Tales From Japan

Stories of our travails in Tokyo

Sports Day…a running diary

One of my favorite writers is Bill Simmons.  Honestly, since joining ESPN and moving out to CA, his writing has taken a hit.  It just isn’t as bright and fresh as it used to be.  I think CA has made him soft and the ESPN editors have brow-beaten him into submission. ( But what do I know? Its not like anyone is paying me to write.)  Still one of Bill’s writing ploys is a running diary of his thoughts during major sporting events.  The greatest sporting event in my life is Sachan’s annual Undokai- school sports day. ( This may also have something to do with why I am not being paid to write.)  (Of course all these parenthetical comments probably aren’t helping either.)  (But man I sure do love a good tangent!) (Is there a rule against stringing non-related parenthetical ideas together?  I have time to think about these sorts of things.  Now if only I cared enough to search out the answer.)

So, where was I?  Oh yea, Bill Simmons has lost his fast ball, but I am still going to emulate him and borrow this writing ploy.  So welcome to the first annual Kawamura Shogako Undokai running diary.  You can read the whole thing, or you can skip around. If you choose the later method, I would advise checking in for key developments and insights at  6:55 am, 8:46 am, 2:05pm, and 2:27 pm.

You might also enjoy the confusion on a train platform at 7:45, comments about a bus ride at 8:25, some band bashing at  1:30, and my second favorite event tucked in at 2:15.

Undokai, May 9th, 2009

2:30 am Pam is up.  Either she is filled with anticipation of the coming day’s events or  getting old and having insomnia sucks.  It’s 2:30 am in the morning, lets be nice and call it the first one.

5:00 am All is quiet.  This is a good thing.  It has rained for two straight days and if administrators were going to postpone Undokai the phone tree was to be initiated at 5 am.  It appears the games are on!

6:00 am The alarm goes off.  I head to the kitchen to fix our lunch.  Pam heads to Sachan’s room to get her out of bed and ready…yes, I won the coin toss.

6:23 am First event of the day:  Shower v. Hair.  At 623 I have finished fixing and packing our lunch and Pam has finished getting the kid ready.  Which will take the least time:  Me getting a shower, shaving and getting dressed or Pam doing her hair.  Despite the handicap I win.

6:46 am We walk out the door a minute later than we had planned.  In a house with two women this is really more than you can ask for!

6:55 am While not ideal, we decided to eat breakfast at McDonald’s and are walking there now.  Along the way, Sachan fills us in on her sensei’s advise for the day.  Mazukawa sensei’s insights come down to three key points:

1. When running, run fast.
2. The grass will still be a little wet, so when you sit down it will look like you peed your pants; but you will not have peed your pants so you have nothing to worry about.
3. During the tug of war, you want to keep you back close to the ground.

(See you don’t get that kind of advice from a teacher at a public school.  Run fast, wet grass makes your pants wet and leaning way back gives you leverage during a tug of war.  This is why Sachan goes to a private school.)

7:00 am McDonald’s

7:25 am We are on the train platform.  We have hit our first glitch of the morning and its my fault.  We forgot to grab Sachan’s train pass.  So I quickly buy her a ticket, but I forget to hit the “child” button and instead buy her an adult ticket.

7:28 am We are on the first train.

7:45 am We are on the wrong platform while trying to change trains.  The Undokai is being held at the school’s University’s sporting field.  Sachan attends what is referred to as an elevator school.  Once in, you can ride to the top…assuming you pass a few tests along the way.  Her school has a yochien (three year Japanese kindergarten program), an elementary school, a Jr. High, a Sr. High, and a college.  The college is located about thirty or so minutes outside of Tokyo by express train.  Last year we decided to the catch the express from a station close to our house.  That went quite smoothly, so we decided to do something different this year.  Some train stations are laid out very clearly.  Take Shinjuku station, one of the largest in Tokyo.  There are tracks all over the place there.  But it is all clearly marked and logically laid out.  We are not at one of those stations now.  I was loaded down like a pack mule and simply following Pam who had carefully laid out the morning route.  We arrive on the platform Pam has designated so that we can catch the 7:48 express.  There is an express train scheduled to leave the platform we are on at 7:48.  However, even I, the one person in the family who neither reads nor speaks Japanese, was looking at the sign that clearly said, this incoming train was going in the opposite direction of the way we wanted to go.

7:48 am Wrong train on platform we are standing on leaves without us.  This is good.  Right train on next platform over from where we are standing leaves without us.  This is inconvenient.

