Whenever a Japanese name enters the sporting world's lexicon, all sorts of problems arise. Take the Nagano Olympics for example. Is it pronounced NA-ga-no or Na-GA-no? The foreign media wrestled with this question for two straight weeks during the winter of 1998. The confusion trickled down to the masses and the end result was downright comedic. People across the globe were mispronouncing the name of a city that has existed for centuries.

Thanks to a horse with an above-average time over 1 1/4 miles, the media are at it again. Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the Kentucky Derby 17 days ago and runnerup at the Preakness over the weekend, is giving journalists abroad fits.

During a recent report, a CNN correspondent referred to a horse named Fusaichi (rhymes with Versace) Pegasus. The Fox News Channel did a Preakness preview that mentioned Fusaichi (rhymes with Huskey, as in Minnesota Twins designated hitter Butch Huskey) Pegasus. After winning the Derby, Kentucky Governor Paul Patton butchered the horse's name to the point where it no longer rhymed with anything. All this before anyone had downed their first mint julep.

Not everyone is tongue-tied, however. Some prominent sports figures abroad can easily pronounce the horse's name (for the record, it's foo-sah-ee-chee). Hideo Nomo, Hideki Irabu and Shigetoshi Hasegawa possess an uncanny ability to effortlessly utter these four syllables in the correct order (even after a few mint juleps). Ironically, the trio of major league pitchers have been criticized during their careers in North America for their limited linguistic abilities. Now the shoe appears to be on the other hoof.

The media have horsed around long enough when it comes to Fusaichi Pegasus' name. Fox routinely claims that it's the "Most Powerful Name In News" and brings you news that's "Fair and Balanced." CNN is, well, CNN. Accurate pronunciation needn't go at the top of the list, but it shouldn't be swept into a corner either. We're not talking rocket science here.

I realize Japanese isn't the easiest language for newcomers to pronounce. I'm constantly reminded of this whenever I play host to visitors from back home. One slip of the tongue and you've changed not only the pronunciation of a word, but the entire meaning of a sentence. Shortly after arriving in Japan, I accidentally asked a friend if he wanted to eat yaki neko (grilled cat) instead of yaki niku (Korean barbecue). For a while I was even walking around train stations searching in vain for the Yakitori line (it's the Yamanote line I wanted).

Fumbling the pronunciation of Fusaichi is no great sin. In fact, it was amusing at first. But repeat the error a thousand times on air and it gets a bit tiring.

If journalists want to blame someone for getting stuck with a tongue twister of a horse, they can start and end with Fusao Sekiguchi. The three-year-old colt's owner combined the first two syllables of his own first name with ichi, which means "No. 1" in Japanese. Luckily, he added Pegasus (the winged horse of Greek mythology) to the equation. Unable to get past Fusaichi, many journalists are simply calling the horse Pegasus. Others are pronouncing the name correctly but with tremendous caution: "Stay tuned at 11 o'clock for highlights of Fu . . . sa . . . iiiiii . . . chi Pegasus." And what about Fusao? Well, he's often referred to merely as "The horse's Japanese owner."

All this because the Japanese language is a square peg in a round sports world. Plus, we in the media love nicknames -- we have Shaq, Junior, Scud, Gazza -- and we'll create a new one whenever we get the chance.

Yes, life would've been easier had Fusao-san been less creative and named his horse, let's say, after the founder of a racy men's magazine. That's what one horse owner did and so far no one's had any trouble pronouncing "Hugh Hefner," the sixth-place finisher at the Preakness on Sunday. But Fusao is sold on the Fusaichi name -- he also owns Fusaichi Grace and Fusaichi Concorde -- and will likely keep on using it in the future.

For the time being, it looks like we'll just have to suffer through the mispronunciations until everyone catches on. You've endured such hardship before whether you know it or not.

Every time Kobe Bryant's name is mentioned, the Japanese language takes another blow. Kobe (pronounced Ko-bee) is actually named after the city of Kobe (Ko-bay) in central Japan. The parents of the Los Angeles Lakers guard, not the media, are guilty of revising the Japanese language in this case. To the best of my knowledge, Bryant has never complained about the highly egregious mispronunciation of his first name.

Wouldn't you know it? Fusaichi Pegasus -- he's no Mr. Ed -- hasn't either.