AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2008 > March > 25 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSayonara, baseball tradition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Baseball used to be a game played with nine men to a side, two managers, four umpires, and the major-league season always opened in Cincinnati. Come to think of it now, that would be sort of like “Gone With the Wind” opening in Valdosta. But Cincinnati had a deal, see.
The first “major league” baseball game was played in Cincinnati on June 1, 1869. The locals, the Red Stockings, eked out a 48-14 victory over Mansfield, whoever Mansfield was. So, several years ago — even the league office isn’t sure when — it became a custom that every major-league season opened in Cincinnati. Nobody played before the Red Stockings, now shortened to Reds. It was just that way. That’s how baseball is, very long on tradition. It just gets into a habit it likes and stays there.
Well, not any longer. Money can change any habit. Eight springs ago the Mets and Cubs opened the season, not in Cincinnati. Guess where? Tokyo. That Tokyo, the guys who gave us Pearl Harbor. Some people don’t like you to bring that up, trade with Japan is so hot. But I’ve got a long memory. I saw what a few bombs can do to our property.
Oh, well, ‘scuse me. It’s just tough to get away from it when you turn on your TV in the morning there are the Boston Red Sox playing the Oakland A’s in the Tokyo Dome. Not only that, but the Red Sox pitcher is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who didn’t grow up in Wampole.
Why not? A Japanese newspaper chain, Yomiuri, foots the bill for this Oriental excursion. Yomiuri is not exactly the Chicago Tribune of Japanese baseball. Yomiuri owns several teams. The Tribune owns only one team, and that team hasn’t been in a World Series since World War II. (Sorry to have to bring that up again.) Yomiuri’s team has been the Yankees of Japan, and I’m not sure, but I think they call themselves the Giants.
About Cincinnati and its dibs on opening day, that went on for years. Then the major leagues expanded from coast to coast, cramping the schedule. Television came in spreading money around like fertilizer, and things began to change. The Reds no longer had a monopoly on opening day. So they were allowed to throw the first pitch before anybody else. That privilege is gone now, but one priority remains — the Reds are always allowed to open the season at home. So much for tradition, of which about all that remains is that the baseball hides are actually sewed together by hand by ladies in some Latin American country.
They no longer play a Hall of Fame game in Cooperstown. The All-Star Game ends when the commissioner says it’s time to go home, even if the score is tied. World Series games start about my bedtime. The schedule is so jacked around that the Braves open the season with a one-game “series” in Washington, where a new ball park is being opened. There, one other tradition still prevails: Presidents still throw out first balls. George Bush gets to start the last game of his eight-year career on the mound.
It would be my guess that in Japan, emperors don’t throw out first balls, or even have any kind of presence at such a sweaty game. I saw a game in the Tokyo Dome once, but it was more dome-shaped then. It now appears to have gone oblong to oblige the new long-ball society. Managers are interchangeable, it seems. Bobby Valentine is still managing a team in Japan, and Trey Hillman, who managed five seasons in Japan, is now managing the Kansas City Royals, which, on the surface, appears to be a demotion.
So that’s where major-league baseball stands today, geographically. Not here in the USA, not in Cincinnati, not even in Kauai, but on the other side of the International Dateline. Heaven only knows where it’s headed next. They tell me they’re building a state of the Soviet stadium in Vladivostok, complete with a video screen as high as the sky, and beer sales. Oh, I forgot tell you this about Cincinnati’s sin. The Red Stockings were expelled from the league in 1880 for selling beer at the park. Think of that!
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By Kyle
March 25, 2008 9:42 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher well done! I’m a braves fan in Cincinnati and opening day here is ridiculous. I’m not even going to get into it all but I’m glad you have a the nerve to speak your mind. People are too touchy and all about making more money than the year before. Don’t get me wrong I want that as well but this inflation in baseball is out of control. At least pay your umpires better especially in the minor leagues. I wish there was something that could be done.
By bob palmerson
March 25, 2008 9:49 PM | Link to this
We gave Japan Opening Baseball Day They gave us Pearl Harbor Day nice touch, eh !
By Texas Bob
March 25, 2008 10:26 PM | Link to this
Watch out about cracks about ‘Dosta. You’ll have Ellis Clary haunting you from beyond the grave.
By CharlieAlphaBravo
March 26, 2008 5:18 AM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher:
I must respectfully suggest that if any people know what “a few bombs can do to [their] property,” it’s probably Japan. Let’s try to be graceful winners and take it easy on them. As long as players keep signing $25 million contracts, the baseball suits will have to keep trying to globalize the game to pay for them. Don’t be suprised when A-Rod signs an extention, and the Yankees replace the ‘NY’ on their hats with the Honda logo. Since 1869, the one thing that has not changed about baseball is this… It is a business, and the bottom line is the bottom line.
By Lucas Cade
March 26, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
Baseball long ago sold its soul. Not just because of events like “opening the season” in Japan, but because it no longer values community. Free agency, lucrative contracts, TV revenue, naming rights - among others - have all contributed to the alienation of the baseball fan. How can any fan identify with their home team when the rosters rotate like a turnstyle? I won’t even mention steriods and the breach of trust that invoked. How can a game so pure be so disrespected?
By Papa
March 26, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher, The Biblical admonition is coming to fruition. Money, money, money. Nothing of a personal nature against the Japanese, but baseball is USA American. While change is fine, there is considerable to be meritted by stability and constancy. Thanks for another straightforward effort.
By Jack
March 26, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this
Wow, between this and the Schulz column yesterday, you’ve got some fine xenophobic idiots writing columns hear at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pearl Harbor? Egads.
By Max
March 26, 2008 9:24 AM | Link to this
Money can change any habit. This spring the Pirates and Braves will open the season, not in Milwaukee. Guess where? Atlanta. That Atlanta, the guys who tried to keep slavery and tear this country apart. Some people don’t like you to bring that up, trade with the south is so hot. But I’ve got a long memory.
By Jay
March 26, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this
First let me point out that the globalization of professional sports is surely not unique to Major League Baseball.
As technology advances over the past twenty so years have made it possible to spread the enjoyment that is the game of baseball to areas outside the US and this has sparked a great interest in our national pastime. Baseball should thank the Gods that globalization has happened because there is a direct correlation to the resurgence of the popularity of baseball from its declining days in the 80’s to where it stands now and we owe a lot of that to our international audiences.
With so much bad going on in the world and hate for the US outside our country, it’s nice that everyone can look beyond that when it comes to playing baseball.
By Sam G
March 26, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this
Don’t you have some young punks to chase off your lawn, or some tales to tell about how you had to walk to school through six feet of snow uphill both ways? I mean really, a Pearl Harbor reference in 2008?
Baseball has grown tremendously, beyond the Midwest, beyond North America even. Korea, Japan, many countries in Latin America all have professional teams and have had their players make it to the MLB. Who cares where Daisuke Matsuzaka is from, so long as he pitches well?
I don’t agree with Bud Selig in most things, but his attempts to make baseball a worldwide sport are good for the game. It brings in revenues that benefit all teams, it increases MLB’s talent pool when people like Dice-K or F******* come to the U.S. Progress isn’t always something to be feared.
