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On 30.1.2018 at 9:00 AM, DangerMark said:

Ichinojo, who got ten wins from Maegashira 1, might get the other Sekiwake spot instead. I hope Tochinoshin gets it, but there's no telling sometimes.

To be honest, I just hope they both keep it together in March. At this point, Tochinoshi getting a Kachi-Koshi from a Sanyaku rank would be only the second time in a nearly twelve year career.

With the Yokozunor apparently losing steam, there will probably be some breathing space for Tochinoshin. If he can keep the form from Hatsu, he is a surefire canditate for a longer sanyaku run. I think the big issue will be his health.

Ichinojo has a record / rank combination which would be worthy of sekiwake, but I think Yusho + 14-1 at only two ranks behind will favor Tochinoshin. He faced similar quality of opposition and beat Ichinojo directly and in convincing fashion. They will probably put Ichinojo and Chyotairyu at Komusubi. You are right though, the rankings can always be thrown as curveballs.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 2/1/2018 at 5:18 PM, GojiColin said:

I'm super excited as the Roller Derby World Cup is going on right now in London.  I've got a friend on the Korean team, but unfortunately they lost their first two seeding games.  Here's hoping it goes better for them in the upcoming days.

It was in Manchester and I coached Team Greece again! 

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Well there's always been questions and concerns about Brailsford and Team Sky with regards to Froome's Armstrong-like change in cycling ability and what appears to be Geraint Thomas showing the same kind of changes.  The stuff about Wiggins is a bit more troubling though.

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I am surprised that there isn't a female lead singer for a punk rock band with the name Beth Salts.

The Haru Basho traditionally held in Osaka should start this Sunday..

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  • 2 weeks later...

No Hakuho, no Kisenosato, although there's still Kaku-who? Takayasu lost his first two. IT'S YOUR TIME GOEIDO!

Been following on Jason's channel, so I've just been watching the top five or six each day. Is it just me, or is there way more Hatakikomi wins than usual?

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Kaisei is my biggest sensation of the basho so far. He is not only winning, but also taking part in entertaining bouts. Did not expect that!

Kakuryu looks great on some days, shaky on others. It will be interesting to see if he keeps on winning. The Ozekis woke up after having really lousy starts. Tochinoshin threw away one certain win against Takakeisho, still seems to be on the road to get his first kachikoshi from Sekiwake. Basho seems wide open. Granted, mostly because nobody expects Kakuryu (and Kaisei) to go 15-0, but I prefer those kind of tournaments to a Yokozuna in cruise-control.

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He has a nice streak going after the two initial losses. If he can keep on winning and Kakuryu slips up once, senshuraku will get heated. It should be v Tochonoshin, Mitakeumi, Goeido, Takayasu I'd guess...

I really enjoy this basho so far. Love what is happening in the yusho race, some surprising performances, both negatively & positively.

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Kakuryu (12-1) beat Kaisei today and secured his contention up until the final day having two losses less than Takayasu, Kaisei and Snea-kioi (all 10-3). This means he will have at least a guaranteed playoff.

Kakuryu has his first shot of securing yusho no. four tomorrow against Goeido (9-4). It's going to be an interesting day. Ikioi v Ishiura (7-6), Kaisei v Daishomaru (9-4) and Takayasu v Mitakeumi  (6-7) complete the Yusho race.

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brief sumo thoughts

-If Kakuryu spends the rest of the year calmly collecting Yushos while the top stars trade tournaments off I'm gonna laugh with him. I could've sworn that when it became four yokozuna, he would be the first one gone, but now he's just calmly putting in high caliber performances and winning tournaments that don't have people showing Unearthly Will To Power.

-Speaking of Tochinoshin, he looked very good when he could fight his sumo. I'm pretty well convinced at this point that no one can outmuscle him if it turns to a raw forceout game. If I was asked to predict if he's going to really make his Ozeki run in May, that prediction would change as often as the weather.

-Takayasu's record does not tell the story of his performance. Dude was unconvincing and getting by with some bare wins. Even from day one it was clear something's off: his Taichi-ai is a siege weapon usually, but he bounced off Endo. ENDO. I think it's because he had to tape his feet up so much and it caused him to lose traction, but he skated on the edge of some bad losses this whole tournament. Hopefully that regulates by next time, because I don't think it's reasonable to expect that many lucky breaks again.

-Not a great tournament for the guys I personally root for (Kotoshogiku and Mitakeumi). Mitakeumi is still young so he's going to bounce back, and having straight basho at Sekiwake is a hell of an accomplishment. Kotoshogiku, not so much. It's probably too late for his style to change, and now that his body has aged it doesn't work like it used to. So it goes, I guess.

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On 27.3.2018 at 11:37 AM, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

[...]

[1]-If Kakuryu spends the rest of the year calmly collecting Yushos while the top stars trade tournaments off I'm gonna laugh with him. I could've sworn that when it became four yokozuna, he would be the first one gone, but now he's just calmly putting in high caliber performances and winning tournaments that don't have people showing Unearthly Will To Power.

[...]

[2]-Not a great tournament for the guys I personally root for (Kotoshogiku and Mitakeumi). Mitakeumi is still young so he's going to bounce back, and having straight basho at Sekiwake is a hell of an accomplishment. Kotoshogiku, not so much. It's probably too late for his style to change, and now that his body has aged it doesn't work like it used to. So it goes, I guess.

