2019 Kyushu Basho Discussion (spoiler alert)

[Amamaniac 2,079]

Wow.  I just watched NHK's slow motion replay of the tachiai between Asanoyama and Ryuden.  Asanoyama had called a restart when he felt uncomfortable with Ryuden getting his fists down early.  But the second time around, Ryuden rushed things again, and that time he dropped his right fist well in front of the shikirisen.  As far as I know, that is a clear violation of the tachiai rules, but no one really spotted it (neither the gyoji nor the shinpan).  The way things have gone this tournament, the gyoji are going to need a revision of their matta spotting skills!

[Otokonoyama 2,735]

7 hours ago, maorencze said:

Agreed, and it's really sad. Old, tired, bruised, battered, hurting, limping Hakuho (you know, the guy that's only vaguely resembling the GOAT-Hakuho from 2010-2015) is still better than anyone on banzuke when healthy enough to compete.

He's competitive because technically he has improved throughout his career, and can rely on that even with an ageing, battered body.

[sekitori 492]

8 hours ago, John Gunning said:

 

That just about says it all. Not only is he the greatest rikishi ever, but he also is among the greatest all-time athletes in all sports. I would equate his status to that of LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Wayne Gretzky, and Muhammad Ali. The sad thing is while the others were extremely well-known, the vast (gigantic may be a better word) majority of people in the world have absolutely no idea who he is.  

Edited November 24, 2019 by sekitori

[neonbelly 226]

10 hours ago, maorencze said:

Agreed, and it's really sad. Old, tired, bruised, battered, hurting, limping Hakuho (you know, the guy that's only vaguely resembling the GOAT-Hakuho from 2010-2015) is still better than anyone on banzuke when healthy enough to compete.

Don't underestimate the "bag of tricks" of a veteran grappler. Watching Hakuho bite down for a linear yorikiri in 2009 might look more impressive than a leg wrap in 2019, but it's not necessarily a regression. He's having to break some unwritten sumo rules (face slaps, mattas, etc), but I don't see any clay on him.

[Godango 996]

17 minutes ago, sekitori said:

That just about says it all. Not only is he the greatest rikishi ever, but he also is among the greatest all-time athletes in all sports. I would equate his status to that of LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Wayne Gretzky, and Muhammad Ali. The sad thing is whille the others were extremely well-known, the vast (gigantic may be a better word) majority of people in the world have absolutely no idea who he is.  

It's interesting because to friends I refer to him as the 'Don Bradman' of Sumo. Bradman was an Australian cricketer who in pure statistics is the greatest sportsman ever to have lived. His average batting score was 6.48 standard deviations higher than the average, and yet outside of cricket playing nations no-one would have a clue who he is. 

Hakuho definitely seems destined for a similar fate, but that's the nature of the sport I suppose.

[Dapeng 235]

7 hours ago, Sumo_da said:

On a personal note I didn't like his sumo this basho at all. It was efficient and brutal but made the musubi no ichiban a chore to watch. I'm glad Asanoyama and the other Komusubi have shown exciting and spectacular Sumo this basho.

Unfortunately, none of the komusubies or the sanyakus is good enough to keep the yusho race alive till musubi. 

[Rocks 1,809]

This is my least favorite part of every basho. Why the heck does the Sansho announcements take so long to come out?

[Yubinhaad 11,709]

13 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Asanoyama gino-sho, Daieisho shukun-sho IMHO. Don't really see anybody else that warrants recognition.

 

Spot on with those two; in addition, Shodai has a conditional Kanto-sho, but needs to beat Asanoyama to get it.

Asanoyama has his own motivation as Takashima-oyakata says there's a big difference between 11 and 12 wins, hinting at an Ozeki run being on the line next basho.

[Rocks 1,809]

4 minutes ago, Yubinhaad said:

 

Spot on with those two; in addition, Shodai has a conditional Kanto-sho, but needs to beat Asanoyama to get it.

Asanoyama has his own motivation as Takashima-oyakata says there's a big difference between 11 and 12 wins, hinting at an Ozeki run being on the line next basho.

That match just got a lot more interesting. I didn't expect Shodai to put in much effort otherwise.

[Akinomaki 40,594]

Majority of komusubi at the kyokai go-aisatsu - 4-3: a good decision to have 4 of them this basho, else the dohyo around Hakkaku would have really looked depleted.

[Morty 1,495]

3 hours ago, Houmanumi said:

It's interesting because to friends I refer to him as the 'Don Bradman' of Sumo. Bradman was an Australian cricketer who in pure statistics is the greatest sportsman ever to have lived. His average batting score was 6.48 standard deviations higher than the average, and yet outside of cricket playing nations no-one would have a clue who he is. 

 

The cricket playing nations do comprise nearly two billion people though... There are waaaaay more cricket fans than sumo fans worldwide. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world after football for followers and participation.

Eddie Merckx was another one who was statistically on another planet, winning almost half of all the professional cycling races he entered (including all the big ones). No one else has even gone close to that record.

 

[Kintamayama 45,158]

Ikioi injured during his win today over Akua. Will he appear for the 4 way playoff? In a minute..

