0:00

Before we get started, please rate and review

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our show. It helps people find us. On

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this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, the

0:11

NFL regular season is nearly upon US

0:13

and football mat America is primed for another

0:15

season of its favorite sport. But

0:18

have you ever wondered which country outside

0:20

the US is second best at American

0:22

football? Believe it or not, it's

0:24

not Canada or the UK. Our

0:27

senior producer Harry swartout, how's this surprising

0:29

answer, which traces all the way

0:31

back to a big international game in the seventies

0:34

and includes no small amount of booze

0:36

and hijacks. I'm your

0:39

host, John Gonzales from Sports

0:41

Illustrated and I Heart Radio. This

0:44

is Sports Illustrated Weekly. If

0:50

you had to guess, which is the best

0:52

country in the world at football after

0:54

the United States, of course, it's

0:57

not Mexico, despite being our neighbors to the

0:59

south. It's not the UK, no

1:01

matter how many Jaguars games the NFL

1:03

insists on exporting there. You

1:06

might think it's Canada despite their insistence

1:08

on playing only three downs, But

1:11

in international play, the second

1:13

best country in the world at American football

1:16

is Japan.

1:23

Who are you expecting? Japan has

1:25

a great college football system, a semi

1:27

pro league which can compete with the best from any

1:29

nation. Heck, they've even got football

1:32

anime. All

1:38

of that football passion can be traced back

1:40

to one preseason game in nineteen seventy

1:42

six, played on a drizzly day in August.

1:45

The Mine Starboard Let's

1:48

Go Back. Six

1:52

was a big year for Japan, at least as

1:54

far as people in colorful costumes are concerned.

1:57

Polyester clad Japanese disco funk

1:59

Ford out of every dance hall. Super

2:06

Sentai, which would later become power

2:08

Injuries in America just hit its

2:10

stride God and

2:14

in the Tokyo Grand Prix, James Hunt

2:16

narrowly outdueled Niki Laudo to become

2:19

F one World Driver's Champion. You

2:21

know, like in the movie Rush, James

2:24

Hunt pay Jake third and almost catching Patrick

2:26

Depie. But James Hunt is the world

2:28

Champion. Japan

2:32

had their rainbow clad heroes in America

2:35

had hours. The

2:48

NFL was humming along after the a

2:51

f L NFL merger, and there was no

2:53

real reason for the league to be looking to expand

2:55

beyond North America. But this wasn't

2:57

the NFL's idea. St

2:59

Louis Football Cardinals alumni coordinator Bob

3:02

Underwood explains the Japanese excursion

3:04

was all thanks to one man. The

3:07

mastermind behind this game was a

3:09

Japanese American named Frank Takahashi.

3:12

And Frank was a lattice farmer. He was

3:14

a wealthy businessman and an Alattis

3:17

farmer. He had about two acre farm south

3:19

of Los Angeles, and

3:21

he was a huge football fan and he

3:23

was a huge San Diego Charger ban how

3:25

big a sports fan. He flew private

3:28

jets around the West Coast to see the best football

3:30

matchups each week. He attended

3:32

the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl each year.

3:34

And he named his son Unitus, after legendary

3:37

quarterback Johnny Uniteds, who played

3:39

just one season for his beloved Chargers.

3:43

Takahashi wanted to share his passion

3:46

for football with others who were

3:48

very far away. Frank's

3:50

passion, his dream was to bring

3:52

an NFL game to Tokyo, where

3:55

he had some business connections, and

3:57

he attempted this for three or four years. He

3:59

was on six estival and then he must

4:01

have sweetened the deal enough to where he got

4:03

the Chargers and the St. Louis Football

4:05

Cardinals now the Arizona Cardinals to

4:07

accept this game in Nix,

4:11

and Frank had to pay all of the

4:13

expenses, and there was a report

4:15

that the Cardinals alone their expenses were

4:17

over a hundred thousand dollars, which would in today's

4:20

money would be over a half a million dollars. So

4:22

he probably had about a million dollars and expenses

4:25

in today's money, you know that he had to cover. Frank

4:28

Takahashi predicted that sixty thousand

4:30

Japanese fans would buy tickets to a game, and

4:32

he hoped that kind of attendance would convince the lead to

4:34

play in Japan annually eventually get

4:36

a franchise on the island, and that he would

4:39

own it, but one step

4:41

at a time. First,

4:45

there was the problem of where to play the

4:47

game. Japan didn't have any large

4:50

American football stadiums, and they definitely

4:52

didn't have one that could fit sixty thou fans.