By Jason
March 26, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
You know it’s time to hang ‘em up when your articles read like very well done satire.
By Jason
March 26, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this
You know it’s time to hang ‘em up when your articles read like very well done satire.
By JUST LISTENING
March 26, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
“CharlieAlphaBravo” VISIT THE ARIZONA MEMORIAL SOMETIME AND SEE IF YOU STILL WANT TO BE A GRACEFUL WINNER. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE MLB FOR FOR SELLING OUR NATIONAL PASTIME.
By marc
March 26, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
If you are still going to hold Pearl Harbor against Japan, should African-Americans still hold slavery against southerners? Or maybe the Jim Crow laws that existed when Mr. Bisher was growing up? I’m sure Hank Aaron would have a few things to say about how he was treated in the South when he started in the Braves organization.
By epope
March 26, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this
Texas Bob: Ellis Clary has been pronounced dead too many times to lie silent. That storm that rolled through last week was his take on opening day in Japan.
By Ellen
March 26, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this
Well said, Mr. Bisher! I don’t care if they play 100 games in Japan, opening day should always be on American soil, as in USA. I hear so much about wanting to win the fans back to the game, but things like this do not help.
By Dan
March 26, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
This xenophobic, bitter, borderline racist garbage is an embarrassment to the AJC. Wasn’t dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan and killing thousand upon thousands of their civilians enough “payback” for you crochety, pathetic dinosaurs? You are all really pitiful.
By Expat Jack
March 26, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this
As an Atlantan temporarily living in Tokyo, I’m grateful that the baseball season started here. With hundreds of games on US soil over the season, having ONE game here is not an insult to baseball tradition, especially with so many American and Japanese baseball fanatics living in this, the largest city on the planet! And what the hell does Pearl Harbor have to do with ONE baseball game here in 2008, Bisher?! Get a life, you xenophobic fossil. Shut up, play ball, and GO BRAVES!!
By beedlebaum
March 26, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
It’s amazing that, while there are real complaints about having an opening day in Japan, you come up with this half-baked garbage.
Ignoring that the Japanese know (probably much better than you) what a few bombs can do, and have managed to invite the national pasttime of the country that dropped those bombs into their country and have celebrated that pasttime is borderline is about as stupid as it gets. Maybe you should really considering retiring. Seriously, even Andy Rooney laughs at your column.
By Scott Deaner
March 26, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this
As a baseball traditionalist and a Cincinnati Reds fan, I still consider the Reds first game as Opening Day.
By Realist
March 26, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this
This ceased being a sports column of substance long ago. Now it’s a hodgepodge of mishmashed recollections and sad yearnings for yesteryear. It’s like a proud prizefighter refusing to leave the ring after his skills have eroded.
By Long Memory
March 26, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
Maby “By Jack” and “Charlie Alpha Bravo” should make a treck to Pearl Habor and see if that changes their attitude. They’re probably the same sort of people that want to apologize for dropping the bombs. They had a choice, they could’ve surrendered earlier. We didn’t have a choice at Pearl Harbor. What’s next, a Fourth of July celebration package in Tokyo?
By Long Memory
March 26, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
Maby “By Jack” and “Charlie Alpha Bravo” should make a treck to Pearl Habor and see if that changes their attitude. They’re probably the same sort of people that want to apologize for dropping the bombs. They had a choice, they could’ve surrendered earlier. We didn’t have a choice at Pearl Harbor. What’s next, a Fourth of July celebration package in Tokyo?
By Bob in Buford
March 26, 2008 12:42 PM | Link to this
It was the nuclear bombs or American lives lost invading, that was the issue and it was reolved correctly. Regarless of the liberal wimpering, Nagasaki came days later, they had their chance. And Marc, Blacks do hold slavery against whites whose families were in Europe at the time. Just see Bigot Wright’s comments.
By hop
March 26, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this
since some of you want to attack america once again, let me state it was the japanese who started the war with the bombs landing on pearl harbor. we just finish it and I am damn glad we did.
great article mr. bisher, some of these clowns on here would not recognize class if it hit them on the head.
By MP
March 26, 2008 1:24 PM | Link to this
HOP: Amen!
Bud Selig will forever be remembered as the commie who pushed baseball over the edge. Tradition is gone. Examples, in no particular order:
By Miguel
March 26, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this
someone forgot to drink their Ensure today. wowza!
By dc
March 26, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
I find hilarious that this rant was probably written on a computer which more than likely used Japanese made electronics.
Also “The roots of baseball are international in origin. Russia had a version of baseball called Lapta in the 1300s. Germans played a game called Schlagball, which was similar to rounders. A “bowler” threw a ball to a “striker,” who hit it with a club and then tried to run around a circuit of bases without getting hit with the ball by a defender. Americans also played a version of Rounders in the early 1800s which they called “Town Ball”. In fact, early forms of baseball had a number of names, including “Base Ball”, “Goal Ball”, “Round Ball” and simply “Base”. In at least one version of the game, teams pitched to themselves, runners went around the bases in the opposite direction of today’s game, and players could be put out by being hit with the ball like in Schlagball. Like today, however, it was three strikes and you’re out.” Link:Source
By AL
March 26, 2008 2:27 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher you live in a town that bulldozes anything and everything that has traditional value. You should be used to it by now. Baseball is going the way of the NBA to survive in what we all like to refer to as a diverse (aka money) society. Od traditions must make way to a more progressive mindset. We who don’t understand this are somehow not enlightened or stuck in the past. Atlanta and the world is to busy for tradition. (aka money)
By David
March 26, 2008 7:41 PM | Link to this
Does this newspaper have editors? I can’t believe a paper would publish such blatantly wrong, xenophobic garbage. Let’s ignore the 79 year old writer’s blatantly biased views of Japanese people and focus on the real issue - his complaint that baseball is changing. The great thing about baseball is that it hasn’t changed. The game on the field is almost the exact same as it was when Mr. Bisher was born. The wikipedia page for baseball rules says, “Unlike many other sports, the Official Baseball Rules have remained largely static during the modernization of the game…Many baseball players, fans, and administrators view the rules and traditions of professional baseball as time-tested and nearly sacrosanct.” If Mr. Bisher can’t deal with MLB trying to expand it’s audience by hosting 3 games a year in a foreign country because of what happened in World War II, perhaps it’s time for him to realize that it’s time to put down the pen.
By JP
March 26, 2008 8:06 PM | Link to this
Wow.
Can’t wait for the next article calling for segregated schools and the rounding up of Asian-Americans back into internment camps.
What an asshat.
By JP
March 26, 2008 8:13 PM | Link to this
Too much Ensure old man?
Pearl Harbor, are you kidding me?
The xenophobic rant is a disgrace to both your name, your editor and the AJC as a whole. Simply deplorable.
Resign old man, resign.
By Mr. Davis
March 26, 2008 8:58 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher, I applaud you for your xenophobia, your mindless conservatism, and most of all your disguised racism. If only we could get rid of all of the greasebacks in this game. I’m fine with the darkies and all, but I do believe them latinos are ruining tradition.
By Troy
March 26, 2008 10:40 PM | Link to this
Amen!
