Churaumi

He died of congestive heart failure, which is a byproduct of chronic alcoholism, which may well have been caused by his other ailments. Drinking a hundred beers at a time isn’t good for anyone. I was more trying to say that 25 liters of beer is totally possible, someone above expressed doubt. Was it too soon?

Andre the Giant supposedly drank more than that, and Orora is bigger than he was. However, Andre couldn’t be reached for comment...

I think it’s just nerves, I’d rather he matta all day instead of choking like he used to.

Crawling onto the dohyo...he might be too big for his frame now.

There’s some good wrestlers low in makuuchi, so I’m predicting a splat from Takanosho. I think the ozeki will power through, and we’ll have four of them in Kyushu. Blue macaron, for the win.

A necktie is just an ineffectual scarf.

So it looks like Kisenosato and Takayasu are training as usual.

*goes to YouTube and searches* Holy crap, this is a whole global thing, isn’t it? I guess I just don’t get it.

Kakuryu will probably be the east yokozuna, since he competed more days than Hakuho did. As for the two relative newbies, I’m going to say it’s a safe bet Hoshoryu will be makushita next basho. I think Naya will as well, because the kyokai probably wants to keep them together as long as possible. Rivalry is a big thing in sumo, and we don’t really have one right now, since Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku have fallen off. Plus, given the pedigrees of Naya and Hoshoryu, how could the sumo world not be watching intently? The kyokai is known for wackiness in promotions but I doubt they’d risk being seen as shortchanging either of them for now.

We’ll have to get before and after pics; what he looked like in sumo vs. MMA. Doesn’t look like he’s cutting much but it will be more apparent side-by-side.

I agree they are ideally supposed to be the top finishers every time. But, the YDC doesn’t treat it that way. If they did, there would be calls for them to retire when that wasn’t the case, and they wouldn’t tolerate the constant kyujo. I’m well documented here in previous threads that I think yokozuna get too much slack and that as soon as they can’t live up to the ideal they should go. One or two basho kyujo here or there, but not what particularly Kisenosato and Kakuryu got away with. In Churaumi World there would be fewer yokozuna and they wouldn’t reign for long. Like I’ve said before, it’s an honorific, not a rank a person is meant to cling to for years. I may be ridiculous, but then so is the YDC. As for their bias toward Kisenosato, well...of course they are biased toward him. It’s a sport that openly discriminates against foreigners. Get over it. At least they had the decency to back off the veiled threats for Harumafuji and Kakuryu to retire when they realized their Japanese yokozuna was going to be out for a long time. Then they got less interested in the ideals of yokozunahood and more interested in everyone coming back healthy and putting on good shows for the fans. I wouldn’t ever accuse the YDC of being too principled.

A lot of things. Winning is one of them, but he’s not going to win another tournament anytime soon. Him hoisting the cup doesn’t seem to be a priority for the people who matter yet. They seem focused on him just being able to finish a basho. He doesn’t handle pressure well, and if he gets yusho expectations put on him he will choke.

I’d hate to see him start 1-3 and pull the plug, but I could see it happening. Hopefully there aren’t too many people putting yusho pressure on him, he’ll have enough of that himself.

I’d personally count finishing a basho kachikoshi as good enough for his return, but I very seriously doubt he’ll ever win again. Especially next basho, he’s going to have Mitakeumi on an ozeki run and Tochinoshin working off his first kadoban, as well as the other yokozuna hopefully being somewhat healthy. He’s going to have to aim for at least 14-1 and I just don’t see that in him.

Yeah....about that...yu sho crazy, Mr. Takada. As long as that particular delusion sticks with him, that’s fine. Every group has their outliers.