7:51 am We are seated on a nearly empty express heading in the right direction.  This is Japan, it’s not like you are going to have to wait too long for the next train.  What, you may ask, does one do on a nearly empty express train for 26 minutes.  Turns out 26 minutes is exactly enough time for Sachan to take a practice kanji test, check it and then write out the three kanji she missed five times.

8:23 am We are at the station and Pam is talking to the Station Master correcting the ticket problem I created.  While she does that I go and buy the correct ticket for the return trip.

8:25 am We are seated on a bus.  Man I hate buses!  The school charters nearly the whole town’s bus system for the morning and afternoon to take those coming by train the 20 long country blocks out to the university that is surrounded by trees and newly planted rice patties.  Man I hate buses!

8:34 am We are walking through the front gate of the school which opened four minutes earlier.  Those who drove have gotten here earlier and so there is a line.

8:46 am We lay down our mats and are satisfied that we have avoided two rookie mistakes:  We are far enough away from the speakers to avoid hearing loss.  No one around us has laid down an aluminum coated mat which will reflect the sun and cook everyone on or near it to a crispy brown before the day is over.

The tents where the girls wait and cheer between events.

First, though,  some ground rules and explanations for those of you haven’t had the pleasure of attending an undokai.  Sachan’s shogako (elementary school) has grades 1-6.  The shogako is divided into three houses:  Ume- plum, Matsu – pine, Take – bamboo.  (For purposes of the pictures, Ume’s score board is red and the girls in the Ume house are wearing red hats; Matsu – green; Take – bamboo.)  To help you root along at home, Sachan is in the Matsu – green – house.  Each grade is divided into three classes (one for each house).  Each class contains 40 girls.  Every two years the girls are reassigned to  new houses.  (Sachan was an Ume for grades one and two.  She is very excited to be in Matsu this year.)

The day is divided into house competitions, grade competitions, and grade dance and music performances.  All of the girls run a 100 m sprint.  Each grade has a unique sporting event…each explained below.  There are two relay races.  One combining the fastest runners for each house in the 1-3 grades, and one for the 4-6 grades.  The sixth graders perform a traditional dance.  The fifth graders perform a gymnastics routine.  The third and forth graders have a pompom routine. The first and second graders have a little dance routine.  The school band performs just after lunch.

Gambling:  Not that I condone gambling, I thought you might like to place a few bets with your favorite bookie before the games officially begin.  I will be tracking a number of key points and categories  throughout.

Music:  Undokai’s are a guaranteed to be accompanied by a bizarre musical mix.  We are guaranteed to hear the “Mickey Mouse March”, Toni Basil’s “Oh Mickey” song, some Beatles, some Disney, some J-Pop, and some snappy classical pieces and marches.  So, the over/under for Disney songs and  Beatles songs is three a piece.  The “Mickey Mouse” song will be played, the only question is when.  Since I have access to the schedule, I recommend betting on the use of this tune after lunch during the yochien gift run.  “Oh Mickey” can be played at anytime and there is a 40% chance it will be played twice.  I am giving you the option to bet on it being played before or after lunch, and my guess is right before the lunch break.  I will give you 3:1 odds that Pam will be able name any J-Pop tune featured today.

Gambattene:  Gah-m-bah-tey-ney is the Japanese equivalent of the old cheer “Go, fight , win!” or “Rah, rah, rhee…”  Alcohol is not permitted at undokai, but Gambattene will provide those of you reading at home with a great chance to play that old drinking game…whenever some says “x” everyone takes a drink.  Gambattene will be stated at least three times in every speech given during the opening ceremony.  I will make a note whenever I overhear it.

The Games:  Matsu has won the Gold Cup two years running.  They won two years ago by destroying the other two teams.  Last year they won by scoring early and often in the races and then by finishing strongly thanks to the sixth grade girls’ efforts.  Last year’s sixth graders have gone and the houses have been reset.  So I don’t think there is a clear historical advantage for any of the houses.  Ume always wins the ball roll, so I recommend betting on them for that event.  Kameo sensei’s class always wins the grade two event where a giant ball is carried on a wooden stretcher…for the record, you can bet against her, but if she finds out she will hunt you down, kick your ass and then embarrass you.  Rumor has it that the speedsters in the lower grades are largely in the Matsu classes, so for 1-3 rd grade running events go with green.