And not only that, but football—AMERICAN football—is playing games in England now. Maybe I just don’t forgive easily enough but doesn’t anyone remember taxation without representation? Or the burning of Washington? Next you’ll tell me the Baltimore Orioles have a player named Leicester…
By REFMan
March 27, 2008 1:11 AM | Link to this
I don’t usually get offended by things but this is seriously offensive. This is seriously horrible, how did the editors allow this to be published?
By SSDD
March 27, 2008 3:45 AM | Link to this
“By marc March 26, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
If you are still going to hold Pearl Harbor against Japan, should African-Americans still hold slavery against southerners?”
Ya need to be smart before you can be a smartass. Slavery was around long before it came to the south. You probably also think that only white people can be racist too.
By fcoleman
March 27, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this
Bisher, are you or racist or what? You just lost a loyal reader of your columns. Sayanora to you!
By Bruce
March 27, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
For the guy who brings up the slavery in Atlanta issue: Baseball was a norhtern-states-only game until 1966. Why did it wait till 1947 to let blacks play.
By Bill
March 27, 2008 12:51 PM | Link to this
They gave us pearl harbor we gave them hiroshima and nagasaki we felt bad and gave them opening day
By ryan
March 27, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this
Furman. You have a legitimate argument here. Baseball is losing some of its traditions. No one can argue that. But it’s a shame that you have to stoop to pathetic racist language to make a point. It’s fine to argue that opening day should begin in the U.S. But really, what does Pearl Harbor have to do with anything? Really? You’re saying that because we fought the Japanese in WWII, they can’t be part of baseball or God forbid they’d get an opening day game. The baseball played in Japan is some of the best on the planet (witness the World Classic) so if any country deserves to get one opening day game, Japan has as much right. This game is global now. Don’t you see that? Can you imagine how mediocre our U.S. game would be if we kept out foreigners? Is that what you really want? Cuz that ship sailed a long time ago. By referencing the bombs at Pearl Harbor and the Latin ladies making baseballs, you’re using race to a make a point that doesn’t need it. Instead, you’re coming off as an ignorant racist who appears to have the idae of people who are not white Americans meddling in your game. Give it up. By the way, were you this outraged when Dirk Nowitzki won the MVP? What? A German winning our highest individual honor? Didn’t we fight them in WWII? And now he’s dominating our game, a sport we invented? You have a point to make and I defend your right to say it. But get with the times for two seconds and ditch the veiled racist crap. I’d like to think you’re better than that.
By Maloney
March 27, 2008 9:37 PM | Link to this
So hey, before I go out and have some fun at a bar I’d just like to chime in and say that we did in fact win World War 2 and dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end it (not that I’m saying it wasn’t the right thing to do because it was) . So yes World War 2 happend, but if you think having Japanese players in MLB is bad then we should also ban players of German decent cause we fought dem twice? Time for you to retire.
By Rastven
March 27, 2008 10:00 PM | Link to this
Wow, reading that cost me about 50 IQ points.
By grebby
March 27, 2008 10:01 PM | Link to this
PEARL HARBOR?
Should I be angry about the NFL holding exhibition games in Mexico? Remember the Alamo!
Should I be angry about NHL games in Canada? Those darn Quebecois fought off General Montgomery in 1775 and Bisher is probably still steamed.
By Brian
March 27, 2008 10:08 PM | Link to this
You, sir, are an idiot.
By Rice Balls
March 27, 2008 10:22 PM | Link to this
And how can we allow the hated chinaman to host the olympics after all of the cokes they’ve peed in. I’ve got a long memory (among other things, wink wink ladies!)
By Pablo
March 27, 2008 10:35 PM | Link to this
If I didn’t read this from fire Joe Morgan, I would’ve thought this was satire from The Onion. Hating on opening the season on Japan…. because of PEARL HARBOR? Jesus Christ, you are the definition of an old geezer completely out of touch with the world. What’s next? You’re going to complain about playing an NFL in London because the British set fire to the White House in 1814?
By Plaigarism
March 27, 2008 10:47 PM | Link to this
I imagine Mr. Bisher’s conversations with Mrs. Bisher:
Mrs. Bisher: Furmy, let’s go see my sister in Chicago! Mr. Bisher: You mean Chicago as in the guys who gave us the Great Chicago Fire of 1871? Unlikely, Miriam!
—
Mrs. Bisher: Furms, I’m so excited. We’ve won a trip to Seville! Mr. Bisher: Seville, the guys who gave us the Spanish Inquistion? Thanks but no thanks!
—
The year 2024 Mrs. Bisher: Furry-man, we’ve been chosen by President Efron to be the first tourists in space! Mr. Bisher: Space? The space that gave us the Challenger disaster? I wouldn’t dream of it!
—
Pearl Harbor was a bad scene, people. It was also over 66 years ago. When Pearl Harbor happened, baseball didn’t allow black people to play and only citizens who owned horses were allowed to watch the games. You don’t see African-Americans and the horseless boycotting the game now, do you?
By Gojira
March 27, 2008 10:54 PM | Link to this
you sir are an a*****
By Chris
March 27, 2008 10:55 PM | Link to this
I was going to point out how messed up this column was, but then I realized you’re a 200 year old man from Georgia, and you’re still upset your slaves were freed back when.
By Frank_Robinsons_Ghost
March 27, 2008 11:07 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bishop —
By your logic, I question whether Atlanta should be permitted to have a baseball team at all.
After all, Georgia attacked the United States of America a while back. At least, that’s what I learned in school. But most of us have moved on.
By Todd
March 27, 2008 11:48 PM | Link to this
Others have pointed out that we’ve made Japan pay for Pearl Harbor with our own bombings. I’d like to add that at least Pearl Harbor was an attack on a military base, with the military purpose of crippling our navy. Unlike 9/11, which was a terrorist attack where civilians were deliberately killed. Japan’s suicide bombers (kamikazes flying planes) also targetted our military, while jihadist target civilians. That’s one more reason not to hold Pearl Harbor against Japan. And it’s amazing that Japan and the U.S. have been allies for over 50 years, after all the damage done.
By deversm
March 28, 2008 12:12 AM | Link to this
Hey, didn’t this exact column appear in the Onion first? Hilarious stuff! Even the name - “Furman Bisher”. Nice touch, Onion. Keep bringing the funny!
By Harrison
March 28, 2008 12:20 AM | Link to this
There are many valid reasons why opening day shouldn’t be held in Japan. The fact that we where in a war with them 60 years ago shouldn’t enter the discussion. If you want to get on a soapbox, how about the fact the olympics are in a place that is notorious for human rights violations?
By jt
March 28, 2008 12:25 AM | Link to this
ahhhhh, nothing beats a racist old retarded coot. It’s cute as hell when an old man says stupid s** like this. He’s that uncle you are (or should be, AJC) embarrassed of when you bring your girlfriend over for thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Normally, we just stick ours in front of the tv and ignore him. I suggest you do the same.
By Michael
March 28, 2008 12:32 AM | Link to this
Amazing that the man who hates Japan for Pearl Harbor ventured to that said country and sat in the Tokyo Dome for a game. Shame on you, you racist.
