Hopefully Lost in Translation

I was driving to REI in Seattle today and heard that the Mariners game was at 1:30 instead of the usual 7:00 starting time so I figured I might as well go and catch a game. It was chilly out and I only had a tee-shirt on, but I was going to REI to buy a new coat (I left mine at Lake Powell last month) so that problem was solved.

One of the traditions at Safeco Field (probably at most ballparks, actually) is for the scoreboard operator to highlight one of the players and post a few factoids about him up on the big center field scoreboard. Today, as is probably the case some 30 times a season, the featured player was Ichiro.

I didn't catch all of the little blurbs of info they put up, but I did note his answer to the question, "What's your favorite movie?"

His answer was Miss Congeniality.

I refuse to believe this is true. Ichiro has been in the USA since 2001 and has spent countless nights in countless hotels across this great land. You mean to tell me in all of those nights spent sitting in front of a television, that neither pay-per-view nor HBO had something better on than Miss Congeniality? I've seen that movie. It's not bad. Sandra Bullock looks awesome towards the end and it did make me chuckle once or twice. But it's also a very ordinary, predictable, and ultimately forgettable movie. How can Miss Congeniality be anyone's favorite film? I would bet that even Miss Bullock herself would rate her movie with Keanu Reeves, Speed, as being higher on her list than Miss Congeniality.

This must be one of those times in which Ichiro's interpreter is playing a joke on him. Who knows, maybe Ichiro let his wife or kids answer the questions. Or maybe the "clubbie" somehow convinced the scoreboard operator to put it on the big board. Regardless, somebody has some explaining to do because there's no way that can actually be true. And as a fan who pays good money to read scoreboard blurbs about my favorite athletes, I refuse to be lied to.

Miss Congeniality? Ha! Next they'll tell us his favorite song is "YMCA".

By the way, the Mariners 5-game winning streak ended today. They took an early 4-0 lead but Baltimore's bats got hot in the middle innings. At least the Angels lost too, so the Mariners didn't lose any ground on their chase to win the division.