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The story
TBS’s “Sunday Morning” once again skipped any mention of Giants’ new manager Hideki Matsui in its November 8 broadcast, marking the third straight week the topic has gone untouched. The show covered a retirement special for pitcher Masanori Ishikawa, Samurai Japan, figure skating, and ekiden relay races, but Matsui’s name and footage were nowhere to be seen. Since the show had reported on the Giants’ new coaching hires just last week, buzz has grown on social media that the omission is deliberate, and posts speculating on the reasons have piled up on 5ch’s Entertainment & Sports News+ board.
TBS’s “Sunday Morning” aired on the 8th, and for the third consecutive week it did not touch on the topic of Giants’ new manager Hideki Matsui.
The episode featured Yakult pitcher Masanori Ishikawa, who is retiring from active play at the end of this season. Right from the start, the show covered baseball-world topics like Samurai Japan under new manager Tadahito Iguchi and Hiromu Ito’s bid for the majors. It then moved on to figure skating, kendo, ekiden, golf, and other topics.
Finally, the show circled back to baseball at the end. It covered a wrap-up of Ishikawa’s old team Yakult and more on Samurai Japan, but once again Manager Matsui didn’t come up.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
I feel like I've seen an article like that.
Though that might've been a different story.
There's an unverified, sourceless rumor going around that it's not the Giants but Matsui's personal sponsors who said no.
But it's only Sunday Morning doing this.
Mysterious.
Well, it is the BayStars' network.
Yesterday's News 7days and the sports show right after it actually gave him a decent amount of airtime.
If it were the "Watanabe Channel" (a jab at Nippon TV, nicknamed after Yomiuri's longtime boss Tsuneo Watanabe, who's tight with the Giants), sure, they'd cover it — but it's a different story for TBS, Fuji, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo to go chasing it.
They're doing bits like "When will the No. 90 jersey unveiling happen?" but who cares.
I've got zero attachment to a player's uniform number.
Comparing it to one of Japan's minor sports is a bit much…
If Honda ever became a manager, I bet they'd cover that plenty.
The season's over, come on, surely there's something else to cover.
Something else… sumo? Rugby?
That kind of thing gets explained by the producer before you even go on air.
That's why Uehara tweeted on X, "Ask the show."
There's a chance Uehara himself is the reason.
Yumi Karahashi posted (then quickly deleted):
"As for what the show covers, it's not all something I can explain based on my own personal judgment — there are some tricky aspects to it…"
so between those two, I'd bet it's Zenba.
Isn't it just a staff decision, plain and simple?
There's no way someone like Matsui succeeds as a manager.
Ohtani's on the decline and the end of baseball's dominance is in sight, so networks are going to stop covering baseball going forward.
This is just the first sign of that.
If that's the logic, then they should be covering in-season sports like the B.League or figure skating instead.
Even the Tenno Sho (a top-tier Japanese horse race) had its star horse crash out of contention (though it wasn't some total long shot either), and it still didn't get Matsui-level coverage.
Right? Why would TBS need to go all-out promoting them?
That's beside the point — other TBS shows cover Hideki Matsui just fine.
Most of society has zero interest in sports.
Most of the resentment out there comes from broadcasts running long or other shows getting bumped because of it.
Go get a whiff of how the real world feels 😂😂😂
There were people who superficially played along like baseball fans but gave totally clueless answers the moment you asked for details.
The article's whole point is that on TBS, it's specifically Sunday Morning "alone" that isn't covering it.
Yesterday's Joho 7 Days News Caster ran a feature on Giants' Matsui and Chunichi's Kudoh.
Actually, is TBS even okay with letting this slide?
It'd be hilarious if the game footage ends up centered on SoftBank and Chunichi (or Hanshin?), with the Giants only getting a mention for the final score.
And zero coverage of the U-17 Little Nadeshiko news too…
There's already too much baseball talk as it is, and on top of that Matsui gets zero — it's laughable at this point, this has to be deliberate.
J.League and soccer stories get next to nothing.
Well, today they did run a story on the FIFA presidential race, but it was deflating watching a commentator who usually attacks the ruling party talk about it with such a smug look.
Soccer just doesn't have the demand.
Japan's a baseball country.
Last week they did mention Shimizu and Takahashi's coaching appointments by name, but they still showed zero of Matsui's name or footage.
B) Matsui is refusing TBS
Which is it?
It'd make sense if Nippon TV disliked Matsui as a "traitor" to the Giants, but since he's come back, that whole traitor business should be water under the bridge.
Sunday Morning says no but Sunday Japon says yes, so the problem is on Sunday Morning's end.
They did run a Matsui feature on Hodo Tokushu (also a News Division show), so that theory doesn't hold up.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Some in the thread point out that Sunday Morning is produced by TBS’s News Division, and its sports segment is meant to cover “that week’s results” rather than report on personnel news. On the other hand, last week the show did name the Giants’ newly hired coaches (Shimizu and Takahashi), and the fact that Manager Matsui alone got neither name nor footage is strengthening the view that the omission is deliberate. Even within the TBS network, shows like Sunday Japon and Hiruobi (produced by the Information Programming Division) cover Manager Matsui without issue, making it look like only the News Division’s programs are avoiding him — and that’s the crux of the debate. Unverified rumors (such as a veto from sponsor circles) have also surfaced, but without any confirmation they remain speculation for now. There’s also a view that since the Giants belong to the Nippon TV network, TBS has no particular obligation to cover a rival network’s team — but that doesn’t square with the fact that other TBS shows cover Matsui without any trouble.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “Wait, Again?! TBS’s “Sunday Morning” Skips Giants’ Manager Matsui for 3rd Straight Week — Social Media Stirs: “Is It Deliberate, or Is There Another Reason?”.”
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