By Ryan
March 28, 2008 12:40 AM | Link to this
“Eight springs ago the Mets and Cubs opened the season, not in Cincinnati. Guess where? Tokyo. That Tokyo, the guys who gave us Pearl Harbor.”
Without question, the stupidest thing ever written (kinda) about baseball. Ever.
By Tyler
March 28, 2008 1:01 AM | Link to this
You puttering old coot, what can I say that hasnt been said already. Oh yeah regarding your backhanded slap at Dice K its Walpole not Wampole. Do your fact checkers have as many “senior moments” as you?
By Jared
March 28, 2008 1:07 AM | Link to this
Ignore the public-school-educated jackals here. They’re always in attack mode. Good column, Mr. Bisher.
By boneill
March 28, 2008 1:14 AM | Link to this
The Pearl harbor thing was justifiably pilloried here, but, for my money, this was sneakily the dumbest part of the article.
“Not only that, but the Red Sox pitcher is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who didn’t grow up in Wampole.”
1) Neither did most major league players. 2) Wampole? 3) The tone here is one of conspiracy- Major League Baseball is plaing games in the Emperor’s backyard, with a Nip pitcher, to boot! Pretty soon the MLB is going to be the Toshiba Baseball Corporation! And their headquarters won’t be in Wampole!
By Remember Fort Sumter!
March 28, 2008 1:21 AM | Link to this
As noted by a previous poster, by this sorry excuse of a columnist’s logic, no traditionally American events should ever be held in a formerly Confederate state. After all, the Confederacy declared war on the real America!
Damn them! I don’t care if it was 140+ years ago! I can show them Union cemeteries filled with the graves of real Americans!
By Remember Fort Sumter!
March 28, 2008 1:28 AM | Link to this
They tell me they’re building a state of the Soviet stadium in Vladivostok
Just what on Earth is that even supposed to mean?
For one thing, it looks like your editors aren’t doing their jobs - they not only allowed this dreck to be published, but they let a glaring error like that slip through.
For another, the Soviet Union hasn’t existed in almost 20 years. But I suppose for someone whose still holding a grudge about Pearl Harbor, 20 years ago might as well be yesterday.
By Deacon Blues
March 28, 2008 1:32 AM | Link to this
“Heaven only knows where it’s headed next.”
I completely agree, Mr. Bisher. Next thing you know, black people are going to want to start playing baseball.
Change? The only change I want is the change for a dollar after buying my hot dog for a nickel and a beer for a dime.
“Oh, I forgot tell you this about Cincinnati’s sin. The Red Stockings were expelled from the league in 1880 for selling beer at the park. Think of that!”
… er … I’m not really sure what the point of this statement is … but I agree.
By Ry
March 28, 2008 1:33 AM | Link to this
A few bombs? How about the ones we dropped on them killing THOUSANDS more?
By lenoirfaineant
March 28, 2008 1:35 AM | Link to this
Firejoemorgan.com has responded here: http://www.firejoemorgan.com/search/label/furman%20bisher
If the “Orient” can welcome the country that brought them the atomic bomb (albeit with good reason), I think we can leave the past in the past.
By Remember Fort Sumter!
March 28, 2008 1:35 AM | Link to this
Jared -
Sorry to hear that the public schools are so poor where you grew up. That wouldn’t be in the South, would it? Places like Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, etc., aren’t really known for the premium they place on education, are they?
But where I went to school, we were taught that living in the past means being stuck there.
By Amused Reader
March 28, 2008 1:41 AM | Link to this
Sadly, this is the type of questionable drivel that nudges a longtime journalist into retirement.
You needed an editor to check your rant this time, Mr, Fisher.
By hossrex
March 28, 2008 1:58 AM | Link to this
LOL! WHAT AN OLD FART!
No one alive had anything to do with the decision to attack Pearl Harbor, and very few people alive had any direct part in the suffering which occurred there.
Take your Alzheimer’s medicine, and remember its 2008.
You suck.
By come on
March 28, 2008 2:35 AM | Link to this
Just got this link from a friend. Shocking that the AJC would give a voice to this xenophobia.
Attn senior citizens: No more condescension toward “the youth of today” unless you can address this clown.
I hope an apology or a resignation is in your future, sir.
By Burman Fisher
March 28, 2008 3:03 AM | Link to this
They play baseball in Atlanta. The same Atlanta that gave us slavery.
BOYCOTT ALL BASEBALL IN ATLANTA
Furman Bisher sounds like a made-up name. You are an a* clown. Please STFU.
By Brian
March 28, 2008 3:50 AM | Link to this
As disgustingly racist as any article I’ve seen in any mainstream media in a long, long time.
You, sir, should be ashamed at yourself. Do the honorable thing and resign. You disgust me and all those reasonable people who have read this ‘article’ and hung their heads in disgust. Old age does not make racism cute. It’s still racism.
P.S. No, you can’t pull a McCain and call this article a ‘senior moment’.
By David
March 28, 2008 6:29 AM | Link to this
One of the unforeseen side effects of the Civil Rights Movement was that it completely demonized open racism before actually eliminating racist feelings. So now, all the racists who in days past would have proudly called themselves white supremacists cloak their racism in sophist arguments and wordplay making them harder to properly call out. See, for example, the lies about Obama being a secret Muslim or a black separatist or the snide little mentions of his middle name “Hussein.”
So it’s nice, in a way, to see an almost amazingly openly bigoted column like this; it gives us an opportunity to recognize xenophobia in ourselves and challenge it.
I don’t feel any hostility towards Mr. Bisher; the lives lost in Pearl Harbor and WWII have been at peace for many years now, and soon enough he will join them. If this column is any indication, his life is not one I would wish on even my enemy.
By tt
March 28, 2008 7:03 AM | Link to this
This is what Tokyo looked like after repeated US air raids: http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/b/b3/300px-FirebombingofTokyo.jpg That Tokyo. Where nothing was left standing in 1945. That’s what “a few bombs” can do to property.
More than 2.6 MILLION Japanese people, or (1 in 30) were killed in WWII. A couple hundred thousand of that was due to two atom bombs. The bombs were so destructive that that no weapons of their kind have have ever since been used in war.
Most Japanese people who are alive today aren’t old enough to have seen that war.
To those Japanese people that remember or reflect, World War II is much more painful than to most Americans. You can no more fault the Japanese fans for Pearl Harbor than you can fault Ichiro, Matsuzaka, or the tens of thousands of Japanese Americans in this country. And no more than Japanese people can hold grudges against Jeff Francouer or your children for Hiroshima.
You could have written about how great it is that Japanese children are enthralled by Manny Ramirez and Rich Harden. How great it is that hundreds of MLB games are broadcast there every year, that the national HIGH SCHOOL tournament there is televised nationally.
The average American can buy any of a few million tickets available every year to watch their local MLB team. The average Japanese fan will never be able to attend a MLB game (without shelling out $2000 for plane tickets), despite their passion and interest. They had a chance to see a game in person this year, and I think that’s awesome.
Is opening games in Japan about money? Sure. But it’s profitable only BECAUSE PEOPLE THERE LOVE THE GAME. They’ve loved it since the 1930’s, when Babe Ruth played there and student ball was all the rage.
