Answer Person, since the Japanese teams seem to be consistently beating the Americans in the Olympics (men’s gymnastics, swimming, judo, table tennis, etc.), have any Duke sports teams ever played games in Japan? Also, who is the better Japanese player in America, Ichiro or Matsui?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Yes, AP knows of at least one event in Japan. On December 1, 1991 the Duke football team played Clemson in the Coca-Cola Bowl in Tokyo. The Coca-Cola Bowl was really just a regular season game, often two teams in the same conference, held in Tokyo each year. See http://goblue.jp/football/ncaainjapan.htm . There may have been other Duke sports events in Japan, perhaps many others. This doesn’t seem to have been compiled in any one place, but you’re welcome to visit the University Archives on the 3rd floor of Perkins Library and tediously look through the records of all the sports programs over the years. Regarding baseball players, AP prefers to stay out of arguments about which sports stars are tops, and maybe it’s best to wait a few years and look back in hindsight. Matsui is a more gentlemanly guy (isn’t he?), which counts for something in my book regardless of his relative playing ability.