Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign D Akito Hirose to 1-Year ELC

[Phrasing]

View attachment 678408

Now I have to bleach my eyes. Thanks.

 

[Albatros]

not exactly

in the fall of 1997, the ducks and canucks were starting the season with two games in tokyo. we brought our doomed first year of messier team, with bure, linden, young naslund, rookie ohlund in his first two NHL games, and holdovers like lumme, gelinas, and mclean in net. mogilny was holding out, so he didn't make the trip.

for the ducks, kariya was holding out.

that was the great missed opportunity. when kariya did eventually sign, he was taken out for the year by a gary suter cheapshot and missed the nagano olympics.

i'm willing to bet that if kariya had played those two games in tokyo, that could have generated some real excitement about the olympic hockey tournament. exciting japanese-canadian superstar, disney tie in, it should have worked. and then if he was on that olympic team, and they don't lose in the shootout to the czech republic, and assuming they beat russia in the gold medal game, i think that could have really been something for the sport in japan and, i'm guessing, east asia more broadly.

and if i was gary bettman staring down a potential yao before yao situation, i would have locked don baizley and the ducks GM in a room together and not let them out until they got a contract signed. but of course, bettman was more interested in season two of the phoenix coyotes.

Why would some hockey player in Canada having Japanese family roots be exciting to sports fans in Japan when they have absolutely no lack of domestic sporting heroes of their own? It's a bit like expecting Canadians be excited about Owen Hargreaves except in a more obscure sport and not even born in Canada. Likewise people in Italy were surely just a better marketing effort away from being crazy about Roberto Luongo. The Canucks shouldn't miss the opportunity with Phil Di Giuseppe now.

 

[Vector]

Why would some hockey player in Canada having Japanese family roots be exciting to sports fans in Japan when they have absolutely no lack of domestic sporting heroes of their own? It's a bit like expecting Canadians be excited about Owen Hargreaves except in a more obscure sport and not even born in Canada. Likewise people in Italy were surely just a better marketing effort away from being crazy about Roberto Luongo. The Canucks shouldn't miss the opportunity with Phil Di Giuseppe now.

Speaking from experience, Japan latches on to, and takes ownership but that is a different issue, of people of Japanese heritage if they are very good at a sport. It seems strange to us but I’ve witnessed it many times. Nationalism is very strong there in ways that you just don’t experience in European or colonial countries.

Hockey isn’t that popular but there is a growing culture in the north. Enough to sustain a profession hockey league, at least. The NHL has got much more accessible since the 90s too.

I don’t think Hirose will move the needle for the same reason his brother didn’t. My wife, though, is very excited to watch him. It’s a big deal to here and if our kids were older, would be important to them to have a player on their local team that looks like them.

 

[Albatros]

Speaking from experience, Japan latches on to, and takes ownership but that is a different issue, of people of Japanese heritage if they are very good at a sport. It seems strange to us but I’ve witnessed it many times. Nationalism is very strong there in ways that you just don’t experience in European or colonial countries.

Hockey isn’t that popular but there is a growing culture in the north. Enough to sustain a profession hockey league, at least. The NHL has got much more accessible since the 90s too.

I don’t think Hirose will move the needle for the same reason his brother didn’t. My wife, though, is very excited to watch him. It’s a big deal to here and if our kids were older, would be important to them to have a player on their local team that looks like them.

Like who? Even Naomi Osaka is not particularly popular in Japan and she decided to represent the country internationally.

 

[Vector]

Like who? Even Naomi Osaka is not particularly popular in Japan and she decided to represent the country internationally.

She was massively popular in Japan. Was in the news and on television constantly when I was there 4 years ago.

Lars Nootbaar has ascended to huge heights after the WBC. He’s half-Japanese and doesn’t speak the language. Baseball is obviously massive there, however.

This pops up during the Olympics when Japan enters people of dubious Japanese heritage into sports and suddenly they become household names for a period of time.

 

[petka]

I watched him play a lot in the BCHL in Salmon Arm. I was always impressed with his vision and ability to make the right play at the right time. He does have some offensive ability, but more than anything he struck me as a modern d-man. He was very good at advancing the puck out of the zone. He reminded me of Chris Tanev, the way that he would make a good short pass and and his ability to nullify chances against with very good defensive reactions. I remember him as a smart hockey player. I think he has a chance to succeed.

 

[Albatros]

She was massively popular in Japan. Was in the news and on television constantly when I was there 4 years ago.

Lars Nootbaar has ascended to huge heights after the WBC. He’s half-Japanese and doesn’t speak the language. Baseball is obviously massive there, however.

This pops up during the Olympics when Japan enters people of dubious Japanese heritage into sports and suddenly they become household names for a period of time.

Naturalized athletes can be popular, absolutely. The point was that foreign athletes without any real personal connection besides ancestry aren't, anywhere in the world. The Irish are as connected with their diaspora as anyone but that doesn't mean Connor McDavid would be about to become a household name in Ireland. Even if he's immensely popular among Irish Canadians.

