Mariah Carey's Fastball Has Crazy Movement

The answer to fallen celebrity is always another geographical location. Look at the 'Hoff in Germany. Our D C B-listers absolutely kill overseas. Which is why Mariah Carey is making huge waves in Japan, pimping her music at every possible public appearance.

Which is also why she is got to throw out the first pitch at a Yomiuri Giants vs. Rakuten Eagles baseball game in Tokyo today.

Arriving in Japan ahead of the MTV Japan awards, 38-year-old Carey and 27-year-old [Nick] Cannon walked hand in hand amongst their screaming and devoted Japanese fans at Narita International Airport.

Actually relevant to baseball? Not particularly. But what we have here is a allegedly psychotic pop music superstar who has somehow reinvented her career by flooding the Japanese music market with her new stuff all the while secretly robbing the cradle with the producer of one of her music videos.

In other words, Mariah Carey is just smarter than Britney Spears. But then again, so is most of America. But to a greater and more relevant point, it is interesting that more and more models and singers and non-dude celebrities are turning to the "first pitch" toss to run up a little publicity, be it at Wrigley Field or in Japan.

And I tend to think that's a pretty good sign for baseball; not only does it point to a rerise in popularity but it shows that people outside the bubble of fandom don't consider the sport as tainted as we might have thought.