Basho Talk - Hatsu Basho 2017 ** (SPOILERS)

[Dapeng 236]

7 hours ago, Iginishiki2 said:

I really hope Kise makes it this time. Anything can happen, still, and in any case it's far too early to jump aboard the Yokozuna hype train, but he is the best Ozeki in the current roster, hands down, and it would be a well deserved Yusho for him.

The problem is, if he really wins this basho (say at 14-1), will NSK immediately promote him to yokozuna? If not, he may need another yusho or at least 13 wins in March for promotion, which is difficult in my opinion. His losses to Tochi last basho and to Geeku this basho may cost him heavily.

The next basho will be very tough: Kaku and Haru need to prove themselves worthy of their titles or else being forced to retire; Geeku needs 10 wins to reclaim his ozeki; Teru needs to avoid demotion; and more importantly, younger rikishies are improving very fast. I don't see Kise can win the March basho.

 

[Dapeng 236]

7 hours ago, Senkoho said:

not that difficult - he only needs to lose to Hakuho twice

I don't think Haku will work that hard to destroy Kise's dream.

As Haku claimed before this basho, his goal this year is the 1047 wins. He only needs 11-12 win every basho that is only a piece of cake for him. He is in a very relaxed situation. 

[dingo 1,388]

18 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

I don't think Haku will work that hard to destroy Kise's dream.

As Haku claimed before this basho, his goal this year is the 1047 wins. He only needs 11-12 win every basho that is only a piece of cake for him. He is in a very relaxed situation. 

With just 11 or 12 wins every basho which presumably would not be enough to give him a yusho, talk about his retirement would start pretty soon as well. 

[Arn 24]

33 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

I don't think Haku will work that hard to destroy Kise's dream.

As Haku claimed before this basho, his goal this year is the 1047 wins. He only needs 11-12 win every basho that is only a piece of cake for him. He is in a very relaxed situation. 

I think Hakuho is way to competetive to not try a 100% for a yusho when he is in his current position.

And Hakuho-Kisenosato is one of the bigger rivalries (if somewhat one-sided in result most of the time). To me it has always seemed that Hakuho doesn't like Kisenosato.

[robnplunder 976]

42 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

I don't think Haku will work that hard to destroy Kise's dream.

As Haku claimed before this basho, his goal this year is the 1047 wins. He only needs 11-12 win every basho that is only a piece of cake for him. He is in a very relaxed situation. 

I don't buy that.  Someone that competitive won't give up chance to win another yusho.   Another yusho will make his record for his total yusho record that much harder to break.  

[robnplunder 976]

1 hour ago, YoungSumo said:

Tamawashi doesn't have a long track record of consistent performances and he's already 32. Even if he wins his last 2 bouts here he'd still need 13 wins next basho for his promotion and I highly doubt he can produce a performance as dominant as that at such a high rank. I'm not counting him out but I think it's very unlikely he'll reach Ozeki.

Agreed, although his last four basho performance has been consistently better each time.   Winning 13 bouts in the next basho?  It is only possible if there are a lot of injuries/kyujos by the likes of Haru, Kak, Koto, Teruno, Goeido, ....   Given that such scenario just happened, it is possible but remote.  At age 32, who knows, he may join the injured/kyujo list in the next basho.

[ALAKTORN 346]

Hakuhō’s dashinage was a thing of beauty.

[Dapeng 236]

4 hours ago, dingo said:

With just 11 or 12 wins every basho which presumably would not be enough to give him a yusho, talk about his retirement would start pretty soon as well. 

People got used to yusho at 15 wins or 14 wins in the past 10 years. Actually 13 wins is already a yusho number and 12 wins a jun-yusho number. You can't blame a yokozuna for jun-yusho. 

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Dapeng

[dingo 1,388]

Yeah, but Hakuho is not your normal Yokozuna. Lower results would stick out especially in his case, which would inevitably fuel whispers. 

[Dapeng 236]

3 hours ago, robnplunder said:

I don't buy that.  Someone that competitive won't give up chance to win another yusho.   Another yusho will make his record for his total yusho record that much harder to break.  

Today Kise is facing a tougher opponent than Hakuho but still has a very good chance to win. The yusho will be decided on the last day and Hakuho will have to beat Kise twice. Statistically, Hakuho has about 60% of chance to beat Kise twice in a row (Kise beats Hakuho once in every 4-5 bouts on average) but this basho I think he only has about 40% of chance. That is, Kise is in a very good position to yusho this basho .

