Basho Talk - Hatsu Basho 2016 +++ Spoiler Alert! +++

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

3 man race! Giku needs to really look out for Goeido tomorrow, he's going to be a dangerous one after getting the finger from Isegahama today.

[Gooner 39]

Giku has had 3 Jun-yusho's in his career. In 2 of them he lost against Goeido on the final day...

[hamcornheinz 839]

Exciting bout from Juryo today.

[rhyen 1,809]

Goeido is simply going to give the finger by not showing up tomorrow, thereby giving Kotoshogiku a fusen win & the Yusho.

:p

[hamcornheinz 839]

So heres a question, if Tochiozan and Yoshikaze both lose tommorow, even if Yoshikaze maintains his rank with a 7-8, I'm guessing we're gonna have Takarafuji as SEKIWAKE??? Man sumo is a weird sport.

[haboki 4]

Who was that guy on the West side in the last Bout today? That was definitely not Hakuho....

Ganzohnesushi

That was the most obvious throwing of a match I've ever seen. Hakuho never loses like that. The tenth anniversary will not be extended.

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

If Takarafuji were to go 8-7 I think he would get jumped by Toyonoshima.

[haboki 4]

Who are the genius judges doing the mono-ii replays. They got 2 wrong in a row.

[hamcornheinz 839]

Who are the genius judges doing the mono-ii replays. They got 2 wrong in a row.

They are former Yokozuna, Ozeki, and Maegashira. I'm sure they don't have your understanding of sumo, though.

Edited January 23, 2016 by hamcornheinz

[haboki 4]

Who are the genius judges doing the mono-ii replays. They got 2 wrong in a row.

They are former Yokozuna, Ozeki, and Maegashira. I'm sure they don't have your understanding of sumo, though.

I assumed that but we don't know who they are. Do you have an opinion on the bad calls?

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

Who are the genius judges doing the mono-ii replays. They got 2 wrong in a row.

They are former Yokozuna, Ozeki, and Maegashira. I'm sure they don't have your understanding of sumo, though.

I assumed that but we don't know who they are. Do you have an opinion on the bad calls?

From the view I had from watching it on TV, Aminishiki vs. Tochinoshin should have been a torinaoshi. As far as Takarafuji vs. Goeido is concerned, I didn't see how he did indeed pull his hair. Unless the part where he actually made his fist above the chonmage really could be seen by the replay judges on 2160p review screen.

[Akinomaki 39,776]

The judges are announced on the daily torikumi-sheets, for Tokyo at http://www.sumo.or.jp/en/honbasho/kansen/tokyo?open_timetable=1#nitteihyo

The last 3 shifts are juryo, first half and 2nd half of makuuchi, with head shimpan in turns one of the top 3 of the shimpan department.

The last shift today had Isegahama (Asahifuji) as head, and Shikoroyama (Terao), Asakayama (Kaio), Takadagawa (Akinoshima) and Jinmaku (Fujinoshin) as the other shimpan.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Akinomaki

[specialweek 2 136]

Hakuho could be a candidate for the Razzie awards next year.

[hamcornheinz 839]

Who was that guy on the West side in the last Bout today? That was definitely not Hakuho....

Ganzohnesushi

That was the most obvious throwing of a match I've ever seen. Hakuho never loses like that. The tenth anniversary will not be extended.

You would think after yesterday's match where THE match which had a reason to be fixed potentially ruins Kotoshogiku's run.... and last basho where Hakuho lost in the last 3 days.... and Kisenosato ending Hakuho's winning streak a few short of the record.... and the fact that Kisenosato was fighting for kachikoshi.... I guess you just can't explain stupid.

[haboki 4]

I'm talking about whoever watch the replays and advise the judges what to decide when they have a mono-ii.

[Asojima 2,870]

The head shimpan has been catching a lot of flak here. (1) Which shimpan called for each of the disputed monoiis? (2) Does the head shimpan actually make the final decision, or does he simply announce a consensus opinion of the group?

