http://tinyurl.com/4u5t4w 此篇為 SI 在 4/29 刊登的文章 http://tinyurl.com/5q2fam 福留登上當期 SI 封面 (!) Kosuke Fukudome Tastes Good 福留孝介適應良好 By Lee Jenkins He had agreed to the contract. He had put on the jersey. He had taken his seat inside the stadium club, at the table draped in bunting, and he had begun that final rite of free agency, the introductory press conference. Only then did the magnitude of what he'd signed on for become clear. 他同意簽下合約，也穿上了球衣，現在坐在球場的休息室裡，面前擺著一張懸吊著 旗幟的桌子，然後開始自由球員的最終儀式－－這是他的見面記者會。直到這時候， 他才真正清楚簽下他的球團目前的狀況。 His interpreter was translating reporters' questions from English to Japanese, but one question, even when translated, sounded incomprehensible: Did it factor into your decision that it has been 100 years since the Cubs won a championship? 他的翻譯忙著將記者們的問題從英文翻成日文，但是有個問題，即使透過翻譯，還是 有點聽不太明白：小熊隊有一百年沒得到冠軍了，這件事情當初是否有對你的決定造 成影響？ Kosuke Fukudome knew enough history to recognize that he was not joining a dynasty. He realized that the Cubs were in the midst of a difficult stretch. But a difficult century? For some reason, team officials had neglected to mention this little detail in the three-plus years they had spent scouting and courting him. 福留孝介所知的球團歷史，足以讓他瞭解他並不是加入一支戰績輝煌的王朝，他明白 小熊正處於一段艱困的黯淡時期。但是，有黯淡到一個世紀這麼久？不知為何，球團 官方人員派出球探跟他連絡、招募他加入小熊隊的這三年期間，似乎對於這個小細節 隻字未提。 So Fukudome scratched his head. He took a breath. He flashed a nervous half-smile. His contract was for four years, and his name was already stitched across the back of his jersey. He could not exactly run out of Wrigley Field and fly back to Japan. He also could not act daunted. "That didn't factor too much into my choice," he told the assembled reporters on Dec. 19. It was no lie, not technically. How could something be a factor if he had not even been aware of it? 所以福留抓了抓頭，吸了一口氣，臉上閃過要笑不笑的緊張神情。他簽的是四年的合 約，他的名字早已繡上球衣背面，他不可能真的逃離 Wrigley Field，然後搭上飛機 飛回日本，他也不能讓人感覺他有被這消息嚇到。「那並沒有對我的決定造成太大的 影響，」他在 12 月 19 日如示回答了當天聚集的記者。這並不是謊話，至少技術上 來說不是。如果他根本都不曉得有這件事，那麼那怎麼可能會對他的決定造成影響？ Four months later, sitting in the coffee shop of a downtown Chicago hotel, Fukudome came clean. "I had no idea it had been 100 years," he said through his interpreter, Matt Hidaka. 四個月後，福留坐在芝加哥下城區一間旅館裡的咖啡店，終於說出了實話：「我不知 道已經有一百年這麼久了，」他透過他的翻譯 Matt Hidaka 如此表示。 The fact that Kosuke Fukudome stuck around is making this 100th-anniversary season a whole lot easier to stomach. Instead of picking at old scabs, the Cubs are celebrating a new player who does not know Bartman from Bart Simpson. Fukudome has been a Cub for only a month, but he already gets the loudest pregame ovations at Wrigley Field. Every time he walks to home plate, the organist plays a catchy melody that inspires chants of "FOO-koo-DOUGH-may." Vendors say his jersey is their best seller, by approximately two to one. He has also spawned a cottage industry outside the ballpark, where you can buy bandanas with Fukudome's name spelled in Japanese characters or T-shirts with shout-outs such as FUKUDOME IS MY HOMIE. (The Cubs, though, did have to pull one unlicensed T-shirt from the outdoor marketplace because it featured their bear logo with slanted eyes and Harry Caray glasses, over the words HORRY KOW.) 福留孝介能夠加入小熊，對於這個時屆百周年的球季，緩和了不少緊張的情緒。小熊 忙著歡迎這個分不清楚 Bartman (註 1) 跟 Bart Simpson (註 2) 誰是誰的球員， 而不用沈浸在過去的傷痛。