Essay | Tokyo Dome

2024年10月11日 00:21

　This article is the abridged English translation of the following article.

Tokyo Dome

　Since my childhood, I've hated baseball. I couldn't watch my favorite TV programs during a baseball game because at that time my father would always have a clout on choosing which program my family should watch. When the baseball broadcast was prolonged, I couldn't help giving up watching my favorite TV programs.

　At that time, talking of sports, most people would often thought of baseball. As I used to go to swimming school, I had little interest in baseball.
　In addition to that, it was difficult even for those who had no interest in baseball to declare that they had no interest in baseball at all when they were asked if they were fond of it or not.

　When I was a junior high school student, my homeroom teacher was a big fan of Hanshin Tigers. He seemed to be happy the following morning after Okada, Kakefu and Randy Bass did a good job and Hanshin Tigers won the game. When Hanshin Tigers lost the previous game, he seemed to be unhappy the following day. Although I was not at all interested in Hanshin Tigers, I was forced to have interest in the result of baseball games so as to know in advance that my teacher was happy or not.

　My friend was a big fan of Seibu Lions belonging to the Pacific League. As Hainshin Tigers belongs to the Central League, their interest was so different from each other that they never got excited about whether their favorite team won or lost when they were talking about their own favorite teams.

　As far as I was concerned, as I had nothing to do with baseball in general, all I paid attention to was to keep away from any topic related to professional baseball they were interested in.

　I would have been pushed into a corner if I had asked, "Which team do you like the best ?" and indeed I had several times when I was almost on the verge of being pushed into a corner.
　
　Talking with my teacher, I answered, "Kakefu is wonderful." Talking with my friend, I answered, "Ohta is strong at a crucial moment." I would have a slight aversion toward myself when I was forced to play along with their talk.

　As far as I remember, the home ground of Yomiuri Giants turned Kohrakuyen Stadium into Tokyo Dome when I was a junior high school student. At that time, Seibu Lions was strong and my friend went to newly-built Tokyo Dome to see one of the Japan Series games.

　He said excitedly, "Tokyo Dome is extraordinarily a big stadium." He talked and talked about this and that. Though I had no interest in his story because I thought it was a matter of course that Tokyo Dome was so big a stadium, I pretended to be interested in what he said, which irritated my nerve.

　Soon after I became a high school student, I saw the advent of J-League. Soccer began to catch on and it became as popular as baseball, which meant those who were not baseball fans didn't have to pretend from then on that they were baseball fans.

　I was interested neither in baseball nor in soccer. I made it a rule to say I was fond of soccer in front of baseball fans, and vice versa. By so saying, I managed to get along with both baseball fans and soccer fans thanks to J-League.

　In retrospect, it is just swimming and English that I've loved for a long time. Even if people around me are uninterested in swimming and English, I feel happiest when I'm swimming in the pool or when I'm studying English.

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#タグ一覧

#青ブラ文学部
 #東京ドーム
 #tokyo_dome
#野球
 #サッカー
 #水泳
 #英語
 #野球が好き
 #英語がすき
 #短編小説
 #初投稿
 #ジャイアンツ
 #阪神タイガース
 #プロ野球