Zuikakuyama

I am all for Tokitsuumi to serve as the oyakata. He did not have the size necessary to be a sanyaku rikishi, but he was technically skilled, and he used those effectively to post some decent records in the meatgrinder. In many respects he was better than those one-shot Komusubi who attained the rank through banzuke luck. And I would think that as an oyakata he would be more able to train the young rikishi in the fundamentals of sumo much better than those that relied more on their size.

Great report and photos to boot. Thanks.

I for one am looking forward to the next basho, regardless of whether Asashouryu is in it or not. Sumo is much bigger than any one man. And I enjoy it for the whole atmosphere, the shikiri and the long 5 minutes of anticipation.

Its quite surprising how things can change over 4 months. Just see this thread in question where practically everyone didn't give Mickey any chance at making Ozeki.. . . except yours truly.

I would say Mickey has more than 80% chance of getting 11 wins and getting promotion to Ozeki. Go mickey!!!, and go the future Kotozakura II.

It will be quite exciting to finally see a great rival to Asashoryu.

That's right. Ryuo could have won it with a win today, but he didn't get the win.

Great Stuff!!

It seems to be that he is a bit too short and a bit too fat to be too graceful of a bow-twirler. You need good body lines in order to complement the long narrow shape of the bow.

I wish all the luck in his future role as an oyakata.

Wow, this is really sad. I guess losing the last basho was too much for him to handle.

I do think that the college rikishis tend to last longer than the early joiners because they suffer less wear and tear, so Mickey is probably physically younger than the average 31 year old early-start rikishi. Just look at the oldies now. Most of them are the collegiate guys, such as Otsukasa, Tamakasuga, Tosanumi, Tokitsuumi,Tochinoha, Tochinonada, Dejima. Dont count him out just yet.

Yeah, either win or loss start the tsuna run, but winning the kettei sen definitely improves his chances next basho. A 12-3 yusho or any yusho will do it next basho. 13-2 jun yusho probably won't do it, but a 14-1 (any result) will do.

The mage pulling definitely helped. With it, Shoryu pulled Miyabiyama down and into him, which allowed him to do the last ditch twist at the edge.

I dont think he has been unlucky at all in terms of injuries. He simply is not very well coordinated, and does not know how to fall properly. If he does not cure this defect, then he is bound to be injured again and again.

Seems like the rikishis on the top of the list tends to be chosen. People tend of vote before looking at the whole list. Anyway, I cant handle droopy chests or large bellies. Takamisakari is pretty tall, and has good muscles, so I vote for him.

I could see Taikai staying, but not on a long term basis in Kokonoe. He would probably enjoy using the stick against his deshi.

I would suspect that the 24 straight loss is a record for consequetive losses between 2 rikishis. What would be the next "worst" record. I think the 5 straight bashos with the same set of sekiwakes is also a record.

It is getting rather old for Hakuho nowadays. He always tries the left uwate, and now that his opponents have finally caught onto him, he is getting beaten. It just seems to me that he has no plan other than the left shitate, either at the front of the mawashi or at the side, and once that (inevitably) fails, he panics and revert back to his natural instincts and just go from here. Granted he had very good ring sense, but that can only get him so far. He desperately needs to develop another steady go-to technique if he wants to make yokozuna.

Only if the women are as good lookin' as actresses, and are dressed only in mawashis.

Doitsu, In today's (day 6) English commentary, Ross Mihara said that March 1986 was the last time that no sanyaku went undefeated after day 3? This does not seem to quite jive with your data above. Can you check?

Much obliged Doitsu. How you do check for this? Through a machine search of the database or by hand?

Qustion, When was the record for the earliest date of a basho that no sanyaku or higher is a leader, or co-leader? Day 3 sounds pretty early to me.

Yes Adere. You're right. I've corrected my original post.

Well, I for one would like to say... HE LOST!!!