The Colonel is found

Yes - the Colonel Saunders statue thrown into the Dotonbori by celebrating Tigers fans has been found. Missing its legs but recogniseable it was found near the left bank of the river. The curse is lifted.

Thats quite an unbelievable and a hilarious story. After all these years, the Colonel was found! The curse is now over and Hanshin can enter a new era.

On the night in question the colonel was removed from outside a now closed Kentucky Fried Chicken shop. Thrown from the Dotonbori he floated 180 metres where he sank breaking in two. Osaka government are now working riverside walkway and it was during these works that the Colonel was rediscovered. The bottom half and right hand were found today and the Colonel is now almost complete.

I was fortunate enough to go to Osaka a couple of times between 2004 - 2007 and I would usually stay near Minami. The river side in Osaka is really nice. Good distinct atmosphere there that you don´t find in Tokyo or Yokohama. I saw how Dotonbori changed with the glass they put after the 2005 season to prevent people jumping in. I also saw that there was some major construction going on the river but this I never expected.

The debate in Osaka is what to do with the Colonel now. Of course Tigers would like him to be displayed in the museum but how? Some fans think he should be just as he is. Others think he should be rennovated and painted in Tigers colours. A 'real dilema'. Fukuii Prefecture (famous for glasses manufacture) has offered to supply the Colonel with a free replacement set of glasses. There is no information about whether the offer will be accepted.

An update. The restoration of the colonel is almost complete and he will be unveiled next week. His permanent home following negotiations with KFC Japan is likely to be Koshien Stadium where he will occupy a special place of honour in the museum.

Maybe they should also make him acting manager--he can't do any worse than Mayumi

> Maybe they should also make him acting manager--he
> can't do any worse than Mayumi

Hilarious! Mayumi does seem to have his secret recipe of 11 ways to fail and end up in 5th place.

Thank goodness for the Baystars otherwise it would be cellar dweller time for the Tigers thanks to Mayumi.

This Colonel Saunders is probably not the most clean Colonel in the world. Imagine being in Dotonbori river in Osaka since 1985. It's not exactly the cleanest river in the world. If they are going to have it in a museum, I wonder if they are going to clean him up or else this Colonel might trigger some kind of funky disease which will make Tsernobyl, SARS and Swine Flu look cute in comparison. Maybe have him behind some disease proof glass?

You can rest assured he is the now the cleanest colonel in the world. Japan has a mania for cleanliness and he will have been disinfected and scrubbed right down to the last millimetre. In fact any germ or pest landing on him will probably die from the overkill of disinfectant he has been subject to.