Friday Funnies: A New Sport is Born

It's a special day when a previously unknown, unloved sport finds the light of day. This time it's the sport of handball. As the nightly news confirmed its existence, all Japanese were as surprised as I to see it on TV the other day. The glare of Japanese media itself thrusting this sport from obscurity into a riveting drama we see nightly on the TV. The impetus of handball's timely rise to fame is worth noting: an international scandal! You see, the Asian Handball League (it really exists!), is centered in the Middle East. South Korea and Japan have accused the body of biased officiating. The International Handball Federation (it really exists!) agreed, sanctioning a replay. International intrigue at its best! Does Japan bend to the Asian League's threat of disqualification if said rematch takes place or follow the International Federation's conflicting order? People in suits talk into mics. People bow. People run past banks of cameras. There are live reports from Saudi Arabia. As of the time of posting, there's no one place the reader can turn to follow the minute by minute developments of this continuing crisis, but as novelty Team Handball Japan products for the first time show up on store shelves, I have been sucked into the craziness and been sure to purchase my limited edition Team Japan Handball shirt, towel, spoon, back-scratcher and branded soy sauce. The story may finally have reached its apex this week when Team Japan unspectacularly lost its rematch. I think it will be awhile before Handball returns to the sports pages.