Edited November 24, 2019 by Kintamayama

[Akinomaki 40,594]

13 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Ikioi injured during his win today over Akua. Will he appear for the playoffs? In a minute..

He will try avoid head-banging with this - tournament of 4 with Ikioi-Azumaryu at first.

[robnplunder 975]

8 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

I don't think a single sumo fan anywhere in the world (I was referring to them ) gives a crap about Abi's SNS shenanigans. He just doesn't get respect period. How many rikishi got KK in their first three sanyaku outings?  The only ones that cared about his SNS tomfoolery were the usual gang of old farts shaking in their collective politically correct  boots with their hysterical exaggerated knee-jerk reactions. 

I wouldn't even call that a shenanigan.   They were just having harmless fun IMO.

[yohcun 401]

When your deshi gets double digit wins in makuuchi for the first time

 

[Akinomaki 40,594]

1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

Ikioi injured during his win today over Akua. Will he appear for the 4 way playoff? In a minute..

Looks like an injury caused by the taping on the hand of the opponent.

9 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

I don't think a single sumo fan anywhere in the world (I was referring to them ) gives a crap about Abi's SNS shenanigans.

To be more precise: anywhere in the world outside of Japan and allergic to the idea of hinkaku in sumo. And even among them there are some who blame him for the loss of rikishi SNS posting.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Akinomaki

[Eikokurai 3,437]

Enho scrapes over the kachikoshi line on day 15. Joi debut proper next basho beckons for him. Of course, the lucky bugger doesn’t have to fight Hakuho.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Eikokurai

[Benihana 1,929]

34 minutes ago, yohcun said:

When your deshi gets double digit wins in makuuchi for the first time

 

I'm out of reactions today, but this deserves a hearty laugh ^^

5 hours ago, Houmanumi said:

His average batting score was 6.48 standard deviations higher than the average

What? The only thing that would make cricket appealing to a sane person would be a spaceship with robots laying waste to Lord's Cricket Ground and stealing The Ashes. I always thought baseball is a dreary game until i saw a cricket match for the first time. I love you guys, but i just can not and will refuse to understand how people can waste entire DAYS on a single match.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Benihana

[Eikokurai 3,437]

5 minutes ago, Benihana said:

I'm out of reactions today, but this deserves a hearty laugh ^^

What? The only thing that would make cricket appealing to a sane person would be a spaceship with robots laying waste to Lord's Cricket Ground and stealing The Ashes. I always thought baseball is a dreary game until i saw a cricket match for the first time. I love you guys, but i just can not and will refuse to understand how people can waste entire DAYS for a single match.

Cricket comes in different sizes. There’s one-day games, which last up to about 10 hours, T20, which are 2.5-3 hours and starting in the summer a new format called The Hundred (awful name) which should clock in at about 2-2.5 hours. Those two shorter formats are about equal to a baseball game but with about 10x the amount of hitting and running. The long formats, called Tests at international level, are by far the least well supported (the domestic format that is – England games will always draw a decent turnout). T20 is where the crowds and TV audiences are found these days.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Eikokurai

[Benihana 1,929]

3 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

and starting in the summer a new format called The Hundred (awful name) which should clock in at about 2-2.5 hours.

They invented a new format to make it less boring? 'nuff said. I'd rather watch old hags playing bowls. (Please take my comments on cricket with a Terutsuyoshi-style pinch of salt, but that game triggers me)

[Akinomaki 40,594]

1 hour ago, Eikokurai said:

Enho scrapes over the kachikoshi line on day 15. Joi debut proper next basho beckons for him.

And he will escape from the Konosuke hell - maybe Enho won because he had to fave only Daieisho alone today. But facing an already kachikoshi opponent is still a very good chance to get it on day 15 - it maybe was not enough motivation for Daieisho to make komusubi promotion 100% sure - and he had no experience against Enho.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Akinomaki

[Eikokurai 3,437]

4 minutes ago, Benihana said:

They invented a new format to make it less boring? 'nuff said. I'd rather watch old hags playing bowls. (Please take my comments on cricket with a Terutsuyoshi-style pinch of salt, but that game triggers me)

More to make it appeal to people with short attention spans/youngsters. It’s the trend now to make everything shorter. One day sumo bouts will only last a few seconds. Oh wait ...

[lackmaker 437]

15 minutes ago, Benihana said:

What? The only thing that would make cricket appealing to a sane person would be a spaceship with robots laying waste to Lord's Cricket Ground and stealing The Ashes. I always thought baseball is a dreary game until i saw a cricket match for the first time. I love you guys, but i just can not and will refuse to understand how people can waste entire DAYS on a single match.

There's some would say what's the point of a sport that generally only lasts a few seconds. 

[Akinomaki 40,594]

A new record low in most wins of the year that Asanoyama has now alone. Abi gets respect for finishing 2nd. I had lost some faith that my prediction would really be on the spot, but it was. The sansho prediction as well, but I made that too fuzzy to be 100% spot on.

Edited November 24, 2019 by Akinomaki

[Benihana 1,929]

Hakuho playing mind games again...good save by Takakeisho on the tawara. I hope Hakuho quits after the olympics. Yes, what he does is legal, but if you can only hold your ground by playing "dirty"...