Talk:Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

I love it!

"Nippon Ham Fighters" is quite possibly the most awesome name for a sports team I've ever heard. I wanto to see them play the Reds. ChildeRolandofGilead 02:21, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Anecdote

Removed a line stating that English speakers often mistake their name as "Ham Fighters" - I've lived in Sapporo (the team's home city) since before the franchise moved here, and I've never once encountered this. Unless this can be backed up somehow, it's nothing more than a personal anecdote. --Saiing 23:29, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

The "Ham Fighters" meme is quite popular. Googling for "Ham Fighters" -"Nippon Ham Fighters" gives >10k hits. A lot of those are fantasy teams, named in homage to what people assume to be the name. So, I think the statement is accurate. Neier 23:51, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Out of curiosity I did just what you suggested and Googled it. In the first 20 or so pages I found one seemingly genuine mistake, and about 6 examples of people pointing out that this is a common mistake. It seems to me, that it's not so much misunderstood, as frequently pointed out as being misunderstood. I can't see any good reason for keeping it, but there's no point in deleting it because presumably you'll just reinstate it again. I would reiterate though, that in all the time I've lived in Japan, this is something I've never heard. I really don't think it's as widespread as you think --Saiing 04:12, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

It may or may not widespread in Japan; but that is not the point. References to "The Ham Fighters" are not just a personal anecdote. About half-way down the first google results page, is an article about Trey possibly being the Rangers next manager, from a main newspaper in Dallas (Arlington) http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/mlb/texas_rangers/15739524.htm (with "the Ham Fighters") and one from ESPN about the series http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2633869 (which correctly uses "Fighters" in the article, but "Ham Fighters" without the Nippon in front as the headline). Neier 09:56, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

How about a compromise? Changed "often misinterpret" to "sometimes misinterpret" - Although it's a minor point, I think the word 'often' overstates the issue. --Saiing 01:17, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I don’t think it does. You can count me among the masses who initially parsed the name as [Japan] [Fighters of Ham]. Nippon is a fairly well known endonym even to non-Japanese speakers, but Nippon Ham, though a giant conglomerate, is virtually unknown outside the country, or at least in the Western Hemisphere. Additionally, Japan is well known for cutesy anthropomorphic characters, cultural practices which seem bizarre or ridiculous to outsiders (squid-flavoured candy?? sake and panties vending machines??), and mangled or nonsensical “Engrish” phrases (Bathing Ape??). Quite frankly, your experience living in the country skews your perception—of course English speakers living in Japan are unlikely to make that mistake, but for a North American who’s never heard of Nippon Ham, the Ham Fighters seems perfectly logical.

ADDENDUM: They appear to have added a hyphen to their logo, despite the company name being Nippon Ham (not Nippon-Ham), presumably to avoid just this sort of ambiguity. —Wiki Wikardo 19:19, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

Uniforms

The pictures of their uniforms could really use some work. They look like someone half-assed drawing them in paint, literally. Tithonfury 22:56, 30 October 2007 (UTC)