[1] I restarted watching Sumo only last January and it surely seemed as if Kakuryu was only one step away from intai. In Hatsu 2018 it was nice and impressive seeing him competing on a decent level, even with collapsing (or rather running out of steam) near the end. He seemed very critical about his sumo so I expect him to continue getting in better form. It would be really great if he'd collect another yusho or two. Four is a respectable number, five or six even moreso. And a comeback from injuries like that is even a greater tale to tell.

[2] It's weird how Mitakeumi had two horrible second week basho spells after looking to be well on track to a KK, in January especially he looked like a contender for the first seven, eight days. Kotoshogiku seems to be on his way out which is reasonable, but he is not going down without a fight and his bouts are so entertaining. He is wrestling for pride only and it is fun to see, like when veterans join G1 Climax only 100x the fun.

Since you namedropped Endo, I was impressed with him in the last two tournaments. He seems to have overcome his injuries and in a majority of his matches his strengths in movement, balance and dohyo awareness shine through. I hope he can keep on growing and maybe establish himself as a sanyaku player after finally breaking through what seemed to be his glass ceiling.

 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

So apparently ESPN2 is going back to its roots and showing absolutely anything now.  Used to be the cornhole championships and now there is thing called "spikeball".  

It is really weird to explain.  I guess it is kind of like volleyball except that the net is this really small trampoline and the ball is the size of a racquetball.  I think the object of the game is that you try to spike the little ball on this trampoline in a way so that the other people can't get to it.  But the only way you can play is by either spiking the ball or batting the ball like a volleyball pass.  

 

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26 minutes ago, hammerva said:

So apparently ESPN2 is going back to its roots and showing absolutely anything now.  Used to be the cornhole championships and now there is thing called "spikeball".  

It is really weird to explain.  I guess it is kind of like volleyball except that the net is this really small trampoline and the ball is the size of a racquetball.  I think the object of the game is that you try to spike the little ball on this trampoline in a way so that the other people can't get to it.  But the only way you can play is by either spiking the ball or batting the ball like a volleyball pass.  

 

Bring back slamball. 

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Slamball was amazing during the first year, but then they tried to legitimize it wit studio analysts and all that shit.

I would love to see them bring back the roller hockey league they used to tape in Orlando.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tokyo's Natsu Basho is unfolding quite intriguingly. Sekiwake Tochinoshin, who'll probably need 11 wins to achieve Ozeki promotion, is of to a 7-0 start. He is in contention, but he will have to face both Yokozunor and Ozeki Goeido in the second week of the tournament.

Speaking of them: Both Kakuryu and Hakuho are on a 6-1 record, but seem quite shaky and resort to "unyokozunesque" tactics. Both have also given up early kinboshi to rank-and-file rikishi. Goeido started well in getting results at first, but failed in both, impressing with his sumo and keeping on winning. Tochinoshin's felloe Sekiwake Ichinojo collapsed after a strong 4-0 start and is currently at 4-3.

Shin-sanyaku Komusubi Endo was on a good way with impressive bouts and being the first to beat Ichinojo on Day 5 in one of the best bouts I've seen. At 3-2 however, he lost on Day 6 to Mitakeumi, then had to pull out of the basho due to an injured right biceps. The other Komusubi Mitakeumi is at 4-3 right now and taking into account his week two declines in the last two bashos I feel incapable to either evaluate or predict his performance so far.

There's lots of other stuff going down, but I don't think I'll manage to write it all down. Adding to that that I feel nowhere near competent enough to properly analize everythibg going down, I'll simply and subjectively add that I find this basho to be a blast.

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ABI.

As a sekiwake, Mitakeumi tended to have his harder matches in the second week.While it doesn't explain everything, I think Mitakeumi isn't in too bad shape this time round. He still has to face Goeido, but he's already fought a lot of his harder matches. 

ABI.

I like Tochinoshin's chances of at least making Ozeki.  I think he ought to at least beat one of Hakuho, Kakuryu or Goeido, but even if he doesn't, as long as he beats the people beneath him, he can make 12-3. At the time of writing, he's still on for the Yusho.

ABI.

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Goeido is out and therefore will be kadoban in July. Tochinoshin needs two more wins to secure Ozekihood, but with his recent form he might be thinking about winning a second yusho. Hakuho, Kakuryu and  Chiyokuni are all in tied 2nd place with 8-1 records.

Abi is a positive surprise, not only for defeating Hakuho. He's 4-5 and has an actual shot to gain kachikochi with a presumably easier second week schedule.

Endo will return to action tomorrow. He needs to be 5-1 to retain his komusubi rank. First bump on the road will be major one, named Hakuho.

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Not that I really consider this a sport, per se, but ESPN has an article up about the aftermath of Chris Moneymaker's WSOP win. I've tried to take it seriously as just straight reporting, but, man, I can't help but laugh at the whole thing. It just reads like the lowlights of sad, absurd world full of gambling addicts. It just baffles me how people can do the math on a poker hand but not a budget.

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Final two days of Natsu are upon us. This is a ridiculously great basho. Tochinoshin in the lead at 12-0, after defeating Hakuho in a great bout, dropped a totally unexpected L to Shodai. The yusho race is wide open again:

Tochinoshin and Kakuryu are leading the field with 12-1 records, Hakuho behind them with 11-2. Here's the catch:

It's Tochinoshin vs Kakuryu today, Ichinojo vs Hakuho.

It will be Kakuryu v Hakuho tomorrow on final day, senshuraku. I can't really figure out who'll be Tochinoshins opponent. Should, however, Kakuryu win over Tochinoshin while Hakuho wins both his matches while Tochinoshin wins his final day bout, we will have a three men playoff for the yusho.

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