'Unlimited sushi' and optional practices(!) highlight Manny Ramirez's new contract in Japan
All-you-can-eat sushi restaurants are great -- as long as you don't fill up on rice too early to fully appreciate the splendor of as many Rainbow Rolls as you can possibly stomach in one sitting.
It's hard to say if that was at the core of Manny Ramirez's contract negotiations with the Kochi Island Fighting Dogs, the Japanese independent Shikoku Island League team with whom he agreed to a deal back in December. An initial agreement, by the way, which gave us this fun image of Manny in his new uniform (as taken by his wife):
The details of his new contract were just made public in a recent press conference and, as the Boston Globe pointed out, not only does Ramirez's No. 99 Fighting Dogs jersey give him the "Ichiro" treatment (as only "Manny" is stitched on the back), his contract has some very specific perks that go along with it.
Among those benefits is "unlimited sushi" for the full span of the season, a hotel suite on road trips, his own personal Mercedes (with driver) and, in a nod to the "Manny Being Manny" days of old, practicing is "optional."
That's a nice gig, if you can get it. But you can't, because you're not Manny.
Given the terms of his new deal, this is probably how Manny feels right about now:
