Where Eagles Dare A Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Fansite

1. 

   Mark Linden
   October 3rd, 2009 - 14:26

   Hello Andrew,
   My ‘little’ brother Todd plays for the Eagles. I’m slowly figuring out how to get info beyond the Rakuten website. I’ve looked some of your stuff and its great. I’m thrilled to have found your site, even if its only for a fe more weeks…or possibly a littl longer. I think your assesment of Todd is pretty solid.

   He and I only email, so I don’t get to good of a feel of how things are for him over there. How do the fans like him? What do you think his relationship is like iwth the manager and palyers?

   I can take the bad with the good; just would like to get a better feel for his experience over there.

   I’m off to bed (10:30pm in Seattle) and will catch the recap over a cup of joe.

   Mark Linden
2. 

   Andrew
   October 3rd, 2009 - 16:37

   Wow! Glad you like the site Mark. I’m from Vancouver BC myself, just up the I-5 from you! I moved the comment over to your brother’s report card page. Indeed it is tough to find NPB info in English, especially about the Eagles. If you don’t already know, http://www.yakyubaka.com is probably the leading site covering NPB. And as far as I know, mine is the only English site that covers the Eagles. If you find any others be sure to let me know!

   About Todd, the left field bleachers are where Rakuten’s Ouendan (Cheering Squad) resides, so he gets the full effect from the crowd. I think the fans appreciate the effort he puts in, and recently there have been lots of homemade #3 signs in the stands. Japanese fans don’t really boo their players though, so even if he was batting .100 they’d still cheer him on!

   I’ve read stories about the manager Nomura not getting along with foreign players in the past, but I haven’t noticed anything that would indicate it. Nomura isn’t afraid to demote any player to the farm team; he’s got a veteran Japanese player wallowing in the minors, and he’s making $2 million a year! Nomura is definitely old school though, and not afraid to say what’s on his mind. Of course, winning makes everyone love each other too, right?

   With the teammates, I often see him talking with Fernando Seguignol, the other foreigner in the starting lineup. There’s an American pitcher, Marcus Gwyn, on the team too but I can’t say if they really socialize. I’m not sure how much English the Japanese players can speak, but they have a good translator who I’m sure helps everyone communicate with each other.

   I threw a few pics I have of your brother on the site, pardon the poor quality! There’s one of Todd and CF Teppei sharing a laugh during a break in the action, so it looks like he’s making some friends on the club. There’s no link to the gallery on the website (yet), but you can access it here:

   http://theeaglesblog.com/3-todd-linden-gallery

   If it’s not too much to ask, next time you talk to your brother perhaps you could see if he would be interested in doing a brief interview for the website, via email or in person. I’m sure his fans would be interested to know how he’s adapting to life in Japan. I’m not exactly sure how to get in touch with the Eagles’ PR department, especially considering my Japanese isn’t so good. If he doesn’t have time, or if you don’t want to ask him, then no problem!

   Now, I’m off to see the game! I read on his Wikipedia page that his nickname used to be “Moose”, so I’ll shout that a couple times and see if he notices!
3. 

   Mark Linden
   October 4th, 2009 - 14:35

   Hi Andrew,

   Vancouver, eh? I lived there for seven years (still do part time). My wife is from Salmon Arm, BC. We lived at Main and Broadway when we first got together; moved to Pitt Meadows just before our first son was born and now still live in Langley by Willoughbrook Mall. I’m down in Seattle (my hometown) a lot getting my business going.

   Alison worked for the Georgia Straight for a decade. I attended UBC ’92 – ’94. I was the color commentator for the Vancouver Canadians (Oakland A’s Single A club) Radio broadcasts the Summer of 2007 – - some trivia for you.

   Are you a Canucks fan?

   Thanks for all the info. I’m up for staying in touch if you aren’t too flooded with blog stuff, etc.

   Oh yeah….Moose is not his nickname….just wiki gossip.

   I’ve always called him “Chip” or “Chipper” (as in switch hitter Chipper Jones of the Braves) from the stands. That was my way of cutting through the noise of the crowd to let him know I was at a game. Holler that to him and I think it will get his attention.

   The other thing to yell to him is,
   “Snowshoe Softball, Priest Lake, Idaho – Go Grinders!”

   After you feel he’s hear that, then yell,
   “Ulrick wants the trophy back; where is it?!?

   You’ll spin his head big time and DEFINATELY have his attention!!!
   I’ll give you more later on what that refers to…If you do get him to acknowledge you, yell to him that
   “Mark and Butch say Hi”.