We live in an era when the biggest stars in baseball are American, Dominican, Venezuelan, Japanese, Taiwanese, Puerto Rican…. The United States has no less of a monopoly on baseball than England has on soccer. It doesn’t belong to just America anymore, and that so many across the globe share the passion is a good thing, not bad.
Tradition doesn’t mean a thing unless you pass it on for new generations expand on it.
By Larry King
March 28, 2008 7:22 AM | Link to this
Is there a finer sports columnist today than Furman Bisher?…Can’t help but wonder would the late General Yamamoto be a fan of William Hung?…Wondering about internment camps…Is this the year Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown wins 40?…My hip!…BASEBALL JAYNE MANSFIELD HOT DOGS…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
By Reader
March 28, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this
And to think, I actually had trouble getting into the journalism industry. You sir, are disgusting. I won’t go into detail about the transgressions against humanity that take place on this page; they should be obvious to any reader with a shred of reason in them. Suffice it to say that I will be contacting as many editors of the AJC as I can find to request your immediate termination. I figure you will probably relish the opportunity to be free of the confines of this job; then you can pursue your dream of holing up somewhere in North Dakota where no foreigners can ever find you, watching endless tapes of the good ol’ days of baseball, before Jackie Robinson brought his ugly taint upon the sport.
By harry truman
March 28, 2008 7:55 AM | Link to this
what a dumba**. go back to a klan meeting moron.
By ews
March 28, 2008 7:58 AM | Link to this
did your editor have the day off?
i realize this is an opinion piece but this is one of the most ignorant and shameful things i’ve ever read.
TT hit the nail on the head
get this dinosaur away from the typewriter!
By Furman Bisher
March 28, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
What’sh nexsht? A China-Man Preshident? He’ll be too bishy doing laundry to run thish country! And how’ll anyone undershtand hish fireshide chatsh with all that “Ching-chong ching-ching” coming outta the radio?
By Steve
March 28, 2008 8:47 AM | Link to this
Furman, you are an old idiot. Retire, today.
By Eric
March 28, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this
I’m confused, please help. Are you saying they bequethed unto “us” said harbor in Hawaii? As in, before an indetermined time in the past, there was no harbor in Hawaii called “Pearl Harbor,” but thanks to the genoristy of Tokyo, we now have a Pearl Harbor to call our own.
By John
March 28, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this
WOW
By jon
March 28, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this
Really unbelievable.
It’s nice though, because at times I wonder “should I be reading some mainstream papers and not focus exclusively on intelligent blogs?”
Thank you, Mr. Bisher, for giving me some peace of mind.
By Adam
March 28, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
This is garbage and it’s disgraceful that your editor would deem it fit to print.
Learn how to write intelligent, thoughtful, non-semi-racist articles, or let one of the millions who would give their left arm to have your job write for you.
By SLolz
March 28, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this
It’s already been said many times, but I believe that the more posts that state how ridiculously asinine this is, the better.
Jeez, man. It’s 2008. Things happen in history. While I kind of agree that opening day in Japan is a little too much, your rationale for it is idiotic. It’s not like we are holding the opening day game in Baghdad.
By jali cook
March 28, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
Very ugly comments in your article. Where are the newpaper’s editors?
By Kevin
March 28, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this
Who cares if Matsuzaka pitched on Opening Day? Do you want your best available pitcher on the mound for opening day or a Southern good ole’ boy who spits tobaccy and dances the Charleston?
Pearl Harbor was a long time ago, old man. It’s a good thing that baseball changes because when we got bombed a player such as Satchel Paige couldn’t be the opening day starter on any MLB team.
By Kevin
March 28, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this
Who cares if Matsuzaka pitched on Opening Day? Do you want your best available pitcher on the mound for opening day or a Southern good ole’ boy who spits tobaccy and dances the Charleston?
Pearl Harbor was a long time ago, old man. It’s a good thing that baseball changes because when we got bombed a player such as Satchel Paige couldn’t be the opening day starter on any MLB team.
By GW Bush
March 28, 2008 9:36 AM | Link to this
And they let the darkies play, too.
By Bob
March 28, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this
OMG, dude. We dropped TWO nukes on Japan. You are an idiot.
By Mayor McCheese
March 28, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
Time to send this old horse to the glue factory
By Mayor McCheese
March 28, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this
Time to send this old horse to the glue factory
By Wingo
March 28, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this
Wow. I respect your opinion regarding WWII and the Japanese but it has no place in a sports column. Whether you served or not, the world changes.
I’m proud of the service my grandfathers did in the Pacific and in Europe during that era. But after 60 years, I embarrassingly accept the racial slurs they use to describe the enemies they faced. They earned the right, but jeez, I wouldn’t hire them to write a newspaper column…even for a rag like the AJC.
Look, in 30 years all the guys and gals who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are still going to spew vile things about the Middle East, their people and their religions. It’s what happens when you live through WAR.
I just hope they are smart enough to understand how the world can change so that their columns about MLB Opening Day in Baghdad in 2035 aren’t as laced with bigotry and cynacism.
Classic “gluteus maximus haberdashery” in the world of sports journalism.
By Bob
March 28, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this
I wonder how native Americans feel about our “long-standing” American traditions?
How about native Hawaiians?
By brian
March 28, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
hiroshima? nagasaki?
how do people like this get columns?
By Toru Tanaka
March 28, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this
Should we not have baseball in Atlanta because there were once slaves there? Should we not have baseball in Canada because it has national health insurance? Perhaps we should just prevent ballplayers of Japanese descent from even playing. For all we know, Matsuzaka’s grandfather “Climbed Mt. Nitaka” in Dec. 1941.
I think the shine on Mr. Bisher’s lawn jockey has dulled.
By Bip Roberts
March 28, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this
You know what would make baseball more popular with the kids these days and stop it from fading to NHL levels of popularity in the next 50 years?
Stripping it of all modernity and making sure it stays mired in every obsolete tradition introduced prior to 1940.
Yeah, that would do it.
By Nate
March 28, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this
Congratulations on being racist and having an offensively selective memory all in one article. Well done
By Late
March 28, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
Oh. My. God. I haven’t seen him this p** since the Ottoman Empire collapsed. And if Kristi Yamaguchi wins Dancing with the Stars, all hell’s gonna break loose.
By Jeff Davis
March 28, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this
Cut the man some slack. He’s still stung by Lee Elder’s appearance at Augusta.
By Remember Fort Sumter!
March 28, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this
I think it’s time the North burned Atlanta again, so racist fogeys like you can DIAF!
Where’s a latter-day Sherman when we need one?
By Wow
March 28, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
Oh my word. I understand nostalgia and wanting to keep Opening Day in the U.S. I agree that the Tokyo series was a dumb idea.
But Pearl Harbor? Some mumbo-jumbo about the Emperor and a “sweaty game”? I cannot believe the AJC is allowing this kind of racist, poorly-written junk in the paper.
Where was this outrage about the NFL playing a game in London? That’s right, America’s most popular sport, presented by the folks who brought us taxation without representation!
By danthrax
March 28, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
go f*** yourself, racist a*****.
By Ryan
March 28, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
We also play baseball games in Canada, and they gave us Celine Dion.
Give it a rest, jackass.
