Takamizawa

To be honest, I think Kaio has already far overstayed his welcome by a number of years. He should really hang it up now; his record this past basho isn't (shouldn't be) fooling anyone. Maybe that's just my opinion, but the longer this goes on the less dignity he can retire with. Sorry for being so negative, but I'm just tired of it.

I believe the technical term is "suplex" (In a state of confusion...)

Agreed 100%. Would really love to see Kise confidently build off of this!

Oh dear! I hope he gets better soon! :-(

But but... Shoho is from my alma mater, and I was soooo stoked at the possibility of a yusho (Tears forming...) . Still all my congrats to Takayasu!

Oh my GOD! Stallone AND Dolph??? Dolph is my personal hero. Freaking AWESOME!!!! *screams like fan-girl* That bout was badass too for the record.

Ah and just found a link for the Aran - Tochinoshin match. Awesome super chikara badassery ensues:

I like Kaio as much as the next guy, but I've lost count of how many basho this has already been going on for.. His matches aren't really enjoyable anymore (at least for me), but you can't really fault the guy for it either. In some ways, one more ugly basho is almost (being the key word here) tolerable just for the chance to see him one last time in Fukuoka, since it's the one basho I can actually attend!.

(Weeping...) He'll always be one of my favorites..

Cool stuff! Thanks!

Yes! I find myself sitting at the edge of my seat during most of his matches just on the off chance that someone can finally topple him! I honestly thought his dominace would be boring, but with the winning streak it's actually become more interesting personally. While I may not be a huge Hakuho fan, he is still always amazing to watch; he's really the perfect combination of speed, strength, and skill.

Looks like Tokitenku. Edit: These are all great pictures by the way! (Shaking head...)

I thought I was more implying that what he said was dumb.. And yes you're right, he did say majority of "opinions." It's still stupid, because he's still talking about a TV lineup decided by a democratic majority with people always voting against stuff they don't wanna see, and with how specialized the NHK's programming is a lot of the time, they would just end up not showing anything (except maybe news). Disregarding the guy's age, I was jokingly stating that such a poorly thought out statement to the press was good indication of why he was unemployed. Obviously if the guy is retired, it defeats the whole point of what I wrote, rendering my lame attempt at humor useless. But still, how does my statement of "wow this is stupid, no wonder he's unemployed" bring you to your conclusion above? I once again fail to see how I at all implied what you are accusing me of, as it seems you have a knack for putting words in my mouth or reading farrrr too deep into what I write. Either that or I guess I need to work on my clarity and communication (and perhaps my humor as well) heh :-S

Wow, this is stupid; no wonder he's unemployed. If the NHK needed to have a majority of viewers to broadcast anything, well, then they'd have nothing to broadcast.

Lol! Aaaand it's back again..

I got booted as well at the same moment, right before Kotooshu - Aminishiki. T_T..

It's up (Being thrown tomatoes at...)

No problem here; I think I get an ozeki 1.5 cup literally EVERY time I go to a combini. They're irresistable!

Ya but the unique experiences of hard training and social interactions of heya life are something traditional that fans can see...

Not like I need the excuse as a frequent McDonald's goer (it's the little tastes of home that keep ya going), but I'll take this as a sign to increase from my once a week average trip to McDs to maybe three or four times a week? I'll change from Kaiho to YMY in no time B-)

In what way did I allude to the Japanese elderly as not being made of "sterner stuff?" Whereas you mave have seen/heard from numerous older fans who are fine with the basho being cancelled, I've heard the exact opposite from the people where I live. Nothing but complaints and displeasure. In both our cases this is nothing more than speculation of course without any hard data. I guess people are more displaced to find support for the side they're on heh. All I was trying to say was it is a dick move on the part of the NHK to ruin the basho for the folks here, especially the elderly, who really look forward to it. Sure they will be able to cope just fine as you mentioned, but it doesn't change the fact that it still really sucks for them. In no way did I state that the older fans were somehow weak and couldn't take the loss of the broadcast, and I'm frankly offended at the implication that I thought that way. I know you prolly didn't mean it that way, so no harm no foul, but my point was that people seemed to be focused on the unpopularity of sumo with youths to justify the NHK not broadcasting in some way, and I just wanted to remind everyone that older fans care a lot and are important to consider too. Just because a group can deal with a crappy situation doesn't make it OK or right.

Yes, but cancelling the live coverage certainly won't help create any youth interest in sumo either; in fact, it can only hurt it, no matter how insignificant the number. Kids aside, I think we're forgetting about the older Japanese who look forward to sumo every two months. Do they just not count for anything anymore? Bah well kids don't like it that much so it isn't that important to show? Where I live, there are a lot of older folks who really love sumo; they show it everyday at the tonkotsu ramen place down the street, and hordes of senior citizens pile in to watch their Oita-ken favorites. As for kids, even if TV coverage isn't the problem, it certainly doesn't help the issues of recruitment to cancel one more avenue of garnering interest from youths. Even if it's just 5% of kids, with the Aomori jungyo off and no coverage, we may see some of that small % moving towards other more visible and accessible sports in their free time.

I don't think anyone's being hysterical. The polls and resulting decision proved that if a group is loud and angry enough the NHK will give in to whatever they want, and that isn't that different from petitioning a decision you don't like. Eh enough of this. Today sucked. I'm tired. Feel better tomorrow. And for the record, I always pay my NHK fee.

If a petition does get made, I'll sign it. In fact, I won't just sign it, I'll give it a super massive John Hancock signing. ;-) Unless it's online... then I'll just type it.

Well said Kintamayama! Agree 100%