-- I dunno, maybe I'm the only one but I really got excited to hear how the Cub players said they were really looking forward to meeting Kosuke Fukudome. I really wish he would have taken a break from his training, bundled up the wife and kid, and come to the Convention. Anyway, this is what the players said: "They play the game the same way we play it," Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee said of Japanese players. "If [Fukudome] can play there, he doesn't need to change here. They're very fundamentally sound players, and if your fundamentals are sound, you'll be all right." Lee spent a few summers in Far East when his father, also Derrek, and uncle, Leon Lee, were playing for the Japan's Lotte Orions. Does Lee speak any Japanese? "Just a little, very little," he said. "I'm hoping it comes back to me -- but it's been more than 20 years." Zambrano's Japanese is even more limited. "'Arigato' is the only thing I know how to say," Zambrano said. That means "thank you." Alfonso Soriano played in Japan from 1995-97. Can he speak any Japanese? "A little bit," Soriano said. "I can't wait to meet [Fukudome]." --This will be an exciting year, I can't wait. link: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080118&content_id=2351060&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc