09-12-2019, 06:15 PM
Another little known fact.
In 1985 the Hanshin Tigers won the Japanese World Series (or whatever they call it). The fan base went wild, and a riotous celebration gathered at Ebisu Bridge in Dōtonbori, Osaka. There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the players' names, and with every name, a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leaped from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking a Caucasian person to imitate MVP Randy Bass (later a State Senator from Oklahoma), the rabid crowd seized a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.
After that the Tigers had an 18 year losing streak where they finished last or next-to-last every season. An urban legend arose that the Tigers were the victims of "The Curse of the Colonial" and would never win until the statue was recovered.
There were numerous search-and-recover missions over the years, many of them as part of a variety TV show. Finally most of the statue, all but the glasses and left hand, was recovered in 2009. The Tigers have still not won a championship, and many claim they never will until the final pieces are found.
In 1985 the Hanshin Tigers won the Japanese World Series (or whatever they call it). The fan base went wild, and a riotous celebration gathered at Ebisu Bridge in Dōtonbori, Osaka. There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the players' names, and with every name, a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leaped from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking a Caucasian person to imitate MVP Randy Bass (later a State Senator from Oklahoma), the rabid crowd seized a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.
After that the Tigers had an 18 year losing streak where they finished last or next-to-last every season. An urban legend arose that the Tigers were the victims of "The Curse of the Colonial" and would never win until the statue was recovered.
There were numerous search-and-recover missions over the years, many of them as part of a variety TV show. Finally most of the statue, all but the glasses and left hand, was recovered in 2009. The Tigers have still not won a championship, and many claim they never will until the final pieces are found.
