Tabloids utilize a clever kind of shorthand for their headlines in order to fix the attention of people as they pass by news-stands. My favorite one recently was a Nikkan Gendai header announcing "Ichiro's abnormal enthusiasm for WBC."
WBC stands for World Baseball Classic, the international tournament that will take place in March. Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners announced awhile back that he will play for the Japanese national team. In the meantime, two other Japanese baseball stars who play in the United States, Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees and Tadahito Iguchi of the world champion Chicago White Sox, have said they won't.
The headline referred to the fact that on Jan. 12 Ichiro made a point of telling the media that he was really looking forward to playing in the WBC. Gendai found this "abnormal" because Ichiro is famous for being not only standoffish toward the media, but also soft in his loyalties. In fact, Ichiro's statement that his priority at this point is helping the Japanese team win the WBC is the kind of thing one would expect from the agreeable Matsui.
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