It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up.

Look at that, a World Series actually amounting to something in this day and age. Heck, with Pettitte on the mound tonight, we may even get a Game 7 for the first time in ages!

The series started out with a real bang and looked like it would be close after Cliff Lee took the mound against Sabathia, but it quickly took a turn for the Yankees as they mostly dominated the next three games with great performances from Burnett, Pettitte, and Sabathia.

Game 5 was a complete surprise, given Burnett’s great performance in Game 2, but the Phillies pounded him and held a respectable lead most of the game (but almost lost it). Special mention should be made of Chase Utley, who has tied Reggie Jackson for the most home runs hit in a single World Series at five (he locked down the most for the National League and most for a second baseman earlier). Tonight he just might pass him against a short rest Pettitte.

With the series now at 3-2 Yankees, we can all only hope to see the Phillies turn in a win tonight make the series even for a super-exciting Game 7. Rumor has it there might even be snow showers on Thursday, so it will be interesting.

In Japan Series news, their series is 2-1 in favor of the Giants. After a big win in Game 1, the Fighters surprised everyone by trotting out Yu Darvish to take on the Giants. Still hurt, he pitched with a modified delivery, relied on his curve ball and other junk pitches, and still turned in a marvelous game for the Fighters’ only win. They’ve really got to even up the series next game or they’ll be in a huge hole against the Giants

A blurry shot of the terminal from Japan on the day I left.

Wow, what an early morning it was. Up at 0430 to finalize my packing and get ready to leave, we made our way to the train station around 0515 to catch a train back to Tokyo leaving at 0600. It’s brutal getting up that early and we even had to wait a while for the station to open at 0530. Along the way I spotted some great Engrish that makes sense when you initially read it, but when taken literally seems like an ominous warning by a secret, evil lobby.

Paid for by the Citizens Against Cyclists in Sendai

Once we got back to Tokyo Station, it was a routine trip back through the station to the airport shuttle to head home. The international check-in terminal had a super long line and customs took a while to get through, but I was finally at the gate about to leave the country that had been my home for the past 2.5 weeks. Boarding was bittersweet, of course. I was ready to go home, but still longing to see more baseball in Nippon.

There’s not much more to say about the trip home, I’m sorry to say, so this is going to be a pretty short one. I did get a chance to eat a final, amazing curry meal as the flight served fantastic seafood curry.

Fantastic

Wait, I lied, there is one more thing worth mentioning. I pulled up a subtitled movie called Oppai Volleyball that had a rather interesting, very Japanese plot. It was about a group of perverted middle school boys and their ambitious teacher. The boys were in the volleyball club, but they never played and all they really did was think about and talk about girls. When she was put in charge of the club, she found it hard to motivate the boys and promised anything to them if they would just ganbare. Their condition: she must show them her boobs if they win just one game. Anyway, that was the premise and it was a pretty funny movie, to boot. The highlight would have to be the amazing, slow-motion beatdown that the best team in the area dishes on the boys as they lose their big game. It’s nice to see that sort of thing subverted, especially since it would be statutorily wrong.

After not sleeping at all on the flight, I was pretty exhausted on the way back home, but I soldiered on and tried to stay awake until it was a normal time for this time zone to snooze.

Sorry it was so short and unsatisfying, but stay tuned for the post-trip epilogue and jersey specials later in the week.

Deep from the trenches, it’s time for your Monday video feature: Embedded Reporter.

Some of you have already seen this, but this is a clip from an insane Japanese prank show.

This is precisely the kind of thing that could never happen in the States. I can’t even imagine how fast the lawsuits would fly in if a show was as intense with its pranks as they are in Japan.

That being said, it’s hilarious.