 

[Cancuks]

Reading this thread, an outsider would think he would be bringing a translator with him and sipping sake between periods while wearing a kimono.

 

[F A N]

Hirose is a Canadian. Why not say the same thing in his native language, which would be English?

Yup. He’s Canadian.

Naturalized athletes can be popular, absolutely. The point was that foreign athletes without any real personal connection besides ancestry aren't, anywhere in the world. The Irish are as connected with their diaspora as anyone but that doesn't mean Connor McDavid would be about to become a household name in Ireland. Even if he's immensely popular among Irish Canadians.

It depends on the country and the sport. Most people in Ireland don’t care about ice hockey and there is enough people who are part Irish out there that it doesn’t mean much to the people in Ireland if our ancestors are Irish.

But let’s not pretend that if the best hockey player in the world is a Canadian born hockey player of [insert Asian heritage] that the [insert Asian country] wouldn’t care.

Paul Kariya was popular in Japan as far as hockey players are.

Jeremy Lin was/is massively popular in China.

But I would imagine that a Canadian best in the world ping pong player regardless of where he/she/they are born wouldn’t be that popular in Canada.

 

[Albatros]

It depends on the country and the sport. Most people in Ireland don’t care about ice hockey and there is enough people who are part Irish out there that it doesn’t mean much to the people in Ireland if our ancestors are Irish.

But let’s not pretend that if the best hockey player in the world is a Canadian born hockey player of [insert Asian heritage] that the [insert Asian country] wouldn’t care.

Paul Kariya was popular in Japan as far as hockey players are.

Jeremy Lin was/is massively popular in China.

But I would imagine that a Canadian best in the world ping pong player regardless of where he/she/they are born wouldn’t be that popular in Canada.

Even local women's hockey players or fictional characters from Pride are much more prominent than someone like Paul Kariya. He really is a total nobody in Japan even among sports fans, and so will Hirose be.

 

[ziploc]

She was massively popular in Japan. Was in the news and on television constantly when I was there 4 years ago.

Lars Nootbaar has ascended to huge heights after the WBC. He’s half-Japanese and doesn’t speak the language. Baseball is obviously massive there, however.

This pops up during the Olympics when Japan enters people of dubious Japanese heritage into sports and suddenly they become household names for a period of time.

It may be because Lars Nootbaar is one of the all-time great sports names. He is in the name hall of fame alongside Hakan Loob, God Shammgod and NASCAR Driver Richard Trickle.

 

[tradervik]

It may be because Lars Nootbaar is one of the all-time great sports names. He is in the name hall of fame alongside Hakan Loob, God Shammgod and NASCAR Driver Richard Trickle.

In English yes, in Japanese no.

 

[nucks88]

For those who might get the chance to watch him play
the japanese words for "welcome to the team" is
Boku no chin chin wa chisai

Gotta make sure he feels welcomed here.

The guy was born in Calgary for Christ's sake...

 

[ziploc]

The guy was born in Calgary for Christ's sake...

What's the appropriate Calgary welcome then?

 

[nucks88]

What's the appropriate Calgary welcome then?

Howdy...how about old Lanny's moustache, eh?.....

 

[bandwagonesque]

We need to create a perfect, fully functional facsimile of Japan so he never discovers he's actually in Canada. This is probably why there was more interest in Livingstone.

 

[MS]

Heh, that dolt who said that Jett Woo would bust 'because there are no Chinese players in the NHL' must be fuming about this signing.

 

[LemonSauceD]

I think he makes the team next year. His skating and hockey IQ are NHL level, he’s definitely got to put some more weight but if he can add about 10 more pounds from now until September, I think he’s well on his way to becoming a fixture in our d core.

Throw him in beside Hronek and see how he does.

 

[Vector]

Heh, that dolt who said that Jett Woo would bust 'because there are no Chinese players in the NHL' must be fuming about this signing.

Hasn’t posted on this thread. Weird.

 

[Lindgren]

Hasn’t posted on this thread. Weird.

That was the strangest statistical analysis I've ever read on HF, and that's saying something.

Actually, "strangest" isn't the right word. "strikingly stupid" works.

 

[Vector]

That was the strangest statistical analysis I've ever read on HF, and that's saying something.

Actually, "strangest" isn't the right word. "strikingly stupid" works.

Literally the driving force to me accepting being a mod.

 

[LuckyDay]

 

[Quinntessential]

I want to watch him live but can only afford seats in the Hirose

 

[lawrence]

I first pronounced his name “high rose”

 

[IComeInPeace]

Heh, that dolt who said that Jett Woo would bust 'because there are no Chinese players in the NHL' must be fuming about this signing.

Not sure if you follow the NFL (or the 2011 NFL draft more specifically):

Red hair a red flag for Andy Dalton?

From the "Now I've heard everything" department: An NFL coach says he's concerned about whether TCU quarterback Andy Dalton can lead an NFL team -- not because of the content of his character but because of the color of his hair.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Someone employed by an NFL team in a coaching position questioned if Andy Dalton was worth selecting simply because of the color of his natural hair.