而福留成為小熊球員才一個月的時間，就已經在 Wrigley Field 獲得賽前最熱烈的歡呼聲。每次他走上打擊區，就會傳來旋律讓人朗朗上口的 風琴聲，然後球迷就會跟著唱和："FOO-koo-DOUGH-may"。攤販們說他的球衣是暢銷 商品，三個人之中就有兩個人是買他的球衣。這股熱潮也蔓延到球場外那些小販的自 製商品：你可以買到以日文字拼出福留名字的方巾，或是印有例如 FUKUDOME IS MY HOMIE 之類大寫字的Ｔ恤。(然而，小熊球團有要求外面的攤販將一項未授權的Ｔ恤 下架，因為這件Ｔ恤印有他們的小熊標誌，而且小熊圖案的眼睛是東方人的小眼睛， 然後配上 Harry Caray 的大黑框眼鏡，上面印著 HORRY KOW 幾個大字。) (註 3) 註 1. Bartman 就是在 2003 年國聯冠軍賽 Game 6 接走界外球，讓比賽從此風雲 變色的小熊球迷。 註 2. Bart Simpson 則是卡通辛普森家庭裡面的小男孩霸子。 註 3. 這個帶有種族歧視味道的標誌請見 http://tinyurl.com/6pteq4 另外，Harry Caray 是小熊比賽的轉播員，Holy Cow 跟 Cubs wins! Cubs wins! 　　　是他的招牌名句。 Fukudome, though, should not be viewed as some novelty act. There are plenty of reasons why the Cubs were in first place in the Central Division at week's end: the rediscovered power stroke of first baseman Derrek Lee, a strong bullpen and, not least of all, a newfound plate discipline that starts with Fukudome. Through Sunday, the lefthanded-hitting Fukudome was batting .326 with a .444 on-base percentage. The notoriously rowdy fans in the Wrigley bleachers not only hang signs of tribute to him in Japanese, but they also chant in the rightfielder's native tongue. Their efforts are flattering, if occasionally puzzling, to Fukudome. Placards with the Cubs' slogan IT'S GONNA HAPPEN in Japanese have been read by Fukudome to say IT'S AN ACCIDENT. And one well-meaning bleacher bum keeps yelling a phrase that translates as, "It tastes good!" 但全隊不是只有福留讓大家覺得換然一新，有很多理由是小熊在這個週末登上中區 寶座的原因：一壘手 Derrek Lee 重新找回自己的打擊實力、強健的牛棚，另外還 有很重要的一點，從福留開始所激起的全隊選球能力。截至星期日為止，左手打擊 的福留打擊率.326，OBP .444。Wrigley 外野看台上以粗暴聞名的小熊球迷不旦掛 著日文標語向福留致意，而且還會以這名右外野手的母語唱和，福留對於他們的行 為感到萬分榮幸，但有時也感到困惑：以日文表示小熊口號 IT'S GONNA HAPPEN的 牌子，福留唸起來卻是 IT'S AN ACCIDENT (就是之前的"偶然")。一名外野看台的 球迷出自好意持續大喊的話語，翻譯成日文卻是「好吃」。 "It's like he became a legend here," shortstop Ryan Theriot says. "In one day." 「一切就好像是他已經成為這裡的傳奇球星，」游擊手 Ryan Theriot 說：「而且才 花短短一天的時間而已。」 The fanfare has come as a bit of a surprise to Fukudome, who came to the States without the mythology that preceded Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and Daisuke Matsuzaka, each of whom is a celebrity in Japan. Fukudome believes he already has more fans in Chicago than back home in Japan, where he was merely a very good player with two batting titles, four Gold Gloves and an MVP award, in 2006. His Japanese team, the Chunichi Dragons, played in a midsized market and went 53 years without a championship before capturing the Central League title last season -- without Fukudome, who was recovering from right-elbow surgery. The Dragons were perhaps most famous for a former manager, Senichi (Burning Hat) Hoshino, who grew so frustrated with his team during its title drought that he occasionally punched players in the face when they made mistakes. (Fukudome, who insists that he escaped any abuse, compares Hoshino with Cubs manager Lou Piniella -- "because of their intensity.") 福留也很訝異自己竟然這麼受球迷歡迎，他不像鈴木一朗、松井秀喜以及松土反大輔， 挾帶著神話般的盛名來到美國，這幾位球員在日本早已是名號響亮的球星。福留認為， 他在芝加哥的球迷人數已經超過他在日本家鄉的球迷人數了。在日本，他只是個不錯的 球員，得過兩次的打擊王、四次金手套以及 2006 年的 MVP。他所屬的日本球團中日龍 是支中型市場的球隊，有 53 年沒獲得總冠軍，直至去年球季才得到央聯的聯盟冠軍， 而且陣中福留還缺席，那時他還在為右手肘手術的術後養傷。中日龍最有名的可能是其 前任監督星野 (燃燒球帽？) 仙一，他對於球隊太久沒拿過冠軍而感到倍感不耐，曾經 在球員失誤後將拳頭貓在球員的臉上。 (聲稱自己沒有被這樣暴力相向過的福留，把星 野監督跟小熊教練 Lou Piniella 相互比擬－－「因為他們有相同的專注力」。) 譯註：不太懂這裡的 Burning Hat 的意思，是指火爆嗎？ Here's another reason Fukudome's instant popularity is a surprise: Nobody saw it coming. In spring training Fukudome batted a soft .270, with one home run and three doubles in 82 plate appearances. Most of his hits were weak liners or ground balls that scooted through the infield. He rarely drove the ball. It seemed obvious that Fukudome would need a couple of months to adjust to big league pitching. 福留的迅速竄紅之所以會讓大家感到意外，還有另外一個原因：沒有人料想到這會發生。 在春訓時福留在 82 個打數的成績是.270，一支全壘打，三支二壘安打。他所打出的安 打大部分都是不怎麼強勁的平飛球或是剛好穿過內野的滾地球，根本很少有咬中球心的 安打。種種跡象顯示，福留似乎還需要一兩個月的時間來適應大聯盟的投手。 Nonetheless, when Fukudome jogged out to rightfield on Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers, he was struck by the sight of eight shirtless men standing side by side in the Wrigley bleachers, the letters of his last name painted across their chests. It was 44°. On the first pitch of the first at bat of Fukudome's Cubs career, against Ben Sheets, he laced a double off the centerfield wall. "We all looked at each other in the dugout," says Cubs righthander Ryan Dempster. "And we were like, O.K., maybe this guy does know what he's doing." 然而，在開幕戰對上釀酒人的比賽中，當福留緩步跑向右外野時，Wrigley 外野看台卻 出現讓他吃驚的場景：在華氏 44 度 (約攝氏 6、7 度) 的溫度下，有八名沒穿上衣的 球迷排成一線，胸膛拼出他的姓氏 F-U-K-U-D-O-M-E。另一方面，面對在小熊生涯的首 次打席第一球，福留就從 Ben Sheets 手上敲出落在中外野的二壘安打。「大家在休息 區面面相視，」小熊隊右投手 Ryan Dempster 說：「我們的感覺就好像是：『嗯，也 許這傢伙知道自己在做什麼。』」 Proving that his first at bat was no fluke, he went 3 for 3 and hit a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off Eric Gagne. The Cubs lost the game, but a phenomenon was born. Ten years after Sammy Sosa hit 66 home runs, turning the rightfield bleachers into his private cheering section, Fukudome had done the same, with 65 fewer homers. "When Sosa ran out there, they all tapped their chests," says Cubs broadcaster and former third baseman Ron Santo. "Now they bow." 為了證明他第一個打席可不是靠運氣擊出安打，福留當天的打擊表現是三支三，還包括 九局下從剛爺手中敲出三分打點的全壘打，追平了比數。雖然小熊在最終還是輸了比賽 ，但是這股福留熱潮就此誕生。當年 Sammy Sosa 轟出 66 支全壘打，將右外野看台變 成他個人的加油團專區，在十年之後，才打一支全壘打的福留，就締造出同樣的熱潮。 「當 Sosa 跑向右外野時，那邊的球迷就會拍著胸膛，」小熊球賽主播暨前任三壘手 Ron Sante 說：「現在他們則是鞠躬致意。」 At 31, Fukudome is starting a new life, largely on his own. His wife, Kazue, still lives in Japan with their baby boy, Hayato. After Hayato was born in December, Fukudome explained the origin of the name. "Chicago is called the Windy City," he told reporters. "Hayato means windy, healthy, fast and first boy." Fukudome is constantly showing off pictures of Hayato. But when he moved into his downtown Chicago loft in mid-April, he hung only one piece of art on the walls. It was a framed photograph of his Opening Day home run -- a snapshot of the moment he had truly arrived in the United States. 福留在他 31 歲這年，開啟了生命新的一章，但大部分時間都得靠他自己。他的老婆 Kazue 目前仍然跟他們的男寶寶 Hayato 一起留在日本，Hayato 在 12 月誕生後， 福留曾經解釋過寶寶名字的原由。「芝加哥叫做風城，」他告訴記者：「Hayato 有 多風、健康、快速以及第一個男孩的意思。」福留常常拿著 Hayato 的照片出來炫燿 ，但是當他在四月中搬入他在芝加哥的頂樓住處時，牆壁上只有掛著一幅作品，那是 他開幕戰全壘打的裱框照片－－拍攝出代表他真正來到美國的那一個時刻。 --- 媽壓，我的小宇宙爆炸完了，未完待續。 有誤請指正。 --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 220.137.17.182 已改，是孝介，我搞笑了 XD Perhaps they share the same catchphrases? ※ 編輯: niceta 來自: 61.230.82.12 (05/13 08:51)