9:30 am Crazy music starts.  The flag corps is practicing their entrance (rain limited their practice time this week) to some march neither Pam nor I can identify, but it does have an amusing “releasing of the hounds” type trumpet voluntary at the beginning and end.

9:50 am Sachan has been sent way to join her house.  Pam asks if I remembered to bring a trash bag.  I reach over and pull one out.  As Pam puts some trash in it I announce “Nihon jin desu.”  (I am Japanese).  The thought makes Pam chuckle and makes me wonder how funny it would be if they put me in charge of the music.  In fact, lets do this.  Not only will I tell you what song they have chosen to play for each event and break, I will offer my own musical choices.  For example, as the excitement builds prior to the grand march in and some inspiring speeches, I would play, “I think I am turning Japanese,” by the Vapors.

10:00 am That same march with the trumpets blaring is now officially playing as the flags and the girls make their way around the track.  Technically they are supposed to be marching.  For the record, only the first graders and a few over- achieving second graders are technically “marching.”  There is a lot of bouncing and purposeful walking in the middle grades.  The sixth graders who have to wear their winter uniforms for the opening part are sashaying and lolling.  Quick lets play some Ayumi Hamasaki and wake these girls up!

Time to play “Where’s Walker?”

10:11 am The flags are raised to Japan’s National anthem which is mercifully short and has no words.   This is followed by the dirge like “Song of appreciation” which all the girls are forced to sing before reciting their school pledge.

10:13 am The Headmistress steps up to give her welcoming speech.  I love this woman’s voice! Seriously, as a professional I can say this woman has incredible articulation and a wonderfully clear voice.  On a good day I might understand up to 20% of what a person speaking Japanese might be saying to me.  This woman talks and it shoots up to 30%.  I am convinced she could show up for one of the parent assemblies and explain the intricacies of quantum mechanics for thirty minutes and I could follow and understand what she was saying.  For those of you playing at home, she used some form of Gambattene three times!

10:21 am Despite only having one speaker…great decision on their part!… we are already behind schedule.  The sixth grade girls are now doing a traditional Japanese dance in their winter uniforms.  It is a hot, humid morning and the temperature has to be at least 25 C.  You do not want to be a sixth grader wearing a woolen uniform in 25 C weather and dancing a traditional Japanese dance.  This experience is physically painful for the audience as well because they have cranked the music up to 11.5 and the pitch of this piece is akin to glass shattering inside your ear canal and puncturing your eardrum and then getting stuck between the anvil and stirrup bones of your middle ear cavity instead of mercifully proceeding back through your cochlea and slicing your cochlear nerve leaving you deaf.

10:23am “Love Love Love.”  Beatles 1  Disney 0.    It is, for the record, a lovely muzak version featuring a lovely french horn solo.

10:25 am “The William Tell Overture” is next on the song list to move the 1st through 5th graders onto the field for the warm up exercises which is done to the national exercise routine music.  Sadly no one is joining in this year.  Usually a highlight of the morning is watching the adults snap to attention, like a Stepford wife making cookies, when the music starts and they can’t stop themselves from warming up with the kids.

This is all followed by some happy upbeat song featuring a gaggle of piccoloists.  Let’s give Disney a point for this indecipherable yet happy song.

10:40 am The first and second grade races begin.  Each heat is composed of six runners, two from each house.  Points are given for those finishing 1,2 and 3.  The second graders run first and the winners seem to be predominantly green.  Yea!  The music is disappointing though.  Another classical piece.  I think we need some rap or at least some up-beat hip-hop music.

I had to include this photo because the gentleman with the grandfather like smile sitting on the field in the green shirt is Sachan’s sensei.

11:11 am The third and forth grade pompom routine.  Is there something more useless to express spirit than a pompom?  Sachan came home weeks ago with this big roll of green cellophane.  We spent two days following the instructions (written in Japanese of course) on how to make the two saddest pompoms I have ever seen in my life.  The good news is she didn’t come home with a piece of material to be made into a vest, which was Pam’s punishment for being a good parent the last two years.  I was not allowed to complain about the pompoms.  Did I mention the music was indecipherable?  What we couldn’t work in some “Getcha head in the game” to give Disney a point or some “Ob-la-di” from the Beatles?

11:15 am Points earned during the first two races are now posted:  Go green!

Tall lanky guy in the middle with the yellow shirt and grey shorts is the Shiranai Sensei, who is the head of P.E. Dept and the Undokai.

