Morty

Every time he mounted the dohyo for the past couple of years I watched closely because I knew I could be seeing it for the last time. And that actual last time (day 15 Nagoya) was one of the most intense sumo bouts I have ever seen, a fitting end to a magnificent career. In sport amongst the many participants a few rise to be champions. Then, very very rarely, one of those champions steps above that level and becomes something else entirely. Hakuho did that - it happens so rarely across all sports and we are lucky that we got to see it happen in sumo for the past decade. His records will stand for a long time and a lot of them will probably never be broken. Genuinely the Greatest of All Time.

Oh she can wander (that's where the name comes from). She has recently been diagnosed with dementia and tends to just go in whatever direction she wants. She is 14 years old and in great shape for her age, but like her knee, her brain is also buggered

No, my dog Wanda. Her right back knee is buggered

I agree that it is the knees that will ultimately determine how long he can go and how successful he will be. Currently he's riding a wave of good health but we saw how fast he plummeted the last time his health failed him. I also wouldn't assume he is just going to win everything without competition. Not counting Hak there are eight previous yusho winners on the current makuuchi banzuke. They are all inconsistent and I'm assuming Tokushoryu and Tochinoshin, and probably Tamawashi are never winning another one. But while the other five are inconsistent, they have all proven they can compete, and win, at the highest level, some of them more than once. Sumo always surprises....

Did you hear Cornette talking about this last week, or read the recent article about all Hogan's lies? Or hear it when Hogan first said it back in the day? Regardless, kudos.

Endo Yusho - you heard it here first.

I think this is just a typical Terunofuji performance. He's never gone zensho, he always loses at least a couple. He has two 13-2 yushos and three 12-3 yushos. He has always had holes in his game that smart opponents can exploit, because, despite being extremely skilled, he relies too much on being stronger than everyone else. Hence the fact he gives up morozashi all the time. He is a brute force kind of rikishi and as we have seen with Tochinoshin, that only works while you can exert the brute force to the fullest ability. This is why I think his Yokozuna career will be relatively short, because he won't have the luxury of dropping down to the maegashira ranks once his knees start to really play up...

That was a pretty good day of sumo, with Endo-Chiyonokuni the standout. I think that is the first time I have ever seen both rikishi bleeding at the end of a bout. Top work from both men.

He has that deer in the headlights look that Kise had in all the basho after the major injury that ultimately ended it all. He clearly isn't right , can't generate any power, is moving slowly and gingerly. He should go kyujo (but probably won't until he has at least lost five or six)

Pulled off the best ippon that I ever saw. Will be missed

Doesn't count, he was PED'd up the wazoo. I'll never forgive him for utterly destroying cycling as a viable sport (he wasn't alone but he was the most egregious example). Also, while we're at it, as far as I'm concerned Roger Maris is still the single season home run record holder and Hank Aaron the all time home run king. The drug cheats and their *records* can get stuffed.

Me too, I like them all, mainly because they all have the guts to get up on the dohyo and do something I, and most others, could never do. I have my favorites, many of whom lose as much as they win, and I often change who I am barracking for dependent on the narrative of the Basho. But I always remember that these guys do long term physical damage to themselves to participate in sumo, and they are likely to die significantly younger than the average person, and they do it for our entertainment, so actually disliking them for that seems wrong to me somehow. I'm not paying to watch them fight for the most part, and there was a long time where I simply couldn't watch sumo because it wasn't available in any way where I live ( thankyou internet), so just being able to watch any sumo is a privilege

That was possibly the most intense sumo bout I have ever seen and I freaking loved it. Hak reminded me of Ali when he fought Foreman in Zaire. Like Ali, Hak is genetically incapable of not doing everything allowable within the rules in order to win. His reaction afterwards, and that of his wife and kids, shows how losing is not in his DNA. He watched Terunofuji beat all comers for the past few basho and must have had his doubts whether he could beat him, so he went deep inside himself to find what he needed to get that win. The Greatest Of All Time. God I'm going to miss him when he has gone.

It is also likely that Terunofuji's tenure as a Yok would resemble his shisho's, or for a more recent comparison, Tochinoshin's time as Ozeki - dominant performances while healthy to achieve the rank, but shortly thereafter the old injuries that don't go away come back and suddenly those strong performances are but a memory. So it needs to be now before his knees betray him again. And I have no doubt he deserves the rope.

Me too.