Bucs' Samurai warrior loving life in the NFL

[Gunzlingr]

Actually, Shinzo Yamada doesn't call himself that now because he's in the NFL -- and if you are a native of Japan getting a chance, however briefly, to fulfill your dream of being in the world's greatest American football league, well, you don't kid around.

Yamada currently is a member of the world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This glorious opportunity came to him because the Bucs soon will be traveling halfway around the globe to face the East Rutherford Jets in the 2003 American Bowl in Tokyo on Aug. 2.

Working out and traveling with the Jets is Yoshinobu Imoto, a friend of Shin's and a recent teammate of his when they played on yet another continent with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.

So Shin, 29, is lucky, but luck is when opportunity and preparation meet. Shin is a fast, hard-hitting linebacker. Granted, by NFL standards, he's hardly large (he's about 6 feet and 212 pounds), but he's big enough to be out there with the Bucs every day during camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

And he's a little bit awed.

more (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/football/pro/buccaneers/orl-sptgreene23072303jul23,0,5107269.column?coll=orl-bucs)

[BillsFever]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Some of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are grumbling, at least privately, about the 13,000 miles of roundtrip travel they'll be making to Japan this week for an exhibition game against the New York Jets.

But not linebacker Shinzo Yamada.

``I don't know what a good time for them is,'' Yamada said, who said he's gotten plenty of questions from his teammates about what to expect in Tokyo. ``I've taken their requests and I've asked my Japanese friends to be ready.''

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-buccaneers-japantrip&prov=ap&type=lgns

[The_Philster]

Japan's Shinzo Yamada wants to increase interest in football at home while playing for the Bucs.
Shinzo Yamada doesn't have as much trouble adjusting to a zone blitz as he does the time zone.

Sleep rarely visited the Japanese linebacker at night during Bucs training camp in Lake Buena Vista, instead invading during the defensive meeting while teammates nudged him to stay awake.

That's what happens when you cross the international dateline to play in the NFL. For Yamada, the experience has been as different as, well, night and day....

more (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/30/Bucs/For_temporary_Buc__a_.shtml)

[The_Philster]

LAKE BUENA VISTA - Excited yet apprehensive, players bolted from the practice fields Monday morning and headed to Tampa to prepare for this morning's flight to Tokyo.

"Let's be honest, you can't underestimate what's occurring here in the middle of your camp," coach Jon Gruden said. "You're leaving to go back to Tampa, pack your bags and fly 20 hours across the globe. It's going to challenge our football team, I think their concentration and mental discipline.

"But I think it'll be good for us in the big picture and, hopefully, it'll be an experience we can look back upon for years to come."...more (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/29/Bucs/Gruden_expecting_good.shtml)

[The_Philster]

A 15-hour plane ride doesn't keep Warren Sapp from being himself, but Jon Gruden is ready for business.
TOKYO - The floor bounced from his booming voice, the walls shook from his laughter.

You could hear the ferocious footsteps as Warren Sapp prepared to take over Tokyo.

Then he walked by fluttering a yellow, paper fan like a 300-pound geisha.

"You know I get a souvenir wherever we go," Sapp said, flapping the fan, called a sensu.

Who said Sapp isn't fan friendly?...
more (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/31/Bucs/Bucs_wake_up_a_world_.shtml)