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.
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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
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