By Shawn
March 28, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher, you’re a North Carolina native. When exactly did the Japanese invade Charlotte?
By Shawn
March 28, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
Can someone please dig up his columns ranting about the ‘64 Tokyo, ‘98 Nagano and ‘72 Berlin Olympics? I’m sure those are great reads, too.
By Tor
March 28, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this
Were you napping when MLB opened its season in Tokyo in 2000 and 2004? Furman, it’s time to hang it up…please.
By Pooty Tang
March 28, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
Furman Bisher was the first person to call Fred McGriff crime dog because he claimed McGriff stole his TV. And he thinks black people are dogs.
By Mayor McCheese
March 28, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
I almost feel bad for this guy, in a way…I mean, his name is FURMAN and he is 206 years old. He is still bitter about Pearl Harbor, can’t believe the fact that a Japanese pitcher is pitching on opening day…can you imagine how much of a struggle life in the modern world must be for this guy?
By Dep
March 28, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this
Congratulations for writing one of the most ignorant stories I’ve ever read.
The AJC should be ashamed of themselves for publishing this junk.
And you have a long memory of Japan bombing a US military base?!?!?!?
WE NUKED CIVILIAN CITIES IN JAPAN.
but you have the long memory. oh goody.
get over yourself you narrow-minded f***.
By Jim
March 28, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
is this serious? I think we shouldn’t hold baseball games in Atlanta since they used to own slaves and the whole Civil War thing. By the way, didn’t we pay Tokyo back by dropping a few bombs of our own?
Time for Mr. Bisher to be put out to pasture.
By Donal
March 28, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this
A few facts you apparently don’t realize:
1) The Reds haven’t been the first game for a while. There was a night game (usually two AL West teams) the night before the rest of the league opened a couple of seasons.
2) MLB has sent a sort of traveling All Star team to play against Japanese teams during the off season for years.
3) This is about making as much money as possible, another great American tradition.
4) The US has a grand tradition of taking aspects of other cultures, mixing and matching, adding our own flavor to them and sending out a new and wonderful product for the rest of the world to enjoy. this is one of those times.
5)No, I won’t get off your lawn.
By Jonathan Costa
March 28, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this
How on earth did the editors at the AJC let this filth hit their sports page? This is not even subtly racist. He hates Japanese people! Replace “Tokyo” and “Daisuke Matsuzaka” with “Harlem” and “Jackie Robinson” and this guy would fit right into the 1940’s.
By Bluto
March 28, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
What a completely ignorant article. Everyone know that it was the Germans that bombed Pearl Harbor.
By Ray Cist
March 28, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
Yeh, why would the Red Sox sign a guys named “Matsusaka” when John Rocker is available?
Next time I’m in Atlanta I’ll be sure NOT to spend my quarters on a papaer that would publish this type of nonsense.
By Bobby
March 28, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this
I agree with everything you said. See you at the KKK Meeting!
By R. Parker
March 28, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this
Nice to see that racism is alive and well in America. For shame.
By Japan
March 28, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
You can’t possibly be this stupid.
By Sid
March 28, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
In my day, we didn’t have Opening Days! If you told your daddy you wanted to see the first baseball game of the year, he took you outside and beat you with a bat until you were bleeding from your ears. And we liked it! We loved it!
By E. Farrar
March 28, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
Hey. Idiot. Stop being alive.
By FredJamesMcgee
March 28, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this
Wow, just wow. This has to be the biggest batch of verbal diarrhea I have ever seen. Holding a 66 year old grudge much?
By Bob
March 28, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this
I didn’t know people of that age were still bitter about WWII… I mean, was he serious? I can’t believe I read that. Maybe the AJC or the Japanese paper should pay to send him to Japan so he can sort out his ancient views —I mean, my dad wasn’t even born then and I’m an attorney.
By joebob
March 28, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
Um, Mr. Bisher… Tokyo has had professional baseball longer than Atlanta has.
By joebob
March 28, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
Um, Mr. Bisher… Tokyo has had professional baseball longer than Atlanta has.
By medialint
March 28, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this
As an Oakland A’s fan I too am a bit upset that the A’s home opener happened in Japan because I generally enjoy going to the home opener. But hey I’ll get over it and I got great seats to the first actual game in Oakland.
Oakland. Near San Francisco. A cultural melting pot. An area rich in tradition of tolerance and acceptance.
Mr. Bisher please resist the temptation to travel to our fine region because it is not for you. While we would appreciate your tourist dollars there is no room here for anyone who can unleash such a bitter, spiteful, racist (and pointless) diatribe in this year of 2008.
By Kelly
March 28, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this
I’m glad your paper sees fit to publish hate speech. Way to be a racist old curmudgeon and doom yourself to being laughed at. No one will take you seriously ever again— at least, no one that matters. You and the other xenophobic idiots who have agreed with you in these comments can live in your own fictional little “it’s still 1941 and I hate anyone who’s different from me” world. The rest of us moved on— oh, about 60 years ago— and we’ll just stop paying attention to you. Well done.
By Omnissiah
March 28, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
This article makes me wish the Japanese had bombed Furman Bisher’s house.
By D.V.
March 28, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
… good lord, and I had sushi last night. Don’t I feel stupid!
The worst of it is Ben Affleck, a Red Sox fan, starred in the movie Pearl Harbor. Only Alanis and Furman Bisher could appreciate that irony!
By Alex
March 28, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
YEAH!! No more games in Canada, they burned down the white house in 1814!! Some people don’t like you to bring that up, trade with Canada is so hot. But I’ve got a looong memory. I saw what a few drunk Canucks with muskets can do to our property.
Also, the Jays should have to play all their home games in Buffalo.
By hcoguy
March 28, 2008 2:39 PM | Link to this
Not sure which sickens me most as an American with Japanese in my family tree: The article itself or the ridiculous number of people applauding it. I guess the south truly will rise again.
By C. Montgomery Burns
March 28, 2008 2:42 PM | Link to this
Furman, my old chum!
Remember the days of yore when Three Finger Mordecai Brown dueled Christy Mathewson at the Polo Grounds? I recall one magical afternoon when Nap Lajoie hit a ball into the negro section of the stadium.
Baseball was a better time back then, when we let honest to goodness quality men with high moral standing in the game, like Ty Cobb and George Herman Ruth.
By Malcolm Kass
March 28, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this
First, the japanese started it, not us. No sympathy here regarding the Enola Gay. Besides, his comments would be viewed a ‘soft’ in china. Didn’t Japan kill like 200k Chinese. Yeah, Japan, you deserve your potshots just like we deserve ours.
By tojo
March 28, 2008 2:49 PM | Link to this
DAISUKE MATSUZAKA DIDN’T GROW UP IN WAMPOLE.
THINK OF THAT!
By Dan
March 28, 2008 2:50 PM | Link to this
Jingoism rocks. It is totally traditional.
By Ed
March 28, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
I’m not really that sensitive to racism. But, this is pretty racist.
Also, it falls prey to “if it happened when I was younger it is inherently better, more innocent and morally correct.”
It’s hard getting old. And crazy.