4:55

What they did have was a

4:57

cavernous old baseball stadium known for

4:59

host in concerts Coorakuen

5:01

Stadium. You might remember it

5:04

as the first stop on Michael Jackson's bad

5:06

Tour. Thank

5:10

you, Thank

5:12

you very much. Good Eye. Despite

5:15

kicking off one of the greatest pop tours of all time.

5:17

Coacuan Stadium itself was

5:19

not the best. Built in ninety

5:22

eight, Coakuen Stadium was a concrete

5:24

nightmare with an AstroTurf field that,

5:27

while being state of the art for the nineteen seventies,

5:30

was still like being tackled onto sandpaper on

5:32

top of concrete. But Coakuen

5:34

Stadium had another problem. There

5:36

were only forty eight thousand seats,

5:39

which is less than the sixty k Takahashi

5:41

had promised. To make up the difference,

5:43

Takahashi got a sponsor, my

5:45

Niche Daily News, an English language

5:48

newspaper in Japan, put up some money for the

5:50

naming rights, and thus was born

5:52

the my Niche Star Bold. But

5:55

what really mattered Frank Takahashi

5:57

was attendance. A sellout, he'd

6:00

break even if not. Frank

6:03

was pretty confident they could sell out

6:05

the game because there was actually a college

6:07

football All Star game in Tokyo

6:10

back in January of nineteen seventy six

6:12

and they had almost seventy thousand fans, so

6:14

he was pretty confident. But the days leading

6:17

up to the game, there was a report that they had only sold

6:19

twenty five thousand seats advanced

6:21

tickets, and then after the game there

6:24

were some conflicting reports that

6:26

you know, the attendance could have been anywhere from thirty

6:28

thousand and thirty eight thousand, but either

6:30

way, it wasn't a sellout. So Frank didn't

6:32

get a sellout, he lost money, but he did

6:35

achieve his dream of having the NFL play

6:37

in Tokyo. Now

6:43

I know what you're thinking, how was it transporting

6:46

to football teams full of rowdy grown men

6:48

to Japan in the nineteen seventies?

6:51

And boy, am I glad you asked? According

6:54

to Cardinal Center Tom Banks, it started before

6:56

the flight had even taken off, but

6:58

it used to be aflo hours early. I

7:00

mean, yeah, there's a bunch of guys

7:03

gonna do. We went straight to the bar and

7:05

started drinking, were trying to get

7:07

on the plane, and I recognized

7:09

pretty quickly it was gonna be a long

7:12

flight. I ordered all

7:14

the sake that they had brought to my seat

7:17

and started having people to have a have

7:19

a toach with me as you go by up

7:21

and down the aisles. So that

7:24

was the kind of flight it was. And it wasn't

7:27

just Banks either. Hall of Fame tight end.

7:29

Jackie Smith and the rest of the team had

7:31

their fair share to drink too. It was

7:33

a charter of fight. Either that or we had

7:35

to hold back end of the plane. But I

7:37

know that we were freely walking around and doing

7:39

what pretty much what we wanted, and a

7:42

few beers were consumed on the way

7:44

over, and so that was what I remember

7:46

most. Jackie Smith is also a Hall

7:49

of Fame understater. According

7:51

to St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Doug Rose

7:53

account, the team drank all of the beer

7:55

and sake on the plane. And remember

7:58

Jackie said, the team was freely walking around

8:00

the cabin. That's why

8:02

Tom Banks ended up stumbling towards the cockpit

8:05

and had to be restrained by the flight attendants.

