By now, Wisconsin and Michigan State football players should be getting adjusted to Japan, land of the rising sum.
For a hefty guaranteed appearance fee, those Big 10 teams agreed to play a very important game there Saturday night, which is why they left here Tuesday afternoon. At least they were supposed to leave here Tuesday afternoon. Both squads booked the same charter flight from O’Hare, their first mistake. The Badgers and Spartans might be doing windsprints on a runway as we speak while their plane is delayed.
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Of course, naysayers think this whole idea reeks. With a victory over Michigan State, Wisconsin will go to the Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of them all. But Saturday night’s Coca-Cola Bowl, the Tokyo Rose Bowl, will be staged 8,000 miles from the Madison campus where this home game was scheduled until it was sold. Not since 1963 have the Badgers earned a trip to the Rose Bowl. So what happens? They finally learn how to tie their shoes, and now they have to take them off before dinner.
In fact, most of the criticism is unwarranted. Playing the game in Tokyo might be more inconvenient than playing it in Madison, but it will be safer. Japanese fans won’t try to storm the field, even if Coca-Cola is giving out free golf balls. The people there are just too polite. It also will be less distracting. The local 24-hour sports-talk radio station isn’t likely to bug coach Barry Alvarez for interviews, and the bellhop probably won’t be asking for tickets.
Jet lag could be a problem. A sleep doctor is in the traveling party, but if the Badgers have trouble dozing off, all they really need are tapes of Bo Schembechler’s past Michigan teams trying to cross the 50-yard line at Pasadena on New Year’s Day. The food shouldn’t bother the Badgers. They had a preparatory sushi bash before departing, and raw fish is better for your cholesterol count than cheese, anyway. Buster Douglas left Tokyo after upsetting Mike Tyson, gained 100 pounds, almost exploded and has never been the same.
Besides, in addition to sending boxers over there, we’ve sent plenty of sports teams. In July, the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles played an exhibition game in Tokyo. Houston and Seattle opened the last regular NBA season there. A long time ago, the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts accomplished one of the most difficult feats in professional sports. They both missed the NHL playoffs. So they made a tour of Japan. Some cynics considered that our revenge for Pearl Harbor.
When the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, they made a postseason journey to Japan and were treated royally. The Japanese love baseball, although that could change if George Bell winds up playing in a league over there. Above all, though, the Japanese are into golf. When they aren’t buying country clubs, they’re buying souvenirs. The most exciting moment at the Masters every April isn’t when Gene Sarazen hits the ceremonial first tee shot. It’s when the Augusta National pro shop opens for tourist business.
There isn’t anything more American than Coca-Cola, and the company wanted Big 10 teams. The initial bid was $300,000 in 1989. Three years ago, Wisconsin and Michigan State settled for $400,000 each, plus plane tickets for athletes, coaches, school officials, bands, cheerleaders and sleep doctors. It seemed like a fine proposition at the time because the 1991 Wisconsin-Michigan State game in Madison was contested before 36,000 empty seats.
Alvarez wanted a “special experience” for his student-athletes, and so did Wisconsin chancellor Donna Shalala, now part of President Clinton’s White House team. So Saturday night’s date was finalized.
To take Tokyo’s pulse, I called my old friend, Toshihiko Sawada, director of the Japanese National Tourist Organization office in Chicago.
“Who do you like in the Coca-Cola Bowl?” I asked. “Wisconsin or Michigan State?”
“Soccer?” Mr. Sawada said.
Obviously, Japan can’t wait.