It’s time to get serious about the competition now.  The second grade big ball and stick race gets going.  Remember this is the event that Kameo-sensei (Sachan’s second grade teacher) never loses.  For those of you playing at home there was a Gambattene at the start of the competition.  I am very disappointed in the music this year.  Clearly they have asked someone with only a background in classical music to pick the music this year.  Let’s see, giant sticks carrying giant balls, racing around cones.  Isn’t this an obvious music choice?  AC/DC’s “Big Balls.”  (Don’t give me that look!  Yes I know they are second grade girls, but people still think “Born in the USA” is a positive song.  I mean really, if you can’t understand Bruce, can you seriously be expected to tell what Bon Scott was saying?)

11:20 am We are still behind schedule but moving along now.  It’s time for the first grade ball throw into a tall net.  The music is Old Grey Mare.  Nice song, but with all those small balls in the air, and given the classical proclivities exhibited thus far are you really going to tell me that no one thought to drop in “Flight of the bumblebee” or the “Typewriter” song?  Even the “Barber of Seville” would be better than  Old grey mare even if it is being played in cut time.  (While I am here…what is up with this grey and gray thing?  Which is it?  My spell check doesn’t even have an opinion.)

Oh, the Fashion Police (AKA Pam) have made their first appearance.  Apparently the no one gave the new first grade teacher the “how to dress for your first undokai” memo.  Please Mazukawa sensei for examples of men who got the memo.  Pinkish purple is NOT this season’s new red, I am informed by the fashion police.  Butt squeezing high water pants are also NOT acceptable sporting wear.  There were other comments made by the fashion police, but have been deleted in an effort to maintain the diary’s G rating.

11:40 am

Green just won the1st-3rd grade relay race.  I think the two days of rain really messed the girls up.  None of them seem to have that crispness they usually have.  It appears the teachers waited till the last moment to teach them how to pass the donut like baton.  Of course all of this depressing classical music isn’t helping.  Break out  the Queen, give me some “We are the champions.”  How about some Dave Matthew “Ants are marching.”  “Zombie Nation” would be the epitome of apropos right now.

Next up is the Big Ball Roll.  Remember this is always won by Ume.  A muzak version of the Jackson’s ABC-123 is playing.  A.  Have you not gotten the memo on Michael?  B. NO MICHAEL!  C.  OK, I will give you partial credit for cuteness and partial credit for it not being classical music.

Oh no, you have got to be kidding.  We had “ABC” while the girls lined up and now we have Barry Manilow putting in an appearance with “Coco Cabana.”  OH just shoot me now!  Its a giant ball rolling contest!  Give me some CCR doing “Proud Mary,”  you know, “big wheels keep on rolling,”  that would be PERFECT.  I would even take Ike and Tina’s version but only if you include the part where she says, “We always do it nice and rough.”  And that version starts out slow and then gets faster…again, that would be perfect for this event.  Ume won.

12:12  pm We are running 12 minutes behind they announce, but everyone will still have an hour for lunch.  We are Japanese!  We have obentos!  We need to have time to eat them!  Do we get “Oh Mickey” by an old choreographer as an aperitif?  NO!  Man I am so applying for the Undokai DJ job next year…this is depressing.  At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they played Mozart’s “Requiem” during lunch.

1:30 pm “What,” you may ask, “could be worse than Mozart’s Requiem?”  The answer is not only easy, but depressingly bad.  Yes, even more depressing than a requiem…we have reached new lows!  That’s right, its time for the elementary school marching band, flag corps, pompom squad and baton troupe to perform.  Can I just add the “e” to the corps and be done?  You have heard beginning bands yes?  So you know.  I mean we can pretend, but honestly, we all know its neither pretty nor dulcet.  The really sad part is there is no real marching.  I mean even the percussion section…you know the kids with the drums that keep the beat…couldn’t even walk in step.  And they were the best section.  Say it with me, “OUCH!”  The bass section was searching for the beat that had already been lost my the percussion section while the flutes and saxes competed to reach new levels of shrill sharpness.  Pam added, “I can play five different instruments.  I am allowed to point out that they are sharp and horrible.”  You know its bad when Pam jumps in that way.  And the trombone player who thought she was a stork and stood on one leg for the second song…what’s up with that?  Take that thing away from her NOW!  You can’t disrespect the instrument with a legacy like Jack Teagarden and Glenn Miller!

What songs were they butchering?  The first song, recognizable only by reading the program was “The theme to The Never Ending Story.”  Bad movie, bad song, bad idea!

