Japan's baseball stadiums urged to drop octopus, save planet

[Mugu]

TOKYO (AFP) - Animal rights activists on Tuesday urged Japanese baseball stadiums to give up their usual fare of hot dogs and fried octopus balls and go vegetarian to fight global warming.

Japan's baseball commissioners announced as the season opened last week that the national pastime would take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in particular by speeding up games.

But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it would be more effective for concession stands to serve exclusively vegetarian fare.

"By selling only vegetarian foods, your baseball league will become a leader in the fight against global warming," PETA said in a letter to Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro.


Complete article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080325/od_afp/japananimalclimatewarmingbaseball_080325062923

[NightWatcher]

1. the day that I cant buy a hotdog here at a ballgame is the day America is dead to me

I dont always buy a dog at the ballpark, but I like the freedom to do so.

If they touch my beer, I will riot (under the influence of course)

[Gato Moteado]

14. yeah, ya gotta love those slimy, tasteless hotdogs and stale buns at the ballpark

i'm from chicago where the hotdog is sacred. i can't stand the sight of a ballpark dog in any US baseball park.

a hotdog should be a steamed vienna or david berg kosher redhot (sinais are great too) on a mary ann poppy seed bun (also steamed). the dog should include yellow mustard, chopped onions, a pickle spear, tomato slices, relish, a couple of sport peppers and a dash of celery salt.

do not attempt to put ketchup on a chicago hotdog, please. it's disgusting, not to mention probably illegal in cook county.

as for octopi, yeah, the japanese should probably cut back on those as well as whales as our oceans are being depleted.

[tired_old_fireman]

15. replace the word "hotdog" with SUV/gun etc. and you perfectly state the reason America is fucked

Even people who identify themselves as progressives cry every time somebody suggests they should sacrifice things as small as hotdogs at ball games in order to help the environment.

As for the beer, I used to think like you. But, they took it out of college football and I survived. I actually think it made me like the games more. Personally, I'd rather people smoked pot at ballgames than drank themselves to the point of fighting and chanting at women to show their boobs. There is not the freedom to do that in America.

[RedCappedBandit]

17. How much does a hot dog go for these days?

(At a game) 5 dollars?

[bryant69]

2. I love a good bratwurst. Delicious stuff, and seems like good baseball food

I've never had fried octopus balls - are they like fried calimari?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Chovexani]

10. Takoyaki is yummy

They're not chewy like calimari. There's a little hole in the wall restaurant in the East Village in Manhattan that makes takoyaki to die for, and it's cheap.

I'd imagine they sell it at ballgames because it's very much street food, the hot dogs are here.

[spinbaby]

3. Mmmm...octopus balls

Just wouldn't be baseball without them.

[frylock]

26. let's play two!

[flvegan]

4. So the female octopus is safe?

I love a good PETA thread.

:popcorn:

[spinbaby]

9. How many balls does an octopus have?

Eight?

[flvegan]

12. No, silly, that's teNtacles.

:rofl:

I know the spelling would still be wrong, but I'm trying to sell a joke.

[Taverner]

5. This will be like the famous peanut incident in SF in the 50's

When the Peanut Was Banned From Baseball
By Gaylon H. White

The following article initially was published in The National Pastime, issue Number 16. The National Pastime is a publication of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Peanuts are as much a part of baseball as the seventh-inning stretch. They were around long before the San Diego Chicken. They preceded domed stadiums, artificial turf, body-hugging uniforms and multimillion-dollar contracts. But for one day in 1950, the peanut was banned from baseball.

The place: San Francisco. The culprit: Paul Fagan, fastidious millionaire owner of the San Francisco Seals baseball team of the Pacific Coast League.

Fagan was, in many ways, an early-day George Steinbrenner, always embroiled in controversy. At a time when there were only 16 major-league teams and none west of St. Louis, he agitated for the triple-A PCL to become the third major league. Most appalling to baseball men, he criticized baseball's reserve clause that tied players to one team until they were traded or released, calling it "illegal" and "un-American".

Seals Manager Lefty O'Doul tried to silence Fagan but to no avail. Fagan was determined not only to change the game but to clean it up.

<SNIP>

...During a telephone conversation with C.L. (Brick) Laws, owner of the archrival Oakland Oaks, Fagan casually mentioned he was going to ban husked peanuts and sell salted peanuts instead.

The official announcement followed on February 16, 1950.

"We lose five cents on every bag of peanuts sold in the ballpark," Fagan complained. "That's $20,000 a year. It costs us 7 1/2 cents to pick up the husks and our profit on a dime bag is just 2 1/2 cents. The goober has to go."

That did it. San Francisco went nuts.

A druggist groaned, "To me, baseball without peanuts would be like mush without salt." A beer vendor proclaimed, "I would as soon wrestle a tiger as take peanuts away from the baseball fans." An office girl sniffed, "Just like a man to think of something as nutty as that."

Irate callers jammed the stadium switchboard, threatening to boycott Seals games. Other fans revolted by making plans to bring their own peanuts and scatter the shells. Radio newscasts lamented the depressing state of affairs. Newspapers up and down the West Coast editorially rushed to the peanut's defense. "To many deep, dyed-in-the-wool fans," the Los Angeles Herald Express commented, "it was just like ripping the heart out of baseball itself. The privilege of buying, shelling and eating peanuts at the ball game is just too sacred."

<SNIP>


http://www.hawkeegn.com/Seals/peaball.html

[NV Whino]

6. No, I'm sorry. You don't touch my ballpark franks!

You can cancel the game before you eliminate my hot dogs. And don't even think about touching the beer.

Mind you, I haven't been to a game in eons, but some things are just sacred.

[LisaM]

7. Next thing you know, they're going to ask Red Wings' fans not to throw octopus on the ice!

Is there no end to the madness?

[devilgrrl]

20. I hope the NHL does just that.

What happened to good old rubber chickens?

[LisaM]

21. How does a rubber chicken symbolize 8 wins to the Stanley Cup?

Aha!

[devilgrrl]

23. Rubber chickens have 8 teeth

:P

[maxsolomon]

8. delicious, nutricious tofu dogs!

without petrochemical inputs, there isn't going to be as much factory meat in the future.

i love meat (and octopus) as much as anyone, but you should learn to develop a taste for vegetarian fare.

the earth's future requires it.

[bryant69]

13. The earth has no future, so there's little point worrying about it n/t

[maxsolomon]

29. that's what i tell myself every time i eat sushi

;)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Do octopuses emit a large amount of greenhouse gas?

:shrug:

[Chovexani]

16. They do if they eat that stadium bratwurst.

[Matariki]

18. Oh yay. another PETA thread.

in case it's needed: :sarcasm:

[devilgrrl]

19. Good. I think the NHL should ask Detroit Red Wing fans to do the same.

What a stupid tradition.

[LisaM]

22. Only people who support teams with NO traditions

think other traditions are stupid!

[devilgrrl]

24. Oh yeah, how about the lame trend going on in Montreal?

The fans singing that stupid Soccer song "ole ole ole ole" - :wtf: is up with that? That's not a hockey song!

:grr:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

25. Don't they drop octopus at Detroit hockey games? n/t

[LisaM]

27. Yes, they do.

They get them at the Eastern Market, and they bring them to games and throw them on the ice.

It's symbolic of the 8 wins that it used to take to win the Stanley Cup (when there were only six teams in the NHL).

[devilgrrl]

28. What do Red Wing fans throw on the ice when they get ousted in the 1st round?

:P