Gurowake

I meant more along the lines of having the graphics and whatever else English. The utility of commentators is going to vary depending on the viewer; certainly very experienced viewers aren't going to care at all about it, but less experienced viewers would prefer knowing more about what's going on.

The point is that foreign fans don't have many good options to watch sumo and only sumo, and the rightsholders seem very keen on not giving them any options. If there's an option to pay for that includes only sumo and it's in English, that will make people not want to try to get around the rightsholders. The best way to prevent most piracy is to simply make an accessible and affordable option.

And yet you thought (correctly) Mitakeumi would be behind Kotoshoho, when it's like the exact same situation. I guess it's just the idea that there should be a minimum demotion for a 5-10, and Kotoshoho met that easily, while Daiseizan didn't? This also makes the only half rank demotions of Ura and Tokihayate even stranger, as if they feel now that they can't leave a 7-8 at their rank if there's at all someone else close enough to take their spot, but that's the only time they'll ignore the numbers.

That's exactly why they went with the middle. It happens not infrequently, as already discussed.

I normally think "a 7-8 should only hold their position if there's no reasonable candidate to put there", but slowly over time what counts as a "reasonable candidate" I've made harder and harder, to the point where it was simply "does someone have the numbers to go ahead of them?", which is clearly wrong on both Ura and Tokihayate this banzuke.

Mitakeumi behind Kotoshoho invalidates one of the things that I had taken for granted - that terrible records (3 wins or less) were always shown more leniency than the numbers would suggest. I seem to recall there may have been another of these (if not more than one) recently, but now it's absolutely clear and I need to change my thinking.

Is there no more pro-incumbent bias for promotions? Or is the difference between Komusubi and Sekiwake simply not one that matters to them, seeing as there's no difference in pay?

Right now the forum is informing me that it's Hokuseiho's birthday currently (or tomorrow in the western areas of the world). I don't think that's particularly useful now. I think there might be others that are probably not so useful to be on that calendar, and perhaps new ones that need to be added. It's clearly in need of some attention.

The trick is just being better on average than anyone else. If you really suck at it, but everyone else sucks more, you'll be high ranked.

They're the same name, but they aren't from the same ichimon, so while I don't know for sure, I don't expect that to have been a consideration. edit: Guess I was wrong.

Or anywhere it's cold a good part of the year.

Back when rikishi never switched sides of the dohyo during the basho and always fought from the side they were on the banzuke, an odd maegashira out would have to be on the opposite side from the odd sanyaku. Now, not so much.

Just because something is "normal" doesn't mean it should be tolerated. Slavery was "normal" throughout most of human history. Now it's not.

Exactly. I'm just doing the same random speculation that everyone else is.

And yet this was the one he selected. Maybe that's part of the deal here somehow.

My boss wanted to order from a sushi place for lunch today (as he does every Friday during the busy season), and I at first was not particularly interested, but I looked at their full menu and they had a dish that sounded exactly like tonkatsu, though it was called Don Katsu for some reason. This was the first time I've had it, despite having thought about it whenever I see Onokatsu's name, and I was rather happy with it, particularly the sauce. It was not quite the same as any sauce I had before, but I found it quite delicious, living up to the claims the restaurant made on their menu that I was skeptical about. The only problem with the sauce is that it seemed a bit too strong; I was kinda getting sick of it by the time I finished what I wanted for lunch (saving much of it for dinner).

I think I have those same differences, plus swapping Meisei and Takarafuji, Mitakeumi and Kotoshoho, and putting Takerufuji ahead of Shodai and Atamifuji, a choice that I feel is likely wrong but I'm too much of a slave to the numbers.

I have similar confidence (or lack thereof) in my choices, as I went perhaps a bit too strongly by numbers alone. I feel like if I make adjustments for joi rikishi in anything but breaking ties, it'll be the one time where they decide to ignore that factor, because I have a memory of that happening to me before. Hoshoryu(12-3 Ow) Y Onosato(10-5 Ow) O Kotozakura(5-10 Oe) Daieisho(11-4 Sw) S Kirishima(11-4 M1w) Oho(12-3 M3w) K Abi(7-8 Ke) Wakatakakage(7-8 Kw) M1 Wakamotoharu(6-9 Se) Gonoyama(8-7 M3e) M2 Chiyoshoma(9-6 M5w) Tobizaru(7-8 M2e) M3 Takanosho(6-9 M1e) Takayasu(8-7 M6e) M4 Ura(7-8 M4w) Kinbozan(12-3 M14w) M5 Ichiyamamoto(8-7 M6w) Hiradoumi(7-8 M5e) M6 Takerufuji(10-5 M11w) Shodai(6-9 M4e) M7 Atamifuji(5-10 M2w) Tamawashi(9-6 M10e) M8 Oshoma(8-7 M9w) Hakuoho(10-5 M15e) M9 Endo(6-9 M7e) Nishikigi(8-7 M12e) M10 Shonannoumi(8-7 M13e) Midorifuji(7-8 M11e) M11 Takarafuji(5-10 M8w) Meisei(6-9 M10w) M12 Onokatsu(7-8 M12w) Nishikifuji(9-6 M17e) M13 Shishi(13-2 J4w) Ryuden(11-4 J3e) M14 Aonishiki(12-3 J5w) Churanoumi(4-11 M9e) M15 Sadanoumi(9-6 J1e) Asakoryu(9-6 J2w) M16 Mitakeumi(2-13 M7w) Kotoshoho(5-10 M13w) M17 Tokihayate(7-8 M17w) Shirokuma(9-6 J4e) M18

Note you don't need 84 to get a perfect score in rare cases, like Kyushu 2021.

All the cheaters are using VPNs obviously.

The main issue with anyone having a perfect match to the Kyokai's banzuke is that there is invariably something that makes us collectively scratch our heads and wonder why they decided that way. While there tend to be a few players who might get that right, they'll generally have plenty of differences elsewhere because their logic is probably unsound in general to have come up with the weirdness. I'm inclined to believe that they're intentionally making some weird choices just as a way of showing who's boss.

Also, if you have two (or more) separate "characters" playing the game, you might have a slightly better chance of winning a single contest, but you really don't have much advantage on the overall scoring system. If you knew which of your entries was the best, then you'd just enter that one. Averaged over 6 basho, you'll generally have each "character" regress to the mean of your skill. Yes, it's slightly more likely you'll get on a good streak with one of the "characters", but that's pretty minimal. Also, there's no real prize. The merit of being recognized is worth far less when spread over multiple persona.

Sure, I can theoretically enter once from work too. I was just pointing out that it's a hurdle to overcome. Not that it's impossible to clear.

It's possible that your IP is logged, so you'll need to use computers from multiple networks, or a connection with a dynamic IP.

Intended as a repository of pointless bits of trivia I or others find, particularly while browsing the database. It happens a lot between basho. In a total of 5 basho since the 15-day era began, the last match was between two undefeated rikishi. Twice it was Taiho vs. Kashiwado, and they split the matches. All matches featured Y1e. No such match was a playoff (theoretically possible between stable members). Harumafuji is the only one to appear in such a bout that was not a Yokozuna at the time. No other Day-15 matches involving 2 14-0 rikishi have occurred. In Haru 1996, there was a 6-0 match in Jonidan on Day 15, but two other rikishi were also 7-0 from previous days. Incidentally, a few basho in each direction in that time period there were many Day-14 6-0 matches in the lower divisions, but none that basho and one on Day 15 instead. Only one Day-14 6-0 match took place outside that 1995-1996 window.