Ender Wiggin

So okamisan ran off last September, just when Takayasu sat out with an injury and started his MK streak. Aside from his nagging injury, I wonder if that played any part in his downward spiral.

I seriously doubt he's suffering from bad ass-ne or sitting down on glass-shard cushions. This might signal the return of pink Tochinoshin, the Georgian Majin Buu.

There might be some harm done here. He has essentially fought 5 matches while most everyone else has only fought 3. Plus his bouts tend to last longer than the others. Hopefully there are no more torinaoshi for him this basho.

Reminds me of Sadanoumi. Out of his 25 Makuuchi appearances, he has gone 7-8 or 8-7 15 times.

Sheesh. So much Kise bashing around here. To think that he was the toast of the town around here last year. And now people are kicking down the man who carried the weight of his people over his broken body. Tsk tsk. I, for one, would like to give him props for at least gambarizing his way through it all. I can't even imagine the pressure, frustration, and disappointment the man must be experiencing right now. The man tried...at least give him that.

I was surprised to see some posters here ragging on Takayasu after his bout with Hak. Yes, he clearly fell for the tachiai mind tricks of the GOAT, but I think it was far from being pathetic and the worst bout of the day. In fact, it was more complimentary to Takayasu that Hak decided to go all Aminishiki on him. How many times have we seen Hak resort to that? He was wary of having a straight-on confrontation with the bear, bad back and all. Sure, Yasu could've handled it better, but that's after the fact. I'm not sure any of the other sekitori could've done better in that situation. As for Mita, well...nothing new here. Same old losing streak during the second half of a basho. Better luck with the next ozeki run, young blood.

Mitakeumi is the Allen Iverson of sumo.

Even with the disclaimer, the imagery of that made me upchuck my dinner. Akiseyama streaking would give new meaning to "how low can you go?".

Tochinoshin begs to differ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL8kYcsiWHI Besides, that's what happens when you only grab the first layer of the mawashi.

Old, crusty, battered, and not mentally there goat going up against a resurgent forklift that has momentum and wheels/shocks that are not as rickety as before. It was the right time for Tochi to finally win one against Hak. The stars were aligned for it to be so.

Takanohana is the one behind this. I guarantee it.

Brutally honest write-up there. I wonder how he will handle the zingers in the article if he ever gets to reading it. Thanks for sharing!

Yoshikaze schooling Shohozan on how to properly destroy your face...during their bout no less. Senpai shot down that nonsense fast.

@rhyen You can use the pop-out chat on s9 if you want. Click the option (gear) icon next to the Send button and then just click pop-out chat. No one is there right now though...

This was one of the few times I loved watching Hakuho show someone who the big boss is in sumo. I can do without the usual dame-oshi, but this was just perfect. Just like what @robnplunder mentioned in another thread, Takakeisho comes across as a cocky upstart (imo), and he was just asking to be schooled. I'm really glad Hakuho obliged and gave him a proper welcome to the upper ranks. All without the post-match shove. I lost it once Hakuho took that butsugari stance. Taunting, schooling, and marking his territory rolled into one. Takakeisho had to oblige out of respect and pride, and the rest is history. Hakuho still got some cheap shots in nonetheless. Anyone else notice there were some punches thrown in with those slaps? Lots of closed-fist action going on there.