[Dapeng 236]

2 minutes ago, dingo said:

Yeah, but Hakuho is not your normal Yokozuna. Lower results would stick out especially in his case, which would inevitably fuel whispers. 

In fact, if he yushoes once or twice a year and keeps 11-12 wins in the remaining bashoes, everyone will be happy and no one will blame him. 

[Fukurou 534]

7 hours ago, Ahogeyama said:

Can we give Ura the Gino-sho this tournament? C'mon. Do it.

He's not eligible for any of the 3 prizes. They are reserved for Makuuchi rikishi.

[Rocks 1,810]

39 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

Today Kise is facing a tougher opponent than Hakuho but still has a very good chance to win. The yusho will be decided on the last day and Hakuho will have to beat Kise twice. Statistically, Hakuho has about 60% of chance to beat Kise twice in a row (Kise beats Hakuho once in every 4-5 bouts on average) but this basho I think he only has about 40% of chance. That is, Kise is in a very good position to yusho this basho .

I would put Takanoiwa down as more likely to beat Hak than Ichinojo is to beat Kise. Ichi is a good match up with Kise and will fight Kise's fight which helps Kise. Takanoiwa can be crazy and Hak had never fought him before. Taka could surprise Hak. 

[Kuroyama 715]

This is going to be such a crucial tournament day, and I'm going to miss the whole damn thing unless I sneak out of work early.

[Shatsume 118]

So, seeing as Tamawashi has made Kachi Koshi, will Kotoshogiku start the next Basho as S1E or S1W?

[Bumpkin 438]

1 hour ago, Shatsume said:

So, seeing as Tamawashi has made Kachi Koshi, will Kotoshogiku start the next Basho as S1E or S1W?

Kotoshogiku will be the lowest ranked Sekiwake, Either S1w or S2e/S2w.

[Amamaniac 2,079]

4 hours ago, Rocks said:

I would put Takanoiwa down as more likely to beat Hak than Ichinojo is to beat Kise. Ichi is a good match up with Kise and will fight Kise's fight which helps Kise. Takanoiwa can be crazy and Hak had never fought him before. Taka could surprise Hak. 

You could be right, but it seemed to me that Takanoiwa was injured (knee?) after his Day 13 bout against Takayasu.  I watched the bout carefully, but didn't see what may have caused it.  I can only conclude that he went into the bout with the injury...  If there is any truth to him being injured, then I am not so sure he will have a good chance against Hakuho today (Day 14).

[Dapeng 236]

2 hours ago, Amamaniac said:

You could be right, but it seemed to me that Takanoiwa was injured (knee?) after his Day 13 bout against Takayasu.  I watched the bout carefully, but didn't see what may have caused it.  I can only conclude that he went into the bout with the injury...  If there is any truth to him being injured, then I am not so sure he will have a good chance against Hakuho today (Day 14).

In the past Hakuho rarely lost to the first-timers, less than 1 in 20 times. 

[Pandaazuma 1,310]

Seiro vs Amakaze!

[Rocks 1,810]

Ura beat Sadanoumi. That might send him back to juryo finally. He has to win to Day 15 I think.

[Sakura 1,509]

Just now, Rocks said:

Daieisho won too so 4 at 10-4 in Juryo. 100% certain of a playoff in Juryo for the Yusho.

But Ura's at 11-3. 

[Rocks 1,810]

Just now, Sakura said:

But Ura's at 11-3. 

Daiesho too. Yeah, I miss counted.

[sesom 55]

10 minutes ago, Rocks said:

Ura beat Sadanoumi. That might send him back to juryo finally. He has to win to Day 15 I think.

The translation for Sadanoumi is Banzuke luck. Most people don't know that, but it's the truth.

[Rocks 1,810]

Osunaarashi seemed fine with falling for that henka.

[d_golem 213]

For the first time ever I watched a Yokozuna (Hakuho) did the Yokozuna dohyo-iri ceremony live (well, streaming) today, and was struck at how solemn the whole procession was and how serious Hakuho's face was when doing it. I always thought after doing it hundreds of times a Yokozuna would be indifferent to it but today has added a new perspective for me about the dohyo-iri. Fascinating.

Edited January 21, 2017 by d_golem