Red Sox season starts far from home

On the eve of the Red Sox opening day, I could not possibly talk about anything else. Even though the Sox open the regular season 6735.40 miles from home in Tokyo, Japan, Red Sox fans are literally counting the seconds until the defense of the title 2007 World Champions begins.

As the home team doesn't return to Fenway Park until April 8, some fans decided to go to them. It was reported by local news stations last night that some fans paid $5,000 to fly to Tokyo and see the season opener.

Tomorrow morning's game will air live on ESPN2 at 6:05am, and former Japanese baseball star Daisuke Matsuzaka will be starting for Boston. The Red Sox will be facing the Oakland Athletics, continuing the brand new tradition of American professional sports teams playing regular season games abroad.

Last October, the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants traveled to London to play a regular season game at Wembley Stadium. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres also played baseball in Asia this spring, with a two-game exhibition series in Beijing, China.

Despite the criticism of the long trips being hard on the players, I think bringing America's games abroad is a good idea and I would be in favor of hosting more foreign games in the United States. Some European soccer matches have been played here in recent history and I think expanding that to more sports would be a good way to share world cultures.