i am here

[chabonowaka 2]

hello all,

this is my (not so) little story of how i came to be joining the sumoforum. here's hoping i present this in an understandable fashion.

it all started waaaaaaay not so far back in 1993 when i met this japanese girl at college (temple u. in philly) and we started dating and then about a year and a half later i took my first trip to japan (with her) (to meet her family) (who all approved of me, in case you're wondering.) on the way to japan in january 1995, we were waiting in the portland, oregon airport for our connector flight and i saw probably a solid half hour of the hatsu 1995 basho on one of the airport tv's. i was hooked and continued to watch the basho throughout the rest of our two week stay. the only lasting image i have from that basho is of akebono, he beat somebody, and after the match was staring down at them in the first row like he wanted to kill them. he was my instant favorite.

that's how i got hooked, here's some other tidbits about my sumo fandom:

- i found out and joined the sumo list in about mid 1997.

- started with the games soon thereafter, earliest games for me were the sumo game and GTB

- (now the tragedy) i dropped off the list and out of the games in early 2000 (was away for about a year) when i got laid off from my first ever computer related job (was laid off for 7 months) and my wife was pregnant with our second child and we moved. i have been employed again for about a year and a half and am much more relaxed now.

- enough of the tragedy stuff - my shikona (chabonowaka) - a mix of my first ever (other than akebono) favorite rikishi, asanowaka, who hails from the same prefecture as my wife, aichi, and i picked up the chabo part when my now wife was telling her mom about me for the first time. here's how that went (translated to english): "his name is chado." "eh?" "chado." "what, chabo?" "no, chado -do -DO" "ah, chado?" "yes" (or something similar to that.) so now i have chabo- nowaka. that's me.

-have heard mention of this sumoforum many times, but just simply never clicked on one of the links before today. now i kick myself for not doing so earlier.

happy to be here,

chabonowaka

[Rijicho 6]

Happy to see you arrive. (Enjoying a beer...)

[Fujisan 530]

Your very welcome Chabo,the more the merrier.

Grab a hand full of salt fling it out your hand in extravagant(Old Asanowaka) style and join the fray.

[Zenjimoto 40]

Always good to see a former Sekitori-Toto Kanto-sho winner join this here forum! Enjoy! :)

Cheers from Calcutta,

Zenjimoto

[Dejimasama 0]

Good to see you, I hope you enjoy the forum as much as I have.

[Yoavoshimaru 0]

Welcome to the forum chabonowaka-zeki!

(Sign of approval)

Thanks for the story: I, for one, found it interesting. :-P

I wish they'd play more sumo on airport TVs in general. They always have the same boring news/weather cycle. >:-D

Is your wife also a sumo fan?

(Rock on...)

[Fujisan 530]

I say more Sumo on all Tvs and all Tv channels-Anyone else for seeing some classic matches aswell as the ongoing bashos?(Stupid question)

[chabonowaka 2]

Welcome to the forum chabonowaka-zeki!

(Sign of approval)

Thanks for the story: I, for one, found it interesting. :-P

I wish they'd play more sumo on airport TVs in general. They always have the same boring news/weather cycle. :-P

Is your wife also a sumo fan?

(Rock on...)

sorry for the delay. until i get used to this being here, i will only remember to check in every few days. :-D

anywho, no, my wife isn't particularly a fan of sumo, nobody in her family is really much of a sports fan of any sort. her younger brother used to be a big Grampus8 fan, but that was when he was a teenager. (now he's a professional hang glider.) i am really the only sumo fan in our family, though my older daughter will sometimes stop and watch Dale's movies (a bazillion thanks to dale, who i assume most of you know, and if not, just ask and i will fill you in) and seems to like it.

actually, a casual friend of my wife is a sumo fan, and to this day, in spite of his fall, she remains a super Dejima supporter.

as for me, in case i didn't mention it, my biggest rooting every basho is that Asanowaka will make/stay in makuuchi. he's been my favorite (other than Akebono) since the beginning.

oh, and while i am here, anyone here ever spend any time in the Nagoya suburbs? that's where my wife is from, and the only part of Japan i am really familiar with.

also, thanks for finding my story interesting, i always have, but i just figured it was because it was me. :-(

[Fujisan 530]

We all probably think our own story is interesting Chabo.

As for Asanowaka,I keep hoping hes gonna return to his old extravagence-He seems to have lost his edge since then.

[Yubiquitoyama 4]

We all probably think our own story is interesting Chabo.

As for Asanowaka,I keep hoping hes gonna return to his old extravagence-He seems to have lost his edge since then.

Well, although the lack of antics (eh, spelling?) doesn't seem much Asanowaka, I don't think he really has lost in power and competitiveness bacause of it. He had already dropped to Juryo when he stopped doing them and has remained a steady Juryo-Makunouchi elevator rikishi since. He also is 33 and a half years old at which stage most rikishi are going downhill and losing "their edge".

[Zentoryu 154]

As for Asanowaka,I keep hoping hes gonna return to his old extravagence-He seems to have lost his edge since then.

I doubt you realize how ironic this statement is. ;-)

Back when Asa stopped his antics (or, depending on who you listen to, the Kyokai made him stop) he said it was because he wanted to concentrate on his sumo, take it seriously, and become a better rikishi. B-)

Of course, he henka's just as much now as he did back then, so I don't really see the difference. (Laughing...)