In the United States, if you admire a home run you get thrown at.
If you get thrown at, about the best anyone ever does in response is to trot really slowly.
It’s sad -- I wish we had more flair about us -- but it’s our culture and we’re stuck with it for better or for worse.
That’s not the case everywhere, of course. Check out Kenji Akashi of Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Last night he hit a walkoff, er, sorry, sayonara three-run home run and was so happy about it he literally did back flips as he crossed home plate:
That whimper and bang you just heard was every U.S.-born pitcher simultaneously getting the vapors and then fainting.