows and show our pride for the league.  To show we are equals to one another, to stand side by side in the world of baseball.

 

Takanawa: I do agree, I think it is time we stand together hand in hand with PEBA. It is good for baseball.

 

Mr. Chance: Oh and Tricia — you thought you could pull a fast one on me, huh!

 

Takanawa: I am not sure what you mean?

 

Mr. Chance: I saw your son here with you earlier. Our scouts are already looking at him. With a few good seasons in school he could be a major player in the LRS. I have to run for now.

 

Takanawa: Ohh thank you, I try to keep him out of the spotlight. His talents will speak for himself. Thank you for the interview.

 

I am Tricia Takanawa and we play to win the game!