There was an inkling of recognition in the second song.  It was listed as “Colonel Bogey March” which meant nothing to me until I heard a few bars and recognized  it as the “Comet” song.  Pam swears I am making this up, so if you know the words, please join in and please comment below that this is in fact not something I made up.  The lyrics of this song go like this:

What a wonderfully appropriate song to sum up the day’s musical selections.

1:36 pm Nothing makes me want to puke more than running a race immediately after eating lunch.  Oh well, its time for the third and forth grade sprints.  The good news is that Sachan was in the fifth heat  for the third grade.  With six girls per race, two from each house, that makes Sachan one of the 30 fastest girls in the school.  And since I stood at the finish line with my camera on auto, you get to see the whole thing.  OK, in all honesty, 50 pictures of Sachan running seemed like a bit much, so I’ve cut it down to

Am I the only one who wonders how fast my daughter could run if she didn’t have a wad of chewing tobacco in her jaw?

Yep, a solid forth.

2:05 pm Yes I too am wondering if it is over yet.   Let’s see if I can get you up to speed on what you have missed.  There was the “lets make the little kids run around the field and then give them stickers” event which did not happen to the “Mickey Mouse March”…I am very disappointed.  Haven’t these people heard of Disney Radio?  Songs from Disney movies?  OK, forget Disney.  What about some traditional Japanese cartoon music?  The Doraemon or Ampamman theme songs?  These are yochien aged kids.  Or how about some Ghibli Studio music.  The “Totoro” theme song would be lovely.  What’s wrong with these people?

Oh, and the first and second graders did their little dance routine.  OK, nice, done, bye, bye.

They have finally posted the results of the third and forth grade races.  Looks like the Pine house is back in the running:  Red 321, Yellow 323 and Green 319.

Don’t leave, its time for my two favorite events.  I don’t know who came up with the next two events, but they are wonderfully sadistic.  The first is what I call the running tug of war.  And for the record I have Elton John singing “Saturday nights alright for fighting” or “The bitch is back” during this event.  The sixth grade girls, two houses at a time,  line up about 40 meters apart.  Sorta in a Red Rover, Red Rover set up.  The girls are in groups of threes.  In the middle of the field are about thirty pieces of thick tug of war type rope.  Each rope has a large knot on each end and is about two meters long.  At the sound of the gun the girls dash off, grabbing the ropes and dragging them back behind their line.  Once a rope is behind the line, it is that teams.  Once you bring a rope back you can go help other girls get other ropes.  This is the perfect event for both speed and brawn.  The sprinters of course get a bunch of the ropes but once those are gone you end up with three or four spontaneous rugby-like scrums around the remaining ropes.  You see why I suggest the songs I do!  This is great fun to watch, especially towards the end of their time limits when it looks like a brawl will break out in the scrum around a short rope.  We even got to see one girl clinging for dear life and momentarily holding her own against a group of three girls.  That one girl was mighty spunky, even clinging and digging her knees into the ground to try to hold on till help arrive.  She ended up being dragged a few meters before the knee and hand burns were too much.   For the record,  I would pay money and  ride a bus to see this event…and man I hate buses!  Someone  slipped in an appropriate CD for this one and the girls battled it out to “The Theme to Peter Gun.”

Red won this event and I don’t see Green having time to recover in the coming events.

2:15 pm The fifth graders are charged with my second most favorite event:  The Duck Waddle and Jump Rope competition.  This one, I would conduct to either “Disco Duck,” yes its a horrible song and disco should be avoided at all costs, but this is Japan and the event does involve chains of fifth grade girls waddling like ducks!  My other choice would be something like the Bay City Rollers doing “SATURDAY.”  You can jump and waddle to that.  And The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz” would be over the top, although it might work for the sixth grade running tug of war…wish I had thought of that earlier!  OK, for this one, all three houses are competing at the same time.  Each house is divided up into groups of three to five girls.  Two girls wait at the finish line with a long jump rope.  At the sound of the gun girls standing in groups of five squat down and waddle ten meters.  When the front girl reaches a cone, she touches it at which time the waddling group springs up and runs about twenty meters to the track where the girls with the jump rope are.  The girls have to jump rope together (single dutch?) ten times without stopping the rope.  Watching five fifth graders trying to jump rope at the same time after waddling ten meters?  Yes, it is high comedy.  If they succeed they get to sit down;  if not they go back to the end of their house’s line.  At the final gun  the house with the most girls sitting behind the jump rope wins.

Yellow wins.