By Hideo Takeda
March 28, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this
Deal Westeln Devir,
Ah, Fulman Bishah. YOU DEFAME THE NATION OF JAPAN AND HER EMPERAH! DIE LOUND-EYE! You wirr diee rike the nastee buttah-stink devir you all when the mighty Japanese navy sairs into Atranta and bulns your house down! F*** your Babe Luth! Divine winds wirr take your soul to herr, lound-eye! My bayonet wirr lun led with your brood, Bishah, for your insorence!
Yours most poritery,
Lieutenant Hideo Takeda Japanese Army Zambales Mountains, Philippines.
By George Wallace
March 28, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this
Preach it, Furman! ~ GW
By Tommy D
March 28, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this
What is the median age for the sportswriters and commenters on this site? I’d say it’s a hair above 70.
By Nick
March 28, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this
You are an idiot. What does Pearl Harbor have to do baseball today? This is pandering to the lowest common denominator and you should be ashamed of yourself. Maybe we should move the Braves out of Atlanta because the citizens of your city were bombing synagogues and forcibly extending segragation into the 1960s.
By Bobby Decatur
March 28, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this
No c & p’ing Mr. Swindle, children.
By driches
March 28, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this
It’s a shame the editor cut the original last line of the article:
“…And get off my lawn, ya damn kids!”
My favorite part is “Yomiuri’s team has been the Yankees of Japan, and I’m not sure, but I think they call themselves the Giants.”
You’re a sports columnist for a major newspaper. You honestly couldn’t take 30 seconds and look this up? Really? Isn’t “research” a tradition of journalism?
By tojo
March 28, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this
Furman Bisher is 89.
By Randall
March 28, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this
Is this what passes as journalism at the AJC? Really? When did xenophobic rants from an old crusty bigot become acceptable in a major daily newspaper in the 21st century? This guy probably still believes that Black ballplayers belong in the Negro Leagues and not the MLB. If the AJC wants to maintain any credibility, it better put Mr. Bisher out to pasture.
By Cancer & Death
March 28, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this
Sorry we’ve been late getting around to you, Mr. Bisher. We’ve been busy with way too many less deserving people. Don’t worry, we’ll get ya soon! Toodles!
By Andrew
March 28, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
Cancel all Blue Jay home games! Don’t forget whose side Canada was on during the French and Indian War!
By disgusted
March 28, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
you’re disgusting. you should be ashamed of yourself.
By Kaz Matsui
March 28, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this
Hey Bisher,
Because of Pearl Harbor we shouldn’t play bball in Japan?
How stupid is that?
Atlanta didn’t treat its blacks so well back in ‘41 either. Maybe we should ban baseball from ATL.
Kaz Matsui
By Jared
March 28, 2008 5:32 PM | Link to this
Firejoemorgan.com has responded
WHO cares? It’s a cheap little blogspot site with some Los Angeles a-holes running it.
As for slavery, the Civil War and that stuff; need I point out the obvious fact that NO ONE WHO FOUGHT IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES IS ALIVE TODAY? Plus slavery was around long, long before the American south existed. No one who experienced legalized slavery in this country is alive today either. People are still around who saw what Japan did in 1941. There is your damn difference.
And before pointing out Jim Crow laws and whatnot, remember to have your moral compass fully operational before comparing that stuff to the deaths of over 2,000 Americans.
By Captain James T. Crow
March 28, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this
Excellent point, Jared from Subway, since black people only count as 3/5ths of a white person, 2000 white people dying is worse than the government sanctioned disenfranchisement and subjugation of it’s own citizens based on the color of their skin.
And if noone can personally remember an event from history, it no longer has any relevance! That’s why an old guy dying from the flu last year is a bigger tragedy than the Black Plague.
By Jason
March 28, 2008 6:15 PM | Link to this
Just plain ignorance, it is a shame that people like you are allowed to write anything, anywhere.
By Nick
March 28, 2008 6:18 PM | Link to this
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH! I’M COMMENTING ONLINE!
By Jared
March 28, 2008 6:18 PM | Link to this
2000 white people dying is worse than the government sanctioned disenfranchisement and subjugation of it’s own citizens based on the color of their skin.
2,000? Oh no, no, no. That’s how many died at Pearl Harbor. But those deaths and that preemptive strike got us directly involed in World War II, and that led to the deaths of over 400,000 Americans. That war and the deaths involved are way worse than formerly segregated public schools. Sorry.
And you sound like a real racist when you start talking about “2,000 white people dying” as if it’s just a nuisance.
By Bob
March 28, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this
The South hasn’t really changed, has it?
That’s why I spend my tourist dollars visiting Japan…
By Captain James T. Crow
March 28, 2008 6:31 PM | Link to this
It was a tremendous inconvenience! If we assume that 1 white person can oppress, on average, 1,000 black people, that means 200,000 black people went insufficiently oppressed directly because of Pearl Harbor. Think of the lost opportunity! Oh, my upper-middle-class heart aches at the tragedy of it all.
Of course, the true tragedy of World War II was that many of our nation’s greatest baseball players were denied productive playing years. Damn you Tojo!
By Donal
March 28, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this
Jared,
You may think everyone has forgotten about the War of Southern Treason, but I have a long memory.
You and Bischer make me thing General Sherman had the right idea.
By oh my
March 28, 2008 6:40 PM | Link to this
Jared, did you just boil the Jim Crow era down to “formerly segregated public schools?”
A few charred African-American corpses hanging from ropes would like to have a word with you.
By Captain James T. Crow
March 28, 2008 7:29 PM | Link to this
Yes, they would like to say “Jared! Let me down from here! And quit setting me on fire! And admit that racism is bad!” They would probably settle for two out of three, but which two???????
By youngspoaty
March 28, 2008 7:29 PM | Link to this
Well played, Mr. Bisher.
Apparently AJC is the proper abbreviation for “A Jacka$$ Cracker”.
Sincerely,
Young Spoaty
By Johnny Reader
March 28, 2008 8:31 PM | Link to this
This op-ed piece was stolen from “The Onion.”
Most of the points are valid, though. It’s past my bed time.
By Mr. Tradition
March 28, 2008 8:49 PM | Link to this
Couldn’t agree with you more Furman! Also, remember when the sport wasn’t filled with the damn coloreds, ah those were the days. And separate drinking fountains, separate schools, ample room on the bus.
Wait, nope I don’t agree with you. You are a total douche.
By gmfh
March 28, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this
I love it. Please- keep wheeling your doddering old crones out from the rest home, so they can rant all over your sad rag. Every now and then I keep forgetting what a great idea Sherman had.
By gmfh
March 28, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this
I love it. Please- keep wheeling your doddering old crones out from the rest home, so they can rant all over your sad rag. Every now and then I forget what a great idea Sherman had.
By Sean
March 29, 2008 12:34 AM | Link to this
Father Time is winning, Furman. Crank out your bigotry while you can.
Emphasis on crank.
By Jack Mott
March 29, 2008 12:43 AM | Link to this
People like you make it really hard for me to show respect to my elders. You are so out of touch with modern relations between Japanese and American people that you are unqualified to comment. Your attitudes threaten only to extend and enhance fear and violence between peoples. The world will be better off when the last bigoted, bitter old man is dead. I await the day with joy, and I hope that when I am old and bitter I can learn to keep my mouth shut about the world which I no longer understand.
