John Gunning

Pre production meeting then live on air for makuuchi with Raja Pradhan. To preempt the inevitable ‘who are you wearing’ questions... Tshirt ‘sumo evolution’ by Tachi-Ai Jeans by Edwin

So we having living in NH in common too.

I’ve been to Portsmouth in New Hampshire if that counts

In the past?

This guy!

Not either of these guys.

Not this guy.

Not this guy.

Not this guy

Shot I took yesterday. Can you ID the rikishi without checking?

I went to Doreen's funeral and the church was packed out. I had no idea what to expect so I asked some people & Googled the proper etiquette etc beforehand but it seemed even the members of the religion Doreen was part of were in new territory as she requested the full traditional rites / service. That made me smile as Doreen was nothing if not a lover of archaic ceremony. The priests who had obviously never performed it that way before could be seen checking with each other that they were getting it right. Pretty much everything I had Googled was wrong too. The casket was opened part of the way through and everyone put flowers in with her. Talked about her with several people since. The point that I always find amazing is that she was so well known worldwide for her sumo involvement yet didn't move here or start doing anything with the sport until she was in her 40's. She had a whole life before ever penning a single word about the sport. Not many people can say they take something up in their fifth decade on the planet and become a noted expert.

O'Hara / 小原

Well technically since it's the headline you quoted that's what the editor said. The rest of the column is mine though.