https://japantoday.com/category/nati...ed-of-in-japan
In 1985 the Hanshin Tigers won the Nippon Series. To celebrate a mob of Tigers fans grabbed a statue of Colonel Sanders from outside a KFC in downtown Osaka and threw it into the Dotonbori Canal. This was in honor of Randy Bass - they wanted something that looked like him and the statue of the Colonel was the closest thing they had.
The statue sank and disappeared. The Tigers went on a decades long futility streak without another Series win. Fans attributed this to the Colonel's anger at being thrown in the canal, and the "Curse of the Colonel" became Japanese baseball's most famous folk legend.
In 2009 construction workers doing some work on the canal found the statue and pulled it from the mud. It was headline news nationwide, and became an object of veneration for Tigers fans. KFC was still the owner of it and it was returned. Its been on display at various venues ever since, and last year for the first time since 1985 the curse was lifted and the Tigers won the Nippon Series.
This morning however KFC announced that it will be throwing away the statue, saying that it is "too dilapidated" to display anymore.
This is just the most insane piece of news to me. Its like the equivalent of the person who owns Roger Maris' 61st home run ball deciding to toss it in the trash because its a bit scuffed up or something. The thing must be worth a fortune to collectors and I can't wrap my head around why KFC isn't trying to sell it to one rather than trashing it.