MESA, Ariz. -- The media throng following Kosuke Fukudome seems to grow every day. The pack of photographers also seems to move as one organism.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella was advised that this didn't seem to be as big as the crowd that followed Ichiro Suzuki when he first played for Piniella at Seattle Mariners camp.

"Oh no?" Piniella said. "Wait and see."

When Piniella hit the interview room, he didn't even wait for questions.

"Is this a regular-season game or just the first day of spring training?" he asked.

In addition to the Japanese media and the Chicago beat writers (the smallest group by far), TV and radio stations from Chicago were on hand to cover the first day of workouts by position players.

Piniella appears to be right. Fukudomania is just beginning.