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The story
At its September 16 fall programming lineup press conference, ABC TV stated flatly that it will not air a Hanshin Tigers “pre-championship celebration special” this season or in any season to come. Behind the decision is a “jinx”: after the station aired a similar special in June 2021, Hanshin’s form collapsed almost immediately afterward. Meanwhile, neighboring station MBS TV aired its own Hanshin special on September 5, hosted by freelance announcer Yumiko Udo. Sure enough, starting the day after the broadcast, Hanshin went on a shocking 7-game losing streak, and their lead over second-place Yomiuri shrank to just 0.5 games. On 5ch, reactions ranged from amusement at the apparent cause-and-effect between the broadcast and the losing streak, to cries of “MBS is the guilty party,” to counterarguments that the station should just keep airing the specials anyway.
On the 16th, Osaka’s ABC TV held its autumn programming lineup press conference at the station’s offices in Fukushima Ward, Osaka, where a programming representative stated clearly that the station will not air a “pre-championship celebration special” this season or in any season going forward.
The “incident” happened over at the neighboring station in Chayamachi. On the 5th, MBS TV aired a special hosted by freelance announcer Yumiko Udo, “Gathering with Hanshin Fans — Yumiko Udo’s Tiger Cafeteria.” At the taping on the 1st, she told reporters, “It was like, ‘Oh, MBS is already doing this? Not even waiting for the magic number to hit single digits — you’re just going for it.’ I was genuinely impressed,” adding that being a sort of “pre-championship celebration special” was part of the show’s whole appeal. Then, starting on the 5th — the very day it aired — Hanshin suffered a shocking 7-game losing streak. Their lead over second-place Yomiuri, which stood at 4.5 games at the time of taping, has since narrowed to just 0.5.
For Tigers fans across the Kansai region, pre-championship celebration specials are nothing but trauma. Akira Kitanaka, ABC TV’s head of programming, gave a wry smile and said, “I knew for sure someone would ask about this.” “On June 20, 2021…” Kitanaka recited the date smoothly without even glancing at his notes, then bit his lip as he continued, “…we aired ‘[Tora-ban Special] #Uh-oh, Hanshin’s Gonna Win the Pennant.’ Airing that is something we deeply, deeply regret.” Up until the day that special aired, Hanshin had been in first place with a 6-game lead over Yakult and Yomiuri, who were tied for second — and then the team completely collapsed.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Hiroshima's on fire
What else happened again?
Ugh, they're gonna win it now
Just cancel the whole thing already
Got hammered by them last year too and never fixed it, huh
the Giants ("Trash-uri," as some call them) are in bad shape too
honestly look like a second-division team
things can't get any worse than this, so airing it nonstop might actually break the jinx
They got hit right after that "one more pitch" too
honestly they should scrap all these premature-celebration shows
If that happens, Yokohama's gonna end up winning it instead
Didn't they fall to third place late in the season as well?
it's gotta come down to manager Fujikawa's responsibility
The Giants keep setting themselves up for it with losing streaks and still can't capitalize at all
I think the BayStars still have more fight left in them
Even Giants fans have started copying it now lol
I'm a Yakult fan, and even when we win the pennant there's no special, no live coverage, nothing……
Yeah, and no championship parade either — story of Yakult's life
Background and Key Points of This Story
ABC TV’s “jinx” traces back to a special aired on June 20, 2021, after which Hanshin — then in first place — went into a major tailspin. This time, MBS aired its special on September 5; at the time of taping, Hanshin held a 4-to-5-game lead over the second-place pack, but starting the day after the broadcast, the team dropped seven straight games and that lead shrank to just 0.5. Opinion on the thread split between those who see this as pure coincidence and those who half-seriously believe the show’s “vibe” could actually affect the players. There’s no actual evidence that the broadcast content itself impacts player focus — it’s simply that the stations are avoiding pre-championship specials as an on-air superstition for good luck. Note that, per the original article, this policy reflects ABC’s own programming decision, and the piece doesn’t address whether MBS plans to continue airing similar specials going forward.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] ABC TV Calls It “Trauma”: Won’t Air Hanshin Pre-Championship Special… Meanwhile MBS TV’s Broadcast Was Followed by a 7-Game Hanshin Losing Streak…”.
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