ScreechingOwl

Here's a table showing ozeki performance: Wins 10+ 9 8 mk Miyabiyama 0 2 2 4 Dejima 5 2 2 3 Kotomitsuki 5 4 6 2 Baruto 8 4 1 2 Goeido 2 3 6 5 Those are the numbers. Goeido and Baruto each won one yusho as ozeki. (Kotomitsuki and Dejima each one one yusho prior to being elevated to ozeki.) Everyone is free to interpret the numbers as he or she chooses to, but from my vantage point Goeido has been a poor ozeki.

So have I. Today I could not get any feed on my computer; I was finally able to pick up the Chinese feed on my cell phone.

Haru 2014 is also the last time Hakuho and Harumafuji simultaneously got off to 8-0 starts. It was an impressive display of power by Terunofuji, but his use of the kime grip so often seems to be lazy/bad sumo to me. He should be getting a grip on the mawashi. Goeido's sumo was so poor that it's almost beyond words. He should easily be able to defeat Endo going forward, but instead he pulls, almost loses, and then, two feet from the edge of the dohyo, decides to pull again. He's just an awful ozeki - I think the worst since Miyabiyama. I hope he can't pull out eight wins this time and loses the rank. (Although that's not going to happen.) Takayasu, on the other hand, continues to impress on his way to ozeki promotion.

I too suspect today's bout with Hakuho might be Kotoshogiku's final one. A loss will leave him one loss away from make koshi, which is assured the way he has been wrestling this basho. He's only 33, but his power seems gone, most likely decreased by the accumulated wear-and-tear of injuries. It's difficult to see him carrying on after this basho, and an almost certain demotion to the maegashira ranks, but time will tell.

01 X 02 A 03 B 04 A 05 A 06 A 07 A 08 A 09 A 10 B 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 A 15 B 16 B 17 B 18 A 19 A 20 B 21 A

[Kisenosato] On putting on 9 kilos and reaching his heaviest ever weight- "It's not because of neglect.." How do you gain 20 pounds without trying to and then claim it's not because of neglect? I guess he was eating too much on purpose. The private training isn't a good sign either. But one thing I've learned over the years about health and keiko reports - it's generally very difficult to read from them what the real state of a rikishi's health is.

After Hatsu this year Kisenosato edged ahead of Hakuho in my rating system. I think there was one basho where Harumafuji slightly overtook Hakuho (my ratings are based on the previous four tournaments) but other than that it's been Hakuho since a year or two before Asashoryu was forced out, which is quite a long run at the top.

My daughter, KikoCookie, will be playing and has promised to bring her dad along also.

1. No one likes to see a henka in an important match - or from a yokozuna or ozeki - but it's legal and they all do it at times. 2. We don't know if the henka was premeditated. Maybe jumping forward to cause the matta set it up, or maybe Kotoshogiku's well known tendency to carelessly plunge straightforward without looking gave Terunofuji the idea. 3. Maybe Terunofuji was tired of saving Giku's butt. When he was kadoban. Kotoshogiku's henka (or henka non henka as some charitably call it) didn't matter - Teru was "honor bound" to ozeki back scratch and save Giku. No way that match was anything but a gift. (And frankly by sparing us this version of over the hill GIku back as ozeki Terunofuji gave us fans a gift this time.) 4. If Terunofuji wins consecutive basho he will be promoted. He'll have put together a more compelling case for advancement that Kakuryu and especially Kisenosato. One henka will be water under the bridge. (There was a lot of muttering when Kotooshu won his yusho, but that's because he henka'd two or three bouts.)

I remember those days (well, nights for me) very well. If you signed on more than 15 minutes after the makuuchi division matches had started you often couldn't get in at all, especially on senshuraku. And just the one camera, no replays and bad resolution....

As Asashosakari so ably points out, Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku have never done each other favours. While I'm not a psychologist, they don't seem to like each other very much, and since Kotomitsuki was forced to retire in 2010 they have been locked in a battle for who is the top Japanese rikishi. Although I've always viewed Kisenosato as the more talented, Kotoshogiku pipped Kisenosato twice - the first to become ozeki and the first to win a yusho. Now of course, the tide has turned. Supposedly Kisenosato is one of the least likely rikishi to do ANYONE favours (and I mean that in a positive way), but regardless this one was going to be fought straight up even if both contestants didn't need the win. And they each do.

15 Ichinojo13 Terunofuji11 Mitakeumi10 Ura9 Sokokurai8 Tochinoshin7 Kakuryu6 Aoiyama5 Kisenosato

I just sent in my entry. Thank you for running the game all these years, Sakana.

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