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The story
Freelance announcer Yumiko Udo revealed on her radio show aired September 18 that she has been receiving abusive comments on social media following her appearance on a TV special supporting the Hanshin Tigers. While expressing anger that it was “truly disrespectful to the players and manager,” she also spoke as a fan herself, saying “a threat like that isn’t enough to make a Hanshin fan quit.” On the 5channel Entertainment & Sports News+ board, a thread saw ongoing discussion about the “jinx” that the team goes on a losing streak whenever a celebratory TV special airs before the championship is actually won — but the criticism also spread to target Udo personally and fans from specific regions, escalating into a clash between Kansai and Kanto fans.
Yumiko Udo hit with abuse after Tigers-support TV special airs — calls it “truly disrespectful” to players and manager, shares her feelings as a fan: “A threat like that isn’t enough to make a Hanshin fan quit”
Freelance announcer Yumiko Udo appeared on Nippon Broadcasting System’s “Udo no Radio” (Fridays, 3:30 PM) on the 18th, where she revealed she has faced abuse after a TV special supporting the Hanshin Tigers aired.
Udo opened the show by saying, “First, I’d like to talk about the Hanshin Tigers.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Last year Hiroshima got a similar 'championship commemoration' feature in Weekly Baseball, then went into a losing-streak hell and ended up dropping all the way to the B-class.
But then again, flip it around and you've got to ask: does anyone even respect teams other than Hanshin?
It's a V, y'know (Kansai slang for 'victory')
that's proof the team's gone weak and pathetic.
You never see Giants fans doing that kind of superstition.
You really can't laugh off jinxes
I get that a 'pre-celebration' special pulls decent ratings,
but they should just save the specials for after the championship and for the off-season
Kansai TV programming just cherry-picks Hanshin players' good plays, scoring moments, and hits
even during a losing streak
It's all staged to manufacture a 'we're winning' vibe even while Hanshin's in the middle of a massive skid
Background and Key Points
It’s become customary for Kansai-based TV stations to air “pre-celebration” specials once the Hanshin Tigers enter championship-clinching pace, but fans have long passed down a “jinx” claiming that airing such upbeat programming before the title is actually secured causes the team to go on a losing streak. Within the thread, users noted that ABC TV skipped a pre-celebration special this time due to past “trauma,” while pointing to years when other networks aired one and the team promptly went on a losing streak — suggesting this isn’t dismissed as mere superstition but actually factors into real programming decisions. That said, most of the abuse in this case wasn’t really about the special’s content itself, but rather spilled over into personal attacks on Udo and regional rivalry between Kansai and Kanto natives. Sports topics turning into regional flame wars is a familiar pattern on 5channel, and it’s hard to tell from this excerpt alone how much of the criticism aimed at Udo genuinely reflects “typical Hanshin fan” attitudes versus just pile-on hostility.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Yumiko Udo hit with abuse after Hanshin Tigers TV special airs — calls it “truly disrespectful” to players and manager, shares feelings as a fan.”
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