ScreechingOwl

Here's Achiyama's email: angelstoyanov55@yahoo.com

It was always clear you knew The How, Moti, so it's nice to see you know The Who too.

Gunning's reports are always good, although it's curious he didn't mention Mitakeumi's shoulder injury in his discussion of the ozeki.

Isn't the question really whether three wrongs make a right? For what it's worth, I went with moving the trio up and "under"promoting Onosho on the theory that the banzuke committee will do whatever the hell it wants to anyway. It would be a fairer (and saner) world if Asahosakari made the banzuke. But I learned long ago that fairness is a relative concept in sumo....

If Mitakeumi gets 12 wins he'll have 32 over the last three basho, one less that the ideal number of 33 (and even that is no guarantee of promotion, and in rare circumstances 34 (Miyabiyama) hasn't been enough either) but many rikishi have been promoted with 32 (including Asanoyama and Kisenosato) and there is a real need at the top with Takakeisho perpetually plagued by injuried and Shodai perpetually plagued by, um, mediocrity. On the downside, this is a rather weak sanyaku (even further weakened with Takakeisho gone) and jo'i, so winning 12 against this bunch is hardly super impressive. But Mitakeumi, love him or loath him, has been steady over the last years and there is no reason to think that is going to stop any time soon. That's the kind of thing the JSA takes into account as well.

I have never done well in Metasumo (or pretty much Meta anything) but I'll give it another go: 1-5 Pandaazuma (Any of these guys could win it all, so I'll go with the one who has done it the most times.) 6-10 Flohru (Again an amazing group; however Flohru is quite a talent, and, from my limited interactions, a genuinely nice guy to boot.) 11-20 Norizo (This guy is so good he has a game named after him!) 21-40 ScreechingOwl (Simply trying to motivate myself after another underperforming year.) 41-80 Pitinosato (Way too talented not to place higher.) 81-120 Ruziklao (Seems to have a knack at a variety of games, which is the best way to advance.) 121-200 Gurowake (2022 hasn't even started and he already has more points than anyone in this group had in 2021. Ponder that!) 201+ Getayutaka (Well, at this point it's anybody's guess, but this seems like a good one.) Best to luck to everyone who plays any online sumo games in 2022!

"Sekiwake Meisei is currently the top candidate to become [the] next ozeki," claims Morita Hiroshi. Adding yet another reason I don't take his reporting especially seriously.

Yes, Ryuden will rightly be favoured. Akiseyama is 36, and even though he's started out 2-0 I doubt he'll make it to a paid division again. But I've been wrong before.

Ama. He had great technique and ferocious tenacity. He never let go of a mawashi hold and never broke a fall if winning was in the balance. I was doubtful he'd be able to make ozeki at 126 k, and had mixed feelings about his being promoted to yokozuna because I wasn't sure he'd be able to hold the rank and didn't want him to be forced to go intai. But he sustained his rank and during the reign of the dai yokozuna of all dai yokozuna he won 9 yusho (3 zenyusho). Harumafuji was simply magnificent. And I'd throw in Kotoshogiku in second place. In a sport where so many rikishi underachieve, he was an overachiever. Kisenosato was the rikishi almost everyone thought would end the Japanese yusho drought, but it was Kotoshogiku who did it. And Kotoshogiku beat Kise to ozeki too. He had a limited technique and ability and he made the most of it.

Takayasu was a good ozeki and unfortunate to have lost his position due to injury. He appears to now have regained much of power, but even so he has never had more than 10 wins in a basho since Kyushu 2018, almost three years, including some basho against depleted upper competition. Moreover he's 31 now and even 33 wins over three consecutive basho may not be enough for promotion for him at this stage. (Let's not forget that Miyabiyama was denied a re-promotion to ozeki even after registering 34 wins over three basho.) The second time around things are often much tougher. With Ichinojo, despite looking very good last basho he still only managed 10 wins. In fact, in the 4 1/2 years since Hatsu 2017 Ichinojo has only managed more than 10 wins only once. And in addition, of course, he has a bad back which frequently limits his mobility and performance. It's very difficult (at least for me) to see how he's going to manage at least 33 wins over three consecutive basho. Meisei, Takanosho, and Wakatakakage are all 26. I'm not sure if any of them will get to ozeki: Meisei have never won more that 10 victories at any level; maybe he'll develop ozeki-level ability, but I don't see it. I guess I like Wakatakakage's chances best of all of this group, but I wouldn't bet on any of them. Mitakeumi has the ability but thus far lacks the consistency. We'll see if that changes. Hoshoryu is young enough and talented enough that if he can put it together he might be able to get to ozeki like Ama did, but it will take some time and a lot of heart. I'm most interested in seeing how two rikishi who won't be wrestling this basho look: Hokuseiho and Oshouma. Maybe one of them will be the next ozeki. Or perhaps it will be Asanoyama....

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Really? Most striking of many precedents is Kotomitsuki. Another more recent precedent is Ichinojo at Aki 2014, where he was ranked M10 and on days 11 and 12 faced ozeki, followed by facing yokozuna on days 13 and 14 - and that was Ichinojo's first basho in makuuchi too. Quite the performance.

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Shonichi: Ono