Podcast: Major League Baseball with Tim Stoeckel and Nevitt Reagan Introduction: (whistles “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”) Hello Hotani campus and beyond. This is Joe Ruelius and youʼre tuning in to the Hotani Podcasting Project. If you recognized that tune at the beginning of this program, then you might have guessed that todayʼs program is about baseball. And, you would be right. Baseball–– the great American pastime, arguably the most popular sport in Japan and second only to soccer (or football) in popularity in most of Latin America. Most of us familiar with baseball know of the Major Leagues in the United States. Perhaps, the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox easily come to mind; not to mention the Japanese players who play for them. In fact, two rows down from us are two baseball experts from the gakubu, Tim Stoeckel and Nevitt Reagan. Both are currently managing teams in the Hotani Fantasy League and so, have a very good ability for evaluating talent and performance. Let's move down near them and try to catch what they're talking about. Tim and Nev talking about: 1. Kosuke Fukudome (Chicago Cubs) 2. Akinori Iwamura (Tampa Bay Rays) 3. Kenji Jojima (Seattle Mariners) 4. Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners) 5. Hideki Matsui (New York Yankees) 6. Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston Red Sox) 7. Koji Uehara (Baltimore Orioles) 8. Kenshin Kawakami (Atlanta Braves) Closing: Hey, thanks for joining us today. We could hear some very interesting views on these Japanese players. I think a game is about to start so weʼre going to have to leave you. This has been Joe Ruelius for the Hotani Podcasting Project. “Play ball!” By the way, you heard Tim Stoeckel munching peanuts and Nevitt Reagan chewing caramel popcorn, both staples when you go out to the ball game.