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Chpater1 - “Football is the Ultimate Media” A Game with a Special Magichumiliated.Ryoko, however, had good grounds for her outburst.At the time, we were using space in Dentsu’s New York branchoffice. Every time the phone rang my blood ran cold. Thereason was simple: I couldn’t speak English. When I heardthe phone ring, I’d pretend not to notice and stare out of thewindow as if lost in thought. When I did answer, it was oftenworse. My automatic response was to cut off the caller, andone day Ryoko caught me red-handed as I was slyly puttingthe receiver down on what could have been an important call.Ryoko’s first impression of me had been profoundlynegative. Educated in the US, English was like a secondmother tongue for her, hence her being Takahashi’s interpreter-cum-personalassistant for this project, a very responsiblejob. Worried about there being too few people when the projectteam got up and running, she was the one who had askedTakahashi to boost the headcount. That was where I came in.Ryoko had been looking forward to the team beingbolstered by the arrival of someone dependable and fluent inEnglish. Instead, what she was landed with was me, whoseEnglish was halting and clumsy. Less depressed than angryat the way things had turned out, Ryoko refused to talk to me19