2:27 pm

Man I could go for some ELO, “Don’t bring me down” right now.  But given the pressure and the score I think I would make an audible on this one.  I mean you have to go with some Queen with David Bowie  “Under Pressure” or The Specialists “Pressure Drop.”  Then again, the third graders tug of wars are up next. Oh wait, I have it, I have it…think about this…Tug of war…what do you get?  Blisters. Yep!  Say it with me, The Violent Femmes, “Blister in the Sun!”  OH that would be so sweet right now!

The pressure is on Sachan and her Pine House buddies now.  They really need a win!  The third graders, in case you don’t recall, have tug of wars.  Sachan’s class is up first.  Its tough the way they do it.  The have the rope stretched out for nearly the entire length of the field.  The girls first  sit down next to the rope, a whistle blows and then all lay down.  No one is touching the rope!

The gun sounds and they have to sit up, grab the rope and start pulling.  Things didn’t look good at the start, as the other house got an early pull, but the girls hung in there and kept tugging.  I mean who knew that these girls had this kind of grit?  Her house had a big pull and the tape moved back to the center mark.  Then Mazukawa sensei worked his magic.  He waited and he waited displaying a Zen like calm that would make Phil Jackson go, “OH WOW!”  It was subtle, but I caught it, he told them, “Ema!”  (NOW!) and they all moved in unison.  The tape edged their way and the final gun sounded.  They had won!

Time for round two.  I don’t know who makes the rules, but the winner of a tug of war should earn a break, not have to go immediately back into the pit.  I wanted to yell “FOUL!”  but Pam caught my arm and gave me that look.  (If you’re married you know what look I am talking about. )  The girls switched sides and the fresh house ran into place.  The pine girls were rubbing their hands, inspecting their wounds as they ran around into position.  Things didn’t look good.  The whistle blew and the girls laid down.  The gun fired.

Ahhh shucks, the girls barely got off the ground.  They tried to hold it but it was just a dragging match as the fresh side pulled the pine house down and over the line.  Done at 1:1

The freshest team would prevail in the remaining tug with all teams ending at 1:1.  Each team getting first place points was good.  Not making up any distance was not so good.

2:35  pm The forth graders are up for their Typhoon competition.  Yes, of course I would go with the Scorpions at this point, “Rock me like a Hurricane.”  Although, I would consider something like the Goo Goo Dolls “Dizzy.”  For this one, the girls are divided into group of four with all three houses competing at once.  The four girl team has to hold and run with a log, spinning around a cone in the middle, at the end and then on the way back.  Once back they must hold the log low while all the girls in the house jump over it, then they duck down and the log is carried over top of them back to the front of the line.  There were no Three Stooges-like accidents…much to my disappointment.

Despite a lack of appropriate music the crowd was into it now.  Again the pressure on Green to get a win; the pressure on red and green to  minimally place better than the other in order to edge ahead.  This one went down to the wire.  Green was out of it by the forth group.  Yellow led till the last group.  Red caught them and finally pulled ahead.  Then red dropped their log on the jump over part and yellow snuck back into the lead winning by less than two steps.

2:50 pm A muzak version of the Carpenter’s “Top of the world” plays.  The Carpenters.  That is all you got?  How many times can I use the word “disappointing.”  Such crappy music is a travesty.

3:00 pm We are way more than 12 minutes behind schedule now.  And there is one last competition:  the 4, 5, 6 relay race.  I was thinking about a little “Do run run” when what should I hear but a muzak version of the Bay City Rollers “SATURDAY.”  Do I get bonus points for actually coming up with a song they played?  I mean what are the odds?  Was this something we bet one when we started?  That though was just the set up music, the girls  ran to Offenbach’s “Can Can.”  Who can argue with “Orpheus in the Underworld” on the last event?  It was a very close race, but just as yellow and red had dominated the sprints, it was really down to them with red edging out yellow at the finish line and thus taking the lead and the 2009 Kawamura Shogako Undokai Championship.

3:30 pm Thanks for joining us. For the record, the final score was  was Red 461, Yellow 453 and Green 379.  Hope you can join us next year when I am in control of the music.  For the record I have  Poison’s “Nothin’ but a good time” playing as the field clears.  You can be grateful you don’t have to wait at the bus stop with us.  They are going to stuff us in like sardines.  Man I hate buses!  And then there will be the train ride home.  I generally like the train but I know this one will be tough teeming with girls…its gonna be a Nirvana type experience.  You know, its gonna “Smell like [pre]teen spirit.”

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