Daisuke's Florida "International" Press Conference

Yes, Dice-K, or as I like to call him, Daisuke (that's his first name!), had his first American press conference, down in Ft. Myers, which is one of the nicer places to be weather-wise. At least right now. Up here I'm already used to morning lows in the upper single numbers, and afternoon highs in the mid-twenties. After all, right up to and through January 15th, we were a toasty bunch here in Connecticut. But I'm off the track. Mr. Matsuzaka endeared himself to tens of thousands of fans here in the States, and further reinforced the love that abounds with his millions of fans in Japan. The press conference was "breaking news" televised live on NESN, and also beamed back, LIVE, to four Japanese networks. And after watching the forty minute show, I can see why he is such a media star in his native land. And I'm talking about all the things that have NOTHING to do with his on-the-mound skills, and boy, he sure has those. In addition, he's not camera shy, he has a great on-air camera presence and a quick wit, even when burdoned with a translator, a translator light years ahead of the one provided, in the early on-going negotiation days, by his agent, Scott Boras(s). In other words, he has that "SHINE" that is necessary when on TV. Wait until we see him on the mound at Fenway, in game number two of the home schedule. Oh, and there is this, from ESPN dot com.....a taste of a very nice article that can be yours for the reading by clicking on this post's title.....

"After all the dollars and all the yen and all the fascination with what pitches this man does and doesn't throw, we may very well be about to witness an international baseball phenomenon unlike anything we have witnessed before. Or, at the very least, anything witnessed since Fernando Valenzuela."

Peter here, and Fenando Valenzuela backed up the hype with brilliant pitching. And you know what? I think our Daisuke has the ammunition, ready to go, and when the time comes, in early April, we here in beloved RSN will like what we see. Oh, about 35 times each year. And that thought makes me smile, and yearn for early April. You too? Comments would be great! Happy Friday everyone.