Japan

Kyoto, Japan

For couples that wish to explore the rich culture and history of the country of Japan, there are few better places to start than the ancient capital of Kyoto. Renowned as one Japan’s most beautiful cities, there is plenty to do and see here. Explore the many historic sites of the city, the castles, temples and shrines, some of them dating back more than 1000 years. See the old ImperialPalace

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What’s Happening Wed: Your Assignment

Every Wednesday, we share a few news items, fun blog posts or other relevant stories together. Be sure to post your own in the comments.

A Magical Childhood has a wonderful “assignment” for us all to do in between our other holiday tasks. Trust me, you’ll like these tasks!

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Endorsements in Seattle

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Once again: we'll all believe it when we see it. :- )

Twice again: it's Hot Stove League. What did you want to talk about, the Seahawks? ::pfft::

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An interesting issue comes up: would you ever see a high-profile Team LeBron scenario sign with the Mariners, even if the Mariners were the only team offering a trophy contract? Or would the endorsement situation -- not the winning situation, but the endorsement situation -- preclude that?

I don't know the answer. Here are a few thoughts that come to mind. Hopefully you've got better than this :- )

My own instincts run to two basic ideas: (1) there is no city in the world like New York. (2) You can definitely do business in Seattle, my friend.

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Ken Griffey Jr.

Junior, playing in Seattle and Cincinnati, had deals with

Nike
NINTENDO (ahem)
Wheaties
Pizza Hut
Pepsi
Dick's Sporting Goods
Upper Deck
a bunch of others

Griffey is Griffey, but ... I wouldn't mind being on the cover of a major video game. The Nike and Nintendo deals come with TV commercials, and you can launch from there.

Burger King Japan offers "All You Can Eat" Whoppers promo

In Japan, Burger King has announced an amazing new promotion: through the end of the year, it's "All You Can Eat" Whoppers. You have to prove that you ate the first Whopper, and the rest are free.

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Home Grown Bats and Dreams of Cano

There's talk in the shouts about Cano, since it's the offseason so pipe dreams are a way to pass the time until dull reality strikes. Let's forget for a second that Cano has Jay-Z representing him, and I have trouble believing Cano would come to sleepy Seattle no matter the price or the supporting cast.

Ancient underground cities

Lately, Wood Sprite has developed an interest in legendary places—especially the Lost City of Atlantis. While we’ve been exploring this interest together, we’ve run across some really amazing underwater cities that, while not Atlantis, are still amazing to see and learn about. It just blows my mind that we can see photos of these incredible places. For example, have you heard of…

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Ramen Tatsu-Ya

Ramen Tatsu-Ya is one of the most popular ramen places in Austin and it’s no wonder people flock to this amazing restaurant. As anyone who has visited Japan can tell you, there’s something great about ramen that’s done right. It can be done in so many ways that no matter what your tastes (and even if you happen to be vegetarian) there’s something for you. A casual dining place like this, with its comfortable atmosphere and outstanding food, is perfect for a relaxed first date or for a once-a-week kind o

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Tanaka's Pitching Trendlines, II

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Pitching Trendlines 101

When a guy's numbers are off the chart, then a little bit of bouncing up-and-down is not a factor.

Payton Manning's offense doesn't even PLOT on the team visualizations -- it's quite literally off the graph. Supposing it moves a skosh toward being visible on the graph, but still isn't on there?

No trend.

Masuhiro Tanaka's CTL (strikeout-to-walk) ratio this year was "down" to 5.7. This while he went unbeaten.

No trend.

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Pitching Trendlines 102

Now, all that said ... K/BB ratios are only one piece of information. Here you've got a super-analyst, living in Japan, who worries whether Tanaka is sliding downhill a bit. So that's another issue.

Tanaka's Pitching Trendlines - Dr's R/X

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Dr's R/X

Every pitcher is a health risk. Some of them look golden ... Felix Hernandez, maybe Yu Darvish, there are guys who feel like they're safe going forward.

Tanaka-san looks like an "average" health risk to me, going forward. I'd feel about as comfortable going with him, as I would going with Max Scherzer. About the same as I would with David Price... well, Price is a little bit better bet.

Masahiro Tanaka - Video Analysis (grok'ing the arsenal)

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Muchos problemos, if you're trying to capture Tanaka using video alone. In this post, we ticked off a few of the problems on our fingers for yer. Tough to measure your Tuesdays, using the Potrzebie unit. And tough to grok a "pitchability" ace, watching a few tosses on video.

Still and all ...

1) Tanaka is obviously in the Iwakuma / Kuroda template, and

2) His raw stuff looks superior to both.

Thusly:

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