[haboki 4]

I'm just saying it looked like Aminishikis's foot touched out before Tochinoshin's. And no top knot was grabbed.

[Asashosakari 18,786]

I guess I'm the only one, but both while watching in real time and now watching replays, I thought/think that a hair pull more likely happened than not - given the really weird way Takarafuji went almost horizontal in an instant, I doubt Goeido was merely pressing down on his head. It wasn't a lengthy, "even a child could see it" hair pull, but enough of one to impart a decisive impulse on Takarafuji's body.

In the video here at 1:42 it certainly looks as though Goeido is loosening a grip of some kind on the mage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD2NQIbZyaY

I won't argue against Aminishiki-Tochinoshin deserving a torinaoshi.

[Jakusotsu 5,813]

The foul was called because Goeido already had his share of kubinage this basho against Ikioi.

Now, if he went for a neck pull instead...

[rhyen 1,809]

So heres a question, if Tochiozan and Yoshikaze both lose tommorow, even if Yoshikaze maintains his rank with a 7-8, I'm guessing we're gonna have Takarafuji as SEKIWAKE??? Man sumo is a weird sport.

Go back to 2015 Hatsu Basho results and see the Haru banzuke where the entire Sanyaku ranks were cleared out to make way for 4 KK rikishi (8-7 M2, 9-6 M6, 9-6 M8, 10-5 M9)

http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx?b=201501

Edited January 23, 2016 by rhyen

[Atenzan 1,074]

Correct me if I'm wrong here (**Asashosakari, nudge nudge**) but I think that today's win locked in Kotoshogiku's tsunatori in Haru.

Kotoshogiku's possible results here are:

-A 14-1 yusho, should he win tomorrow

-A 13-2 uncontested yusho, should he lose while Ama beats Hakuho and Tochiozan beats Toyonoshima

-A 13-2 playoff yusho, should he lose while at least one of Hakuho and Toyonoshima win, with Kotoshogiku prevailing in the playoffs

-A 13-2 doten, if he loses both his kekka and playoff matches.

Either of the four results should start a yokozuna run, right?

[Akinomaki 39,776]

The gyoji has no say in the decision of the mono-ii conference, nor the (one or two) oyakata in the video-room (the names are in the news sometimes, maybe I find them later), they are just giving information about what they saw/can see on the video. The shimpan have to agree on something, the head shimpan has the decisive say in that, but being all Japanese they should have no problem to find a solution that all can agree to.

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

Takarafuji is pretty much locked in to sanyaku after his "win" today, in fact I would not be surprised if he were promoted to sekiwake. If Yoshikaze loses tomorrow Takarafuji will be the east sekiwake for Haru 2016. Joining him I believe will be Toyonoshima if he ends up 13-2. Since Ikioi and Tochinoshin will be moving out of the sanyaku, it is a matter of whether Tochiozan and Yoshikaze can preserve themselves enough to stay at komusubi. Tochiozan could fall all the way out if he goes 6-9. Kotoyuki and Okinoumi depending upon how they do tomorrow can also factor into that.

[hamcornheinz 839]

Correct me if I'm wrong here (**Asashosakari, nudge nudge**) but I think that today's win locked in Kotoshogiku's tsunatori in Haru.

Kotoshogiku's possible results here are:

-A 14-1 yusho, should he win tomorrow

-A 13-2 uncontested yusho, should he lose while Ama beats Hakuho and Tochiozan beats Toyonoshima

-A 13-2 playoff yusho, should he lose while at least one of Hakuho and Toyonoshima win, with Kotoshogiku prevailing in the playoffs

-A 13-2 doten, if he loses both his kekka and playoff matches.

Either of the four results should start a yokozuna run, right?

I'm not sure but at this age, maybe not. There have been occasions where even people who should've been promoted to Ozeki with 33 or even 34 wins didn't because of their age and their poor track record fighting at the top.

[hamcornheinz 839]

Hakuho basically did the exact same thing he did in the Tochiozan fight, and got punished for it. Very strange that he would pull it on Kisenosato, though.