Weekends are especially rough around here because that's when all the "normal" workin' folks dress up in their casual gear, i.e. y*nkee T-shirts that look like they were bought yesterday.

I caught some of the y*nks' exhibition games in Japan on Hell, No. The first thing I noticed were the "RICOH" patches on the y*nkees' sleeves. The second thing I noticed were the "RICOH" emblems on the side of the y*nkees' helmets. Turns out Ricoh is sponsoring the entire series of games over there, including the two regular season games between the y*nks and Rays. This is the first time a company has sponsored a series of MLB regular season games, and the first time MLB sold advertising space ON THE MLB PLAYERS. Back to this in a minute...

The other obvious thing I noticed was that the y*nkees were wearing the pinstripes--that's right, the HOME uniforms while not even being in their home country, let alone New York. The deal here is that "all these Japanese fans," says Michael Kay, wanted to see their native son Matsui and the y*nkees in their well-known pinstriped uniforms ("in all their y*nkee glory," says Kay.) First of all, this is a crock of you know what. Second of all, I might've just looked the other way on this one, had it been for the exhibition games only. But get this--the y*nks will be wearing their home uniforms in the regular season games versus Tampa Bay! Despite the fact that the Devil Rays are the home team, and will have last-ups in both games. The y*nks also get the first base dugout, which is the home dugout at the Tokyo Dome. Story goes that the y*nks asked for the permission of the Devil Rays about this, and they said yes!!! I wonder if they also asked if Tampa Bay if they could let the y*nkees win both games--Because the Japanese fans want to see the y*nkees win! This is so disgusting, this is why I hate the y*nkees.

So back to the Ricoh thing. The Japanese fans will get to see the 'splendor' and 'majesty' of the y*nkees in their historic, traditional uniforms...with ads for COPIERS splashed all over them! It's just so pathetic.

And another thing that's pathetic was the pitch that that pitcher threw to Matsui so he could hit a home run. Talk about your all-time hanging-est curve ball.

And here's more: The opening that Yes came up with for the game tonight was a montage of Matsui highlights from the previous game, in slow motion, with no words, just music playing; the type of music usually reserved for the end of a movie when someone has just SAVED THE WORLD. Why I don't actually vomit more often, I don't know.

I didn't watch that first game, but in the second game, the crowd response the first time Matsui came up to bat was kind of like, let's see, the greeting for Brian Daubach coming to the plate for his third at bat in a May game vs. the Devil Rays--in Tampa Bay. Not like the "raucous" scene described by Torre after game one. And even better, the response to A-Rod coming up in the first: silence.

More on this Japanese baseball experience later... (or as Yes calls it, "The y*nkees descend on the land of the rising sun." Please.)