8:07

Not that he exactly remembers that'ble

8:11

to me later

8:13

on when I ended up eating in trouble about this, you

8:16

know, having a good times against the rules. And

8:18

all of this was before they had set

8:20

foot in Japan. When they got there,

8:23

things only got weird. Jackie

8:30

Smith and the team arrived on Tuesday,

8:33

but the game wasn't until Sunday.

8:35

It was quite an experience. Nobody was looking

8:37

forward to it because nobody had been over to Japan

8:40

before, but I think we spent a week over

8:42

there, so we had time to explore the area,

8:45

go up and down the streets, and get to meet some

8:47

people. And it was an interesting visit again,

8:50

a world class understatement from Jackie.

8:53

Sure they practiced every day, but not at

8:56

all times. They had hours to explore.

9:00

Players could pay just one thousand dollars to

9:02

bring their family with them on the trip, and so many

9:04

did. But the ones that didn't, well,

9:06

they had some fun. Or eight days

9:09

in August, the Cardinals experienced

9:11

the ultimate road trip, a visit

9:13

to Tokyo or a preseason

9:15

game with the Chargers. Here's a shortlist

9:18

of what the team got into in their spare time. Tom

9:22

Banks and company went on some bar crawls who

9:24

were up a local bar and

9:26

goes in it, and uh, they didn't

9:28

have any any twelve manus bottles

9:30

of beer. It was always those two and a half

9:32

the bottles of so they

9:34

would only start with you too, and then they make you leave.

9:37

We shouldn't make any sense to me. Roger

9:39

Whirley and Guardy Hammond got food poisoning immediately

9:42

after landing. Dan Fouts himself

9:44

said he went to some sage parlors. Cardinals

9:46

offensive line coach Jim Hannaffan purchased

9:48

two fighting beatles in a bamboo cage for

9:50

five hundred years. One of those

9:53

beatles ended up in Conrad Dobler's bed

9:55

as a prank. Who put it there? Jaggie

9:57

did put that one of those beetles in k He

10:03

was never any danger, I was saying, we

10:06

were worried about eating. Jackie claims

10:08

not to remember this. Remember

10:11

that a Cardinals player briefly stole

10:13

a bus from their Japanese guide, and

10:15

everyone players, coaches, in front

10:17

office personnel misunderstood

10:19

and were misunderstood by the Japanese

10:21

in a farcical translation comedy type

10:24

of way. But

10:28

it wasn't all hijiing s though. The

10:30

team really did try to spread the word of American

10:32

football around Japan. They

10:34

even helped coach a Japanese practice. Look

10:36

at that to even run up to the line of scrimmage. Oh

10:42

my god. After

10:46

a week of uh cultural

10:49

exchange, it was finally time for the

10:51

game itself, which honestly

10:53

was a bit of a letdown after the shenanigans during

10:55

the rest of the week. Except for one

10:58

little surprise. It was ris

11:00

Ling and the teams knew the astro turf would be slick,

11:03

but they didn't know about the lines. What

11:05

was interesting is the yard lines were

11:07

not chalk or paint. There was

11:09

some kind of foam or soap or something.

11:11

And there was one of the players that said that

11:14

he got tackled where they out of bounce line. It

11:16

took like five yards out of the yard marker off

11:18

the field because it was removable. They

11:20

still not really sure what it was made out of, but

11:23

you know, it wasn't permanent, that's for sure. Despite

11:25

a lackluster ten Cardinals

11:27

win in the rain, the Japanese fans

11:29

seemed to enjoy the football game, at

11:32

least Jackie Smith thinks, so they

11:34

had not a clue what was going on. They

11:36

didn't really know anything about the scoring

11:38

or anything about the plays or

11:41

what to look for, what to cheer for, what the first

11:44

down was, or anything else. Having

11:46

no clue what was happening on the field didn't

11:48

stop the Japanese fans from cheering, though, and

11:51

they wanted to be as specific as

11:53

possible. All of a sudden, there

11:55

would be some noise breaking

11:57

out and people call it hollering

11:59

and saying something that we finally figured out

12:01

it was a group of them. They were

12:04

taking names off of the roster and then they would

12:06

try to I'll say it Jackie

12:08

smith S, M I z Z. So

12:11

it was as close as they could give to it, and

12:14

uh, it never did come out correct

12:16

as far as the way it was pronounced. I

12:19

remember the sayings being enthusiastic.

