Takamizawa

Hell ya! That was some sick hip action shaking off Haru's grip too!

Looks like Hakuho is trying to make his best Tenho face, or is it just me?

They'll support Baruto because of the ozeki run, not to mention he's still in the yusho race on par with Hakuho. As for me, I'll support him too (Sign of approval...)

Ouch! That seems a bit harsh..

I can only usually stand henkas when they are committed against serial henka-ers. In those cases it's just justice heh.

Eh, doesn't really bother me to be honest; nothing wrong with enthusiasm. My favorite loud fan was the old drunk Japanese guy yelling "Mongoru abunai!" my first time at a tourney. Classic ;-) I actually thought this thread would be about something completely different judging by the title. Made me think of how everybody's fawning over Okinoumi since he's "handsome" and whatnot. Pff Yoshikaze's wayyy more handsome. Just sayin..

Ya but his knee was really bad for that 4-11 tournament and it showed.

(A fearful rikishi...)

I would blame this more on Aminishiki's ability to "parry" at the tachi-ai. Still, made for an exciting match.

I loved how the initial nodawa at the tachi-ai sent Kise alllll the way back to the tawara (In jonokuchi...)

Hell ya! That Sekiryu kubinage was siiiick too! (Sigh...)

I agree with your post, but I'll come out in defense of Mitsuki. Maybe my eyes are clouded by love, but breaking that grip and getting inside was sweeet imo. Now let's see him do it against Kise (hopefully).

John Kruk, the chubby (ok, portly?) outfielder/first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies in the early '90's was at a sports-related event, where he was introduced as one of that city's prominant sports figures. A lady standing beside him looked him over, and said, "You don't look like an athlete." He replied, "No, ma'am. I'm a baseball player." (Laughing...) I'm partial to fat pitchers like David Wells or CC Sabathia who are clearly in terrible shape but still seem to use their fat for momentum in the windup or something haha (I am not worthy...) . I just realized that fat ballplayers is what is missing from Japanese baseball! Maybe that's why I can't get into it...

Hah I love it!! When I was a kid in NZ these guys used to scare the crap outta me when I saw them on TV! Rugby is indeed badass.

No, I wouldn't want to switch. First, I am not physically capable of withstanding even a single push by any sandamne guy. Second, Your view the time he spent is fundamentally flawed. He trained everyday, more than anybody in Sumo. I wouldn't switch with him on the single fact that he had to wake up at 5:00AM everyday. No, I can't do that. Third, He had to fight best of the strongest rikishi on a regular basis, risking injuries, or death for last decade. I would rather be doing something more mundane to be able to watch nice things in life such as sumo. Though hated by everyone, he can rightly afford few luxuries thanks to his hard work in the past. Is he overdoing it is another subject to debate. I'm with Wanderer - the time on the dohyo argument is really weak. Not only all of the long grueling hours that go into sumo training, but also all of the public functions and obligations would keep me from ever wanting all that attention. In general I tend to lean towards the camp that sympathizes with Asa, but that's just me. (On the banzuke...)

That's not a reason. What's wrong with no foreigners in sumo? Look at who would be the top dogs without the foreign rikishi. For me, I feel the overall quality of sumo would suffer greatly without its foreigners, so it has nothing to do with fairness or political correctness. Having someone change their nationality doesn't really prove anything, and it certainly won't affect the quality of someone's sumo. I just don't see the benefit.

You think every public figure (and non-public figure) in Japan doesn't get completely thrashed in public from time to time (or frequently)? Also, when we go out and get hammered, we may be a little boisterous, but I would hardly say we are "stupid," just loud. Personally, I am a very calm, content drunk. (Sign of approval...)

I have the same dream about Kotomitsuki :-P

The sad part in all of this is that even if he isn't promoted, if he wins out now Baruto will have performed better over these three tournaments (Aki-present) than really all of the other ozeki. He obviously still has some major flaws, but he is still of similar (if not greater in some cases) caliber to the ozeki we have now. I'm not saying he should be promoted, but it just kinda reflects on the sad state of the current ozeki =/.

^This. I think the quality of his sumo is rather poor too, so it's surprising he's hung around so high for as long as he has.

Ya it's a good point about the downward trend. He's not getting any younger. I'm just hoping he can stick around as long as possible -- sumo just wouldn't be the same for me without him.

Could be this year the way this basho is going. Ya but Mitsuki had a similarly awful Hatsu basho last year too and managed to bounce back just fine for the rest of the year (ok, so the 3 8-7s weren't great, but you know what I mean; nobody was talking about retirement). I think it's all that extra holiday weight/booze/gout -- speaking of which, does anyone know if he'd packed on a similar 10kg last Hatsu basho? It'd be interesting to know. Also, he could decide to keep fighting even if he were to get demoted (and hopefully he will not be demoted, as he is also one of my all time favorites!).

Well, we are speaking about (former) sekitori, maybe Kimenryu will reach juryo before he intais but I doubt that. Ah ya, I'm dumb and didn't read the details of the first post before posting. Still, would be sad, no?

Indeed! Looks like he's trying a Vulcan mind meld (Shaking head...)

All the best from me and my friends in Oita-ken to Chiyotaikai!! He always showed true fighting spirit, even during his struggles, and we'll miss him greatly. Oita loves you!!!