That said...  lol Hard Rock's two games away from bankruptcy.

Tiger's currently on pace to shoot a 59:

http://espn.go.com/golf/player/scorecards/_/id/462/tiger-woods

Finally had something I could start a thread with

Court of Gold

Netflix series on the 2024 Olympics Men's Basketball

It does seem that someone was smart and just decided to put a camera in front of KD and let him talk shit

A couple of years ago I got into sumo by accident and fell in love with it.

At first I thought it was just fat guys bumping into each other but there is a lot of wrestling techniques used.

Right now there is a lot of talk that the top three Yokozuna's are all Mongolian and the Ozeki's are Japanese.  It has more to do with a cultural bias in that sumo is considered a national sport in Japan and they worry about its future if there are no Japanese Yokozuna's.  Interesting debate to be sure but there are some young guns rising up the ladder.

Right now the top Yokozuna is Hakuho, whose father was a Mongolian wrestler and discouraged his son from following in his footsteps.  He is set to break the all-time yusho or tournament championship record in the next year.  Hakuho is not the biggest sumo wrestler but his technique is outstanding. He may have just a few years left but is approaching the end with the same fire and desire that he brought when he started.

Going to list the wiki and the Youtube channel of a fine gentleman who patches together the matches from each day of every basho for our viewing pleasure.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Kintamayama

The other thread was old and needed to go away, so here we are.  

I refuse to believe this song is 32 years old.  Screw you, time. 

USA Update:

Rugby Union

USA will be playing Uruguay in April over two legs to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. While the odds are good that the USA will win (over the last 24 years, the USA has won 11 out of the 12 meetings between the teams), there could be a bit of bother as the match dates conflict with the Heineken Cup/Amlin Challenge Cup (Rugby's version of the UEFA Champions League/Europa League) quarterfinals, so a couple key players may find it difficult to be released. The loser of this series gets one more chance to qualify in the Last Chance Qualifier.

Rugby League

Two huge results for the USA Tomahawks, as they beat fourth ranked France in a pre-tournament warm up game, and just won their first game in the Rugby League World Cup against the Cook Islands, who were prohibitive favorites to win the group. The USA still has games left against Wales and an intergroup game against Scotland. The top team in their group makes the quarter final. 

Been watching it on Willow TV... talk about drama, as the last wicket was under review.

We had the Calvin Ridley deal last year

The mostly Detroit Lions stuff last month

The Alabama baseball coach story that's been going on the last week or two

And now, both Iowa State (involving student athletes from track and field, wrestling, and football) and Iowa (involving approximately 15 student athletes from the baseball team) have gambling probes.

Man, sports leagues and colleges jumping straight into bed with sports books the day it was legal sure didn't have any negative consequences...

• Hannah Hampton (football)
• Chloe Kelly (football)
• Ellie Kildunne (rugby union)
• Luke Littler (darts)
• Rory McIlroy (golf)
• Lando Norris (Formula 1)

I fancy Hannah Hampton to win. I'd rank them:

6. Lando Norris.

5. Ellie Kildunne.

4. Chloe Kelly.

3. Rory McIllroy.

2. Luke Littler.

1. Hannah Hampton. 

So close between Hampton and Littler.

Coach of the Year is Sarina Wiegman or Luke Donald. Team of the Year is between England women's football team, England women's rugby union team and the European Ryder Cup team. Luke Littler for Young Sports Personality of the Year.

Goals for this thread

I would really like this thread to host a lively discussion during the big tournaments in Japan (January, March, May, July, September and November). There seem to be quite a few people who watch the matches on the different outlets and are interested in talking about results, crazy events, techniques. It would be cool to have this in here. 

Additionally and if some are interested, we can turn this into a thread were we talk about your own Individual fandom, Rikishi from the past, the sport's history and such. I have only scratched the surface on this wonderful (more than just a) sport, and I could imagine I'm not alone. It might be a good idea to gather Information, questions and such within this thread. I will add a few links which are good if you wish to follow Sumo, feel free to add whatever you know / like to have added. 

Last but not at all least, there are tons of funny, interesting and spectacular pictures out there with Rikishi and their various activities on and off the dohyo. Those can be collected / posted in here. 

I'd be very happy for everyone who'd like to join me in my quest to follow and understand Sumo better than I do now. Also, feel encouraged to add wishes, ideas and everything YOU want from this thread. I'm looking forward to discussing the Osaka basho in March 2019. Let's gambarize together!

Weblinks

Official Kiyokai Website (with English Option) : http://sumo.or.jp

English Language Sumo Forum: http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/

Tachiai Sumo Blog: https://tachiai.org

Sumo-Database (during Basho SPOILER ALERT): http://sumodb.sumogames.de

Youtube Channels

Chris Gould - insights, interview translations and statistics: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCIk5AQ47TYq8PQRoeM47LqQ

Kintamayama - previews, reviews, digests of Makuuchi bouts: https://m.youtube.com/user/Kintamayama

Natto Sumo - digest of Makuuchi matchdays: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCzZ8v5JF3IyxLWOCGKpcP0g

Jason's All Sumo Channel: https://m.youtube.com/user/JasonsinJapan

Sumo Paris (French) channel with lots Bashos and Fights of Yore:

https://m.youtube.com/user/SumoParis

Team of the Year I'd give to Wigan Warriors.

Coach of the Year, Matt Peet from Wigan Warriors.

Lifetime Achievement is rightly going to Mark Cavendish.

The next one comes out on Thursday, called "The Price of Gold." It's about the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan incident. Here's the picture the 30 for 30 Twitter account put out there to promote it. (Spoilered for size.)

So yeah. . .there you go.

Any predictions for the Australian Open?

There's something where they gave Michael Waltrip Racing charters which they then sold off to the extra teams that didn't get chartered with Joe Gibbs and Stewart-Haas racing.

Of course in this, one of the oldest teams in the sport, the Wood Brothers who have been running partial schedules did not get a charter.

Not sure how this really promotes new teams coming into the sport with smaller fields and less guarantees to make a race.

And my tweets are doing the "not embedding" thing again, damn it. 

(Fixed! -Dolfan)

Reports are out there that Ken Rosenthal is out at the MLB Network because he criticized Rob Manfred.

The 30 for 30 podcasts are always great but this is one of their better ones.

I think it's really poor. Raheem Sterling? Bollocks.

My six:

Emma Raducanu.

Tyson Fury.

Bethany Shriever winning the Olympic and World BMX titles in the same year doing that through her own crowdfunding.

Mark Cavendish coming back to equal the record of Tour de France stage wins.

Joe Root carrying the England batting team, most runs scored in England Tests in a single year.

Jason Kenny or Laura Kenny with the most Olympic Gold Medals for male/female.

I wish they'd bring back the bigger list made up of ten nominees.