12:22

I've seen a few baseball games in Japan

12:24

on TV and he's kind of saying

12:26

that being orchestrated. The

12:28

shooting people stand up in the middle of the group,

12:31

and they'll be leading all these years since

12:33

they get into it. Other chants included

12:36

Chargers, Chargers bon bons

12:39

or my personal favorite, Cardinals attacked

12:41

the ball baza

12:52

at the end of the game. The fans were ecstatic,

12:54

the media in a frenzy, and the players,

12:57

we're just ready to go home. I like

12:59

it, We're ready all I

13:02

don't have it because I'm going home perfect.

13:05

So what's the takeaway from the Mini Starbowl?

13:08

What did Frank Takahashi's let his money

13:10

really buy the band? Result was

13:12

a very good time for the team and a

13:14

lot of goodwill between people's of a different

13:16

nature. Japan

13:20

experienced a bit of a football craze in the eighties

13:22

and nineties. Tom Banks was surprised

13:24

to see the beginnings of it before a single

13:26

down of the Nice Start Bull had even been

13:29

played. We went into department stores

13:31

and they were huge. This one we

13:33

went into had a sporting good section

13:36

kick up most of the floor and they had

13:38

a lot of NFL memorabilia,

13:41

jerseys and the trash kids,

13:43

pens, all this NFL stuff

13:46

were he goes. They were having the football

13:48

here, what's all this stuff do? But they

13:50

loved having TV shows of NFL

13:53

games. Since Frank Takahashi

13:55

willed an NFL game on Japanese soil,

13:58

the NFL has played thirteen more

14:00

preseason games in Japan, but

14:02

none since two thousand five. The

14:04

NFL has largely abandoned Japan to focus

14:07

on Europe and Mexico. But

14:09

the min Starboard did do a little bit of what

14:11

Frank Takahashi set out to do in spreading

14:13

American football to Japan, just

14:16

as John Gunning, who covers Japanese football

14:18

for NHK, The Japan Times

14:20

and Inside Sports Japan. If there's

14:22

one thing I can say about Japanese American football,

14:25

it's it's very nostalgia heavy,

14:27

so a lot of the the good

14:29

old days and the glory days is a big

14:31

point for a lot of the people who would be the power

14:33

brokers in the sports. Still, it was probably

14:36

as it's then it's its

14:38

peak, it's most popular

14:40

point in the twenty

14:44

years following the Starboard, I would say

14:51

in those following years from seventy

14:53

six all the way to there

14:56

was a college football all star game play in Japan

14:58

called Unimagined. It of ly the

15:00

Japan Ball, and they got to see

15:03

the good stuff. Here's Bob Jackson

15:05

housing a swing pass in the first Japan Ball.

15:09

Paul Jackson, Who's going to catch them? That's

15:12

hurt nobody

15:14

nine and

15:18

the NFL even came back for a preseason

15:20

game. Nearly every year from Football

15:24

in Japan was hot, but

15:27

not even the power of the football boom could resist

15:29

Japan's economic bust in the nineties.

15:32

I think what did it in was

15:34

a lot of the teams that were very popular

15:37

were backed by banks. When

15:39

the financial crash happened in the late

15:41

nineties, a lot of the banks pulled out,

15:43

so a lot of the teams lost their sponsors went

15:45

to the wall. The money wasn't there to

15:48

ensure it was on TV, and

15:50

it was a cascade effect basically.

15:52

Once that sort of rug was pulled out from underneath

15:54

them, the sport declined

15:56

fairly rapidly, but ironically,

15:59

as it was getting less and less popular,

16:02

the level was rising. It was

16:04

almost an inverse curve, so you know,

16:06

it got stronger and stronger, and then probably

16:08

over the last ten years,

16:11

the level has just gone through the roof. You know,

16:13

we have guys who were stars

16:15

at FBS programs and who you know,

16:17

did really well in the NFL comps and they come to Japan

16:19

and they just get humiliated. So

16:24

the football is stronger than ever, at

16:26

least on the field, but the NFL probably

16:29

won't be coming back to Japan anytime soon.

