robnplunder

Hi.

I think he needs to start with his tachi ai. It's weak alright. Can he fix it? I doubt it. Athletes don't/can't change their style easily. I think he reached his ceiling of reaching sanyuku occasionally. He will top out at Sekiwake which is still good.

I can't see Shodai making to Ozeki. His sumo style is already set and it is not the stuff of Ozeki. I especially don't like his "head high" tachi-hai. Takarafuji has that same approach, he is stronger of the two, and AFAIK, he is not an Ozeki. It's too early to tell for Yutakayama although he seems to have run into a wall already.

A strategic choice by Ryuuden given how injury prone a rikishi can be. ( I married a nurse myself and does anyone have any idea how many times I have to wash my hand per day? Ryu won't believe it. )

95%? You put these hormone filled young kids who may be frustrated, angry, uneducated, tired, ...., in one small place, !#@$#@ can and will happen.

If the injury is not severe but give him rest against "various one day tournaments and festivities," this may be a blessing in disguise. Might as well come back well rested for another yusho run.

Violence in sumo must be wide spread to have these many scandals (Haruma, Takaoiwa, not this one) in short time. These are the ones which became public. I must assume there are whole lot more that are not public ... yet.

Exactly. The coexistent days of Haruma, Hak, Kak, and Kise are gone forever without their collective greatness being replaced by anyone. Two of them have intai'd and the other two are spending more time in kyujo than in dohyo. And yet, no one has stepped up. When Tochinoshin won, I thought he'd replace Haruma's missing presence. That didn't happen. Takayasu hasn't stepped up either. Takakeisho has done OK but not enough to get the Ozeki promotion after garnering 33 wins in the last 3 basho. Mitakeumi looked good at times but is not even in the Ozeki run. All the up and coming young rikishi (Hokuto, Asanoyama, Yutakayam, ...) has just gone up and down the joi ride. Sigh.

Takakeisho didn't get the Ozeki rank b/c there is a height limitation to become one. One has to be at least 180 cm tall and TKO is officially 7 cm short of the limit. They made an exception on Kotoshogiku who measured in at 179 cm. This bothered Kotoshogiku throughout his Ozeki career until he couldn't live with it anymore. He decided to MK on purpose to step down from the Ozeki rank without causing suspicion. Meanwhile, TKO is on a special hormone diet to grow taller. I got this info directly from well respected forum trolls members. PS - Yokozuna height limitation was recently increased to 185 cm.

It'd take a miracle of sort for Tamawashi to get promoted after the next basho. He probably has to get an yusho with high number of wins. Even then, he'd immediately be a kadoban candidate. This was a fluke yusho after the top ranks were devastated. Then again, I can say the similar about all the recent yushos won by non Yokozuna.

No, it isn't. No matter what the sumo tradition dictates, there is only one true father. If Osu was further demoted for the rumored reason, he has a good case for contesting the decision. I sure hope there's more to it than that. Perhaps, he looks a lot older than his age may rubbed some old sumo masters the wrong way .

Quality over quantity ... I can understand that. It's interesting to see if Takakeisho can fine tune his trick even more. I felt that Sansho decisions were kind of random at best .

That may explain his deep vows bows. His head is a bit heavy. I like Hokuto and wish him to be an Ozeki someday.

When Ura was making waves in his 1st Makuuchi run, many of us thought that his style of sumo/body frame will make him prone to injuries. Well, here he is. His ozumo career is done even if he decides to come back. He will be just another young prospect whose injury has cut his career down. Unfortunate but it's life of a professional sport.

Just going by the record, he should be ranked as a low Ozeki or high Sekiwake. What would make his record "balanced" in your opinion?