When the Hiroshima Carp travel to Nagoya to face the Chunichi Dragons in their season opener next month, they should bring along pen and paper to take notes.
Because if the Carp are ever going to find their way out of their recent doldrums, the path the Dragons have blazed recently is a good one to follow.
Carp fans right now are enduring some of the franchise's darkest days. The current team is mere a shell of the club that won the Japan Series in 1979, '80 and '84 behind stars "Mr. Akaheru" (Red Helmet) Koji Yamamoto and "Tetsujin" Sachio Kinugasa during the glory days of the Akaheru era.