LLCoolKay

I hope he ends up making it to the top. Represent the bald!

I mean at the end of the day, sumo is a Japanese sport for Japanese people in Japan. They want more eyes on the sport, but I don't think they particularly care for those eyes if they aren't Japanese.

Que the people on reddit having a tantrum about racism and conspiracies. Nishonoseki decided to play it safe and make an official report and set the example of not playing favorites. I think this is for the best, especially in light of all the drinking related issues and encounters in the last decade or so.

I guess if nothing else, the training for the combined heya will be of the highest quality. They have a small army of sekitori.

I thought transfered foreigners didn't count against the transfered to heya?

As can I!

If the quality is good it will find an audience and sell well. Prefacing that I am not in Europe and don't really know that market, but my family has owned and operated wine shops in three states in the US. There are plenty of $40 wines from all of the big wine locale's that sell consistently. $40-60 is a really consistent range, since it doesn't feel like you're buying something cheap but also feels like your buying something special without breaking the bank. Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet's are about 60 dollars and they are never on the shelf for long. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia is another one that's closer in price (and also European) to this and it's also one that sells very well, at around 45 dollars a bottle. This is pretty much guaranteed and is probably the smartest way he could go about it. The profit margin on private label is really high and if he is working with a reputable producer the wine could definitely be worth the cost. Whether or not you would be able to find out who that producer was is hit or miss. Some private labels guard that information like gold. Some want to put the producer on the label to show that their partner is known for quality wines. Some producers don't want their names on it either though.

I thought the same thing and was happy it was something positive.

Very sad news to hear. I remember watching him as a kid. I remember the epic playoff bout that he and Kotokaze had and then the next basho he secured promotion to ozeki (a Chiyonofuji zensho IIRC). He may not have very frequently been in the running for the yusho but he went a long time without posting a losing record.

Is it just me or has the general level of nastiness across the various sumo communities gotten much worse than usual? It seems far beyond the usual spirited debate lately. I feel like there has been a general level of disrespect to Atamifuji for attaining such an impressive result in his second makuuchi basho. Very little acknowledgement of that at all behind the endless debate on whether Takakeisho is "worthy", whatever that really means. I was deeply impressed by his performance overall and look forward to seeing him compete in the future. Also love the super competitive scrum at the top. Every one of those guys could take it every time out. Or they could all break themselves on each other. It's exciting either way.

I loved his style since I started watching and will miss seeing him. Hopefully he lands on his feet and has a successful career outside of the sumo world.

It will be really interesting to see if he is correct about degeiko affecting or negating the advantages that top heavy heya have. That's not something I had thought about in the excitement of degeiko being back. Couple that with jungyo returning as well and I wonder if there will be major changes as talented youngsters get to take full advantage of training with the best opponents.

Thank you for putting this out there! It's great and better than most podcast/YouTube content in between bashos that gets put out there.

It sounded like he was still feeling the after effects of COVID at the start from what I recall from pre-basho talk. It might have taken until Day 5-6 for him to start getting a good nights sleep and be able to breath clearly. Would definitely explain his sudden resurgence.

They're all really good. I played Kakuryu's My Way at my Super Bowl party and my friends didn't realize for most of the song it wasn't the original.