Benevolance

I've enjoyed Takakeisho's aggression this tournament. He looks like he wants to win. His extra shove on Atamifuji last night to take a co-lead was *chef kiss* - perfect combination of making sure his opponent was out, whilst saying, "This is MY basho!" I doubt Hoshoryu is going to get any sort of OBSC hand-out tonight from Takakeisho, and it'll be interesting to see how Atamifuji fares against Abi. Match ups are in Abi's favour, but he's already secured his kachikoshi and is too far back to be in contention even if he wins.

No, it's physically impossible for an uninjured rikishi to gambarize properly. It's written into the Code of Conduct.

Shikona change: Takanomojo.

Aoiyama is playing the long game. If you convert his win/loss record into binary, it says "You Suck Hakuh". But since we have no idea who this Hakuh character might be, we'll have to wait a few more tournaments to see what is revealed.

Takakeisho had a yusho-->jun-yusho in his ozeki run and so when he followed that up with the jun-yusho --> yusho in 2020, I figured as a Japanese rikishi that'd be enough to get the rope. And then in 2022-2023 he had 2 jun-yusho and a yusho over four tournaments with double-digit wins in all; I figured he'd get the rope for sure. But obviously he didn't. The problem seems to be that every time he competes, he ends up injured and effectively misses the next tournament as a result. It's probably just as well, though. He's certainly done alright in spite of the injuries so I'm always surprised when people scoff at his yokozuna chances. Edit: By 'competes', I mean that every time he gets healthy enough to actually challenge for the cup, and not those tournaments where he's obviously still injured, and simply trying to scrape together the wins to maintain his rank.

If watching sumo has taught me anything, Kotonowaka will drop four of his first five and guarantee the discussion moot.

We all only wish we could be greeted entering a room the way the ladies greeted Kaio every time he stepped in the ring.

I think Waka misunderstood my Fozzy bear proposal. I wanted them to wear Muppet mawashi, not be jokes on the dohyo. :(

I'm not sure that either Waka or Daieisho will be able to pick up their necessary three wins in their final two matches without some rather preposterous ringside antics involving a botched matta, at least three complicit shimpan, and an explosive ikebana arrangement.

Daieisho clearly showing his Ozeki chops there by helping out a fellow future Ozeki in desperate need of a win. I think that (and three more wins) should clinch the promotion for him.

Junsan's post was almost a good haiku. I edited it down to this... Kinbozan's henka functionally effective lacking aesthetics

Not sure I like Waka's chances here at making the triple. Unrelated, I hope all the Waka bros make it to sekitori and then Jim Henson studios decides to make a Muppets in Tokyo movie and the Waka brothers get sponsored by Fozzy the Bear because that's a marketing opportunity just waiting to happen.

Meisei totally goaded Kotonowaka into that false start and threw him off.

11 wins seems like almost a given for Daeishou, and 12 wins seems like outside chance for Wakamotoharu and Houshouryuu, which I suspect is the key difference in their mental preparation. The latter two, I expect, are probably wistfully hoping they get 12, yet would be just happy with 11 to secure better odds in September.

I am happy to be wrong, but I didn't expect a yusho showing from Terunofuji. The pre-basho "plans to compete" message from the oyakata seemed like the usual cookie cutter platitudes. I figured he'd win a couple, lose a couple, satisfy the powers that he tried, and withdraw. I don't think he looked completely dominant most of the time, but he did just enough to get the wins. And I'm only saying anything now that he cannot lose, because I did not want to jinx this amazing return. I'm also entirely befuddled by the sanyaku performance. I thought that the kyokai had banned double-digit wins back in 2022?