   All this will likely get his interest up enough that he’ll come over to find out where you got the info.

   Let’s wait until you try the above before I set up the interview, otherwise he’ll catch on to what is going on. ….now that I’ve written this I think we’re going to have some fun with this!

   Tell me how it goes and then I’ll get the interview request to Todd. If he comes over to talk you can probably ask him directly. He’s pretty good about that kind of thing. Tell him how we hooked up. I’m sure he’d love to find another guy to speak English with.

   Mark
4. 

   Andrew
   October 4th, 2009 - 15:59

   Thanks for the reply Mark!

   That’s hilarious about Vancouver, I used to live near E. Broadway and Clark, by the skateboard park. I grew up in Squamish though, and moved to N. Van after university. Used to make family trips down to the Kingdome to see Griffey, Edgar, Buhner, and the immortal Dave Valle! Unfortunately after the strike in ‘94 I pretty much stopped following MLB. I usually watch a little of the playoffs though.

   My family has had season’s tickets to the Canucks for years; I get strange looks when I wear my jersey around Japan haha.

   Feel free to stay in touch. I had some vacation time I had to take this month so I got about 3 weeks off, plenty of time to watch and write about baseball. I hope that my little project can help you keep up to date about your brother, I didn’t even think about that aspect when I started the blog.

   Check out the YouTube page as well, I got a couple videos of Todd at last night’s game with my digital camera. You can get a taste of the fans, and there’s a postgame interview with him as well.

   http://www.youtube.com/user/theeaglesblog

   I was pretty close to his spot last night, but when I screamed “Hey Moose!” a couple of times he didn’t even bat an eyelash lol. My girlfriend and I have tickets to the 9th and 11th games though, so I’ll be sure to try out that stuff you mentioned!

   Thanks again!
5. 

   Mark Linden
   October 7th, 2009 - 14:42

   Hi Andrew,

   If the stuff I gave you doesn’t spin Todd’s head then I owe you dinner next time you are in Vancouver.

   The photos in the Gallery are great…added them to my collection.

   Canucks are 0-3-0. Lost the opener in Calgary and got shut out in Colorado. In the home opener Luongo was pulled in the second after giving up three goals on three consecutive shots to the Blue Jackets. Canucks lose 5-3. You can imagine how the Van Fans are freaking out. I listen to fans calling in on the Team 1040 broadcasts on the internet and laugh. The ‘Nuks will be fine.

   til next time,

   Mark
6. 

   Andrew
   October 7th, 2009 - 17:15

   If it doesn’t work, you’ll be taking me to Stephos on Davie, I haven’t had Greek food in 3 years!!!

   Yeah, it’s the Cup or the toilet when it comes to those bandwagon jumpers also known as Canucks fans. Thanks for the update, I’ve been too preoccupied with NPB to watch any NHL yet!
7. 

   Mark Linden
   October 9th, 2009 - 01:12

   Well, that settles it; my wife will never move to Japan, she lives for nights out for Greek.

   Wed: Canucks 7, Habs 1 – They have now called off the ‘Fire Vigneault’ campaign and permits are in to the city to set the Cup Celebration Route.

   Canucks fans are the most manic, bi-polar group around …always entertaining
8. 

   Wayne Hamrick
   November 11th, 2009 - 09:09

   Mark – Andrew, good stuff. I haven’t spoken with Todd since HS but have been following his career. This is the first I’ve found info on him since he left the Yanks and I accidentally found it looking for pictures of him. The site is great so thanks for that.

   I used to whoop him in wrestling in JH then he all of a sudden hit a spurt and towered over me after the summer break. I still think I can take him though!

   Never met you Mark but if I’m not mistaken you played for the Cubs?

   If you do get a chance to speak with him, please tell him Wayne Hamrick says hi.
9. 

   Chuck Stark
   March 14th, 2010 - 16:00

   Andrew,
   I’m a sports editor for the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Wa., and have been searching for a site like this to track Todd Linden, who went to high school in the area (Central Kitsap). I talked to Todd last week and will have a story up this week before the regular season opener.
   I will make sure out readers know about this site.
10. 

    Andrew
    March 14th, 2010 - 18:41

    Hi Chuck, thanks for stopping by the site. I’d love to grab a copy of your story on Todd, will it be on your paper’s website? If so, I’ll send a link over to you as well. I’m from Vancouver, BC myself, so I’ve been around the Seattle/Olympic National Park area many times before
11. 

    Bethany Bennett
    September 6th, 2010 - 19:12

    Greek Foods are tasty and delicious maybe because of the spices they put in it;`~

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