Sunny
I take a walk around the neighborhood, which is not very popular due to the New Year’s holiday.
I go home and watch the Hakone Ekiden.
Many people around me like the Hakone Ekiden. I have often watched the race along with them, but I have never watched it voluntarily.
However, I now understand why people watch the Hakone Ekiden. In other words, it is the perfect program for New Year’s.
Movies are too heavy and variety shows are too noisy for lazy people in the mood for osechi and otoso. So, as I was changing channels, my hand stopped at the screen of Ekiden (relay relay race). There is no movement on the screen, so I don’t have to watch it as intently as I do with soccer. It is very easy.
People who like ekiden say that there is “drama” in it. Listening to various episodes from the past, I think it is indeed interesting. Some people say that the Hakone Ekiden is like high school baseball, and the New Year Ekiden (businessmen’s relay race) is like professional baseball. The Ekiden is like high school baseball, and the New Year Ekiden is like professional baseball, where you watch your favorite athletes develop over several years.
However, I would still inevitably change the Ekiden program. Because the frantic part of connecting the tasuki seems painful.
Even if the runner is badly injured, it is understandable to be moved by the part where the runner somehow manages to pass the tasuki to the next runner while limping, but for me, I just don’t want to watch it. If it were me, I would just abandon the race as soon as possible. To put it bluntly, I feel that this is somehow connected to the problem of overwork and death in this country.
Of all the sports, ekiden is, in fact, the ultimate team sport. I wonder if there is any other team sport, such as baseball or volleyball, in which injured players cannot be replaced in the middle of the race.
Whenever I say this, ekiden enthusiasts always scoff at me, saying that I don’t understand, but the fact remains that the race seems to be painful.
Because of these thoughts, I finally could not watch the Hakone Ekiden until the very end this year. If the rules are revised in the future and injured runners can be easily replaced, I may watch the race to the end. I wonder when that will be.
I will miss the New Year, which ends on the 3rd.