16:31

The popularity has died down. But

16:34

there's also no Frank Takashi to leave the charge

16:37

Ords. Instead, the NFL

16:39

is determining its own international policy.

16:42

The NFL decided, pull

16:44

on, we can put teams in other countries

16:46

and play actual games, which is what

16:48

they're doing now. Japan really

16:51

couldn't have been a consideration for them.

16:53

It's just too far geographically, the

16:55

time zones are wildly

16:58

different. If the NFL was playing here you have two

17:01

m kickoffs in the US, which would just be a non

17:03

starter. And also the

17:05

language, the culture of the food, the

17:08

logistics, everything is a hundred times

17:10

more difficult for an English speaking

17:12

American team in Japan than it would

17:14

be in for example, London or

17:16

even Germany, and there is a

17:19

a path to growth in those

17:21

countries. There are large existing NFL

17:24

fan bases, which you can see with the games that

17:26

are in those countries, they're sold out all the

17:28

time. I don't think Japan has the same kind

17:30

of dedicated NFL

17:32

fan base. There are a lot of maybe casual fans

17:34

who would have gone to games, but the football

17:39

definitely doesn't have the same kind of

17:41

intensity among its fan base in Japan.

17:44

A catch twenty two. For international

17:46

NFL games, you need fans to

17:49

get fans. You need to be able to see the games

17:51

live. The Starboard did that.

17:54

It grabbed the imagination of the Japanese people,

17:56

at least for a while there. It was an

17:58

experiment. We want all out to see what

18:02

it was like. And when we got outside and there

18:04

were a lot of people want to say hi

18:06

to us, I guess or whatever, I

18:08

have some photographs or some kids

18:10

on my lap and they were very family,

18:13

very outgoing, and and then now reluctant

18:15

to come over and talk to us at all. And

18:18

they live spools, not catafilt the kidship

18:21

with the mind you we're being there, and they were responding

18:23

to if that being there making

18:25

friends is how you make future fans. Japan

18:28

still loves football now. The

18:30

NFL just needs to bring the games back to

18:33

Japan. Attack the ball

18:35

fun side.

18:44

Thanks for listening, everybody, and a reminder to please

18:46

rate and review the show. It helps people find

18:49

us. Sports Illustrated

18:51

Weekly is a production of Sports Illustrated

18:53

and I Heart Radio. For more

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podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit

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the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

19:00

or wherever you get your favorite shows. And

19:03

for more of Sports Illustrated's best stories and

19:05

podcasts, visit SI dot com.

19:08

This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced

19:10

by Jordan Rozsieri, Jessica Armoski,

19:13

and Isaac Lee, who was also our

19:15

sound engineer. Our

19:17

senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry

19:19

sward Out. Our executive

19:21

producers are Scott Brody and me John

19:23

Gonzalez. Our theme song

19:26

is by Nolan Schneider and if

19:28

you've stuck around this song, we leave you with

19:30

this. Jack was really

19:33

a great teammate and

19:35

he was quite a jokester. Kane

19:37

was getting getting set for a national interview

19:40

and during training camp in UM in

19:42

St. Louis, and he brought a brand

19:45

new pair of jeans and he had

19:47

a face. He showed that Phillis Shuis

19:49

was gonna do it. Was her first he being

19:52

on the NFL broadcast and she had

19:54

this all set up to interview Conrad

19:56

and Jackie took some serzis and cut

19:58

one of the legs off his new gene and

20:01

I'm standing there in the locker going

20:03

told you that guy dude that he

20:05

might have a heart attack. Well, they did it anyway,

20:08

and he came. He didn't

20:10

know when he went to put his pants on, his foot

20:13

went through the leg and he just started

20:16

screaming and he picked up the bench

20:18

and threw it into the water. I was I really

20:20

working, so he might have a heart sack. He just was so upset

20:23

and Jackie

20:26

and nobody returns who did it but Jackie and

20:29

lended him uh pair his hands

20:31

up