Why Are Seahawks In Tokyo?

TOKYO - Is this trip really necessary?

Two football teams spent their Tuesday, flying into Wednesday, chasing the sun across the Pacific. Dinner was served at midnight, and they had to close the shades to block the sun.

Ten hours of flying for the Seattle Seahawks. Twelve hours for the Denver Broncos. Almost another hour through customs. Another 90 minutes through Tokyo's choking traffic that makes the Seattle commute look as smooth as a Sunday drive in Othello. No wonder cab fare from Narita Airport to downtown Tokyo is more than $150.

They left Tuesday morning, crossed the international dateline and arrived at nightfall Wednesday. (It is dark in Tokyo by 7 p.m.)

Most of them ate dinner in the hotel. A beefsteak sandwich in the coffee shop cost them about $35. Rookie Seahawk Derek Loville's steak at Trader Vic's ran him almost $50.

Is this trip really necessary?

``I lost a day here and I can't seem to get it back,'' Coach Dan Reeves of the Broncos joked at a press conference this afternoon.

The Seahawks were awakened at 6 a.m. (The wakeup call at the New Otani Hotel includes the sound of chirping birds, a nice touch.) They had their team meetings at 7:15.

They left for practice at 10:30 a.m. and, beginning at 11 a.m., worked in 89-degree steam heat, side by side with their dreaded division rivals, the Broncos.

Imagine in the secretive world of the National Football League, two division rivals practicing together. That's like the Soviets and the United States engaging in joint war games at Fort Lewis. The Broncos traveled nearly 7,000 miles to get an early peek at the Seahawks' new variation of the run-and-shoot offense.

Rubbery legs slogged through the high humidity and thick grass of Oda Field for more than two hours.

By 3:30, the players, many of them with their wives and girlfriends, were off to see the sights. Hailing cabs to explore the Ginza shopping area. Testing the efficient Tokyo subway system. Heading for dinner in the Roppongi.

Instead of their playbooks, they carried cameras. Instead of knocking heads, they held hands.

Is this any way to run a training camp?

``We're looking at it as an opportunity that a lot of our players and people in our organization wouldn't otherwise have,'' Reeves said. ``But it's definitely not a field trip. Remember, the 49ers and Rams played here last year and the 49ers beat us in the Super Bowl.''

These are great times we live in. Football coaches in the 1990s are concerned about broadening their players' horizons.

``We have two objectives,'' Seahawk Coach Chuck Knox said. ``Number one is to take care of business. But number two is toK expose our players to the culture. To meet the people.''

But will this cultural exchange in August help them in Miami in December? Will a visit to the Imperial Palace help them beat the New England Patriots?

Reeves and Knox wouldn't announce it to a room packed with Japanese journalists today, but if they had their druthers, they probably would like to be at their respective training camps. Several Seahawk players admitted privately they wondered why they were here.

The purpose of this trip is purely economic. The Seahawks and Broncos are exporting their game to Asia. Saturday's American Bowl exhibition game is another step in the international marketing of the NFL.

Tokyo is sports-hungry. Fourteen golf courses are under construction. Almost every game of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team inside the Tokyo Dome is sold out. The NBA's Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz will open their seasons here in November.

They even have parimutuel betting on powerboat races here, a wonderful concept the Seafair people should consider. (Tip: Bet a Miss Budweiser-Mr. Pringle's exacta in Seattle Sunday.)

And now U.S. football is taking hold. Ticket prices for the American Bowl in the 43,000-seat Tokyo Dome run from $35 to $225. Fewer than 500 are unsold.

``The logistics of finding a place to play is our biggest problem,'' said Kenneth Swensen, director of the Kanto Collegiate American Football Federation. ``We have 100 college teams playing in Tokyo, and we have a real problem finding a place to practice and play.

``We have to play three and four games a day on the same field. A few fields in the lower college divisions don't even have goal posts.

``It is becoming very popular. I know this because you see the prettiest girls with the football players now.''

Swensen said the talent level of Japan's best college teams is close to American high-school talent, but the lower divisions are equivalent to junior-high football.

He said the skill positions are the most sophisticated. Linemen suffer from a lack of technique and size. The average college offensive lineman here weighs 180 pounds.

There is a Japanese Super Bowl, the Rice Bowl, where the best college team plays the best commercial team. Last year, Nippon University beat the Asahi Company.

Nippon, in fact, is the Notre Dame of Japanese football. It practices in this smothering heat for more than three hours. The players' mothers bring food to practice for the coaches.

``Their coach, Mr. Shinotake, will sit under a tent, eating kiwi,'' Swensen said. ``He will rarely come out from under that tent, while his players work. Nippon is very good. All of the good players want to go there to play.''

Chuck Knox will be happy to know Japanese football even has its cliches:

Nai Sode Fure Nai.

Loosely translated, it means, ``If your kimono doesn't have long sleeves, you can't swing them.''

This weekend, in a strange setting, on a different continent, the Broncos and Seahawks will check the length of their sleeves.

Is this trip really necessary? Ask Knox and Reeves in December.

Steve Kelley's column usually is published Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Sports section of The Times.