TOKYO WOES : Some Ram Players Say They Have Been Treated Like Ugly Americans During Visit

The Rams landed in Tokyo this week with what seemed a higher calling than mere football, bound to the resolve of owner Georgia Frontiere, who has once more extended a kind hand across the sea.

But for at least some of the players, the good will ended just outside the gates of their hotel.

Unlike the London trip two years ago, when the Rams roamed the streets freely, some players found the locals less than hospitable.

On Tuesday, the team’s first night in Tokyo, defensive end Doug Reed and several teammates set out to explore the city’s metropolitan section. Reed vowed Wednesday to change his yen back to dollars.

“I’m not going out anymore,” Reed said. “I’m going to sit in the hotel, and buy myself one of these VCR recorders. I’m finished. I’m forcing myself to spend all the money I have so I have no choice but to sit in my room and play with my fingers.”

Reed said a group of black players, including cornerback LeRoy Irvin, safeties Vince Newsome and James Washington, nose tackle Alvin Wright and fullback Buford McGee, were turned away from nearly every night spot they tried to enter.

When they attempted to return to the hotel after getting caught in a rainstorm, the players said cab drivers refused them service. Reed asked several pedestrians for assistance, but said he was repeatedly shunned. Eventually, an American women offered help.

Newsome thought the Japanese, especially the cab drivers, were intimidated by the football players’ size.

“It’s not really structured for Americans,” Newsome said. “And for black Americans, it’s going to really be a rough road. The (Japanese) are really intimidated. They have these stereotypes.”

Reed was more angered than Newsome by the reception. In 1981, he played in the Mirage Bowl here while attending San Diego State University. He remembered being treated much better then.

“It felt almost like going back to slavery, with no blacks allowed,” Reed said. “Or no Mexicans, whatever. When someone says ‘No foreigners,’ I mean, what is this? I’ve got this foreign currency. I’ve got your money in my pocket. And I can’t go in certain places? What’s wrong with my money? You guys come to the United States and it’s a free for all. And for them to have a barrier set up for us? Life is something.”

The players had an interpreter on the trip, Taro Tsujii, a friend of Irvin’s who had stayed with him during a recent visit to Southern California. It turns out he wasn’t much help.

Of the cab drivers, Reed said: “They had on their little red flashing light, meaning they’re available. We’d go up to a car and they’d turn it off real quick.”

Tsujii, who actually doesn’t speak much English, said it wasn’t so much a case of racism as the cab drivers being intimidated by the group of large players. Several drivers told the players they were too big to ride in their cabs.

“We kind of joked about it, saying maybe it’s because we’re Shaka Zulus or something,” Reed said. “You know, it’s really intended for all Americans. But probably us more than white Americans.”

Reed said he was later told the players were in the wrong part of town, and that another section of the city was more “Americanized.”

Linebacker Mark Jerue, who is white, said he had no problems traversing the city the same evening. He spent part of the night at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Despite the obstacles, the theme of good will has survived the week.

Others might view American Bowl ’89 as a mere exhibition between the Rams and San Francisco 49ers, a minor prelude to an upcoming regular season.

But it’s more than that for Frontiere, who for one week can call the world her stage. This is the second foreign exhibition game in three years for the Rams, with a promise of more to come.

“NFL football is a giant step toward improved international relations and the bonding of man,” she said in her address to the Japanese media shortly after the team’s arrival Tuesday evening. “It also gives an opportunity to the teams to experience other cultures and become good-will ambassadors of the sport.

“It’s our most popular game and we bring it to you to share as our brothers and sisters,” Frontiere told the Japanese.

But such a trip--involving 285 players, coaches, trainers, staff and guests--also requires hard work. There are 6,800 pounds of equipment to consider--helmets, shoes, footballs, tackling dummies, recording equipment, towels, gloves.

“People don’t have a clue,” Dick Beam, the team’s director of operations, said of the preparations.

Two years ago in London, before the Rams’ exhibition game against Denver, assistant equipment manager Todd Hewitt was held up five hours in customs because one of his trunks was mislabeled.

Beam began preparations for the Tokyo trip last March and made two visits before this week. Coordinating plans for hotels, buses, practice schedules, meals, tours, meeting rooms, dressing rooms and visas presents a unique set of problems.

“The language barrier is the main thing,” Beam said. “What it did was extend every meeting two to three times longer than if both parties spoke English. Once you break that, and have them understand what you need, they are extremely cordial and have responded positively for every thing we’ve asked for.”

Naturally, there are cultural barriers to overcome. Trainer Jim Anderson was asked this week if his players would be needing hot tea on the sidelines. Anderson could only laugh at the thought of 285-pound tackle Jackie Slater calling for his tea during a timeout.

Equipment manager Don Hewitt is relying on the hotel laundry service to clean 80 uniforms each day. He’s holding his breath.

To apprise his team of the cultural differences, Beam prepared a sheet of reminders for each player, some of which included:

--Be aware that many Japanese are heavy smokers. At the same time Japanese do not find chewing gum attractive.

--Japanese are accustomed to the simple handshake. Avoid hugging, kissing or embracing.

--Don’t worry about pauses in conversation. The Japanese do not necessarily carry on an unbroken flow of conversation the way most Americans do. . . . Ask questions about their daily life and surroundings.

Still, several players acknowledge privately that they’d rather be in training camp, which is kind of like saying they’d rather be at the dentist.

“These are distractions,” one said. “It’s just natural for us to think we’re on vacation. There are temptations that people just can’t keep themselves from. It’s wonderful that teams are able to travel, but it seems like we’ve been picked every year.”

Actually, Frontiere has lobbied hard for her team’s overseas excursions and is already talking of a game next summer in Milan, Italy.

The trips aren’t necessarily profitable for Frontiere and the Rams. The team claims to have broken even two years ago in London. Some of the costs for this trip are absorbed by the game’s sponsors, primarily Toshiba.

“I’d almost rather stay in Fullerton,” another player said.

There are also aspects of the heated rivalry with the 49ers that extend beyond the playing field.

Both teams are staying at the same hotel this week. And it’s no secret the Rams have long been envious of 49er owner Edward DeBartolo’s deep pockets. He’s known in the business to pay top prices for his players. In turn, the team has rewarded him with three Super Bowl championships in the 1980s.

Ram players were not shocked to learn 49er players were staying in a nicer wing of the hotel.

Actually, a coin flip by the NFL office decided that issue, though it is true that each 49er has a room to himself while the Rams have been asked to double up.

Because of the intensity of the rivalry, the Rams and 49ers won’t be scrimmaging this week before the game.

Reed, for one, has witnessed enough intensity for one week.

“It seems like once you’re outside the hotel, it’s like ‘Who are you?’ We get everything we want within this area right here. But don’t leave. This is your palace. Don’t leave the gates. There are peasants out there who will tear you apart.”