By Sean
March 29, 2008 1:16 PM | Link to this
Wow. Terrific article Bish.
Forces from Canada burned down the White House a couple hundred years ago. Let’s contract the Blue Jays!!
Too bad there is no mandatory retirement age for you. You stopped being relevant several years ago. Put down the pen, pick up a copy of AARP.
By Old White Columnist
March 29, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher, I totally agree. F*cking-A right, I’ve seen what a few bombs can do to our property, too. Let’s round these sumbitches up and throw them in internment camps.
By Fact
March 29, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this
I’ve been to the Arizona Memorial and it didn’t make me into an ignorant motard. For those of you too racist, small minded, xenophobic, fascist, and conservative to deal with BASEBALL in JAPAN…do the only honorable thing and kill yourself immediately before this big scary world gets any harder on you. I’m serious. Kill yourself now. Everyone will be better off.
By Brian
March 29, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this
I like the old racist b******* coming out of the woodwork and posting here saying that this old codger’s views are justified.
Pearl Harbor was how long ago you mindless twits? I’m sure you have no problem driving imported vehicles do you?
By Ralph
March 29, 2008 8:10 PM | Link to this
Furman, What a great idea - no Opening Days in locations where, someone, at sometime did something bad to someone else(like Tokyo and Pearl Harbor). So, I can’t support Opening Day in Cincinnati. General Sherman, who laid waste to Atlanta, was born in Ohio!
By UrBetaThanRocker
March 29, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
I wish for your sake and ours that you could go back and stay in the summer of ‘41.
What an embarrassment to yourself, to the AJC, and to all those who blame baseball for being part of the capitalist system. Whine about MLB caring about money? Who are the real commies (and ignorant racists)??
By 7 Train
March 29, 2008 9:42 PM | Link to this
I wish for your sake and ours that you could go back and stay in the summer of ‘41.
What an embarrassment to yourself, to the AJC, and to all those who blame baseball for being part of the capitalist system. Whine about MLB caring about money? Who are the real commies (and ignorant racists)??
By tom wp
March 29, 2008 10:10 PM | Link to this
I never comment on articles, but this was just gross. I guess The AJC travels to nursing homes every other week to hear what the octogenarians think about our changing world?
Can’t wait for their feature next month about the soup being too hot (and the sidebar on how that little robot who vacuums the floor is sending our secrets back to Red China).
By Bisher
March 30, 2008 12:18 AM | Link to this
Right on! We should have nuked those slitty-eyed monkeys back to the Stone Age.
I’ll bust up some local Chinks in your honor — sure, they’re not Japs, but all those slopeheads are the same, right?
By hernan
March 30, 2008 12:55 AM | Link to this
Embarrassing article. I can’t wait for his next, where he writes about all those damn communist Cubans playing major league baseball.
By Fred
March 30, 2008 12:57 AM | Link to this
you’re a f*** hack. The sooner your generation is in the ground, the better.
By Purdue Matt
March 30, 2008 8:04 AM | Link to this
Congratulations Furmy! You’ve been referenced by FireJoeMorgan.com! Maybe you should stop writing crap!
By Purdue Matt
March 30, 2008 8:06 AM | Link to this
Can’t wait to hear your racist thoughts about the NBA!
By Ned
March 30, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this
That’s right, tell it like it is, Bisher: Those slant-eyed, yellow b******* better not forget about Nagasaki or we’re gonna have to send a little reminder their way.
God, you’re an idiot. I hope you’re cremated so you don’t pollute the soil.
By Dave
March 31, 2008 1:21 AM | Link to this
Dear AJC, Thank you for giving me yet another reason to never, EVER, live in Atlanta, or the South for that matter. What forward thinking! Way to go! As of this moment, I am going to petition Bud Selig to remove the Braves from Atlanta, that wonderful city that gave us slavery. Can someone please escort Mr. Bisher back to his rocking chair?
By Eric
March 31, 2008 1:25 AM | Link to this
You. Blithering. Idiot.
By American Fighting Eagle
March 31, 2008 2:19 AM | Link to this
People forget about Pearl Harbor all the time! It’s a terrible tragedy. I say we remind people about WWII and the tragedies we persevered by dropping a reminder bomb onto a random Japanese city every year on December 7th.
By AMERRRRRICUHHHH
March 31, 2008 2:32 AM | Link to this
I take tremendous comfort in the fact that the guy who wrote this article will probably be dead soon.
By me
March 31, 2008 5:03 AM | Link to this
MLB plays in Canada. Remember the French and Indian War? Remember what happened in the siege of Montreal? Wait a moment, I’m not making any sense.
By TeeEll
March 31, 2008 6:20 AM | Link to this
Wow this has got to be one of the worse articles i have ever read. Congrats Mr. Bisher! Its even worse that there are people who agree with this senile old fool.
By TeeEll
March 31, 2008 6:46 AM | Link to this
Oh and by the way I have been to the USS Arizona memorial. It was a very powerful place. Wouldn’t you think creating better relations should be encouraged so more Pearl Harbors and nuclear bomb droppings don’t happen? The world is changing Mr. Bisher, I suggest you open your eyes and come out of that shell you live in.
By Foster
March 31, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
You people are all insane.
By up
March 31, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
You are an old douchebag. Just die.
By JJ
March 31, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this
Furman Bisher never insulted Japanese people as a race. He never said he was pro bombing ANYPLACE! Shocking how many people vent their anger at him, without reading and analysing the article properly.
By Nate D
March 31, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this
Let’s get those negroes out of the League, too! Racist codger.
By Stunned Reader
March 31, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this
I was absolutely stunned to discover that this column was real, rather than a mock entry created by some random blogger.
Nobody’s oblivious enough to think the racist sentiments expressed by Mr. Bisher don’t exist America, but this is a respected publication, with professional editors whose job it is to spot such offensive filth and red-flag it.
I can respect that Mr. Bisher’s job is to express his opinions, even if they are xenophobic and racist in nature. It’s not his job to decide whether his material gets printed or not. That’s the editors’ duty, and they should be ashamed of themselves for letting this through.
By Scott in DC
March 31, 2008 9:27 PM | Link to this
Geez… I can’t believe your are still around. I haven’t read your drivel since I was a senior at UGA in 1983—and you were olde then. After reading your xenophobic clap trap, it may be time for you to go to the old writers home and kvetch to the other olde phartz who have nothing better to do than commiserate with each other how it ought to be like it used to be.
Remember, tradition is for olde people who do not have the capacity to think any more.
(yes folks, “olde” was spelled that way on purpose. Look up the entomology of the word!)
By J
April 1, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this
Old man, you are a fuggin idiot
By Matt Drudge Hearts This Column
April 1, 2008 12:50 PM | Link to this
Wanna know how to turn the pathetic 5% of commenters here supporting Furman’s racist views into more like 50%?
Get this story linked on the Drudge Report.
Sad, but true.
By Rachel C
April 1, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this
I agree with most here, this article is deplorable. Articles like this don’t help me when I try and convince my friends that my hometown of Atlanta is not full of racist, ignorant trash.
The AJC better be ashamed of allowing this to be printed. Just disgusting.