BASHO TALK -- Natsu 2017 -- SPOILERS

[RabidJohn 1,665]

21 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

I don't consider it as rule-bending. He posted a two-basho result that could well promote an ozeki to yokozuna - it would have been pretty ridiculous if it's not enough to promote a sekiwake to ozeki.

'Rules' not rules. Let's say it was an unconventional promotion then, as was Kise's (which is not to suggest either was undeserved), so it appears to me that the Kyokai has shown a recent willingness not to adhere strictly to convention when it comes to the highest promotions.

This is all speculation, fantasy sumo. In reality Mitakeumi is showing the kind of form he had in January, in which case he could well force his sekiwake promotion for July. He's very good, and judging by today's reaction very popular too.

Wow, what about Takayasu the clobberer? Both Goeido and now the Geek sent reeling by Takayasu's superb tachi-ai.

Does Ura read this forum? He's doing exactly what I want him to do! He's excellent at oshi-zumo.

My favourite bout of the day was Kisenosato v Chiyonokuni, of course. Both of them went up another notch in my estimations. Kise appeared determined not to concede his first kinboshi, and Chiyonokuni is certainly not disgracing himself in his joi debut.

BTW, why was the Osunaarashi v Chiyomaru bout stopped? I've seen them stopped for wardrobe malfunctions many times, and long ones occasionally for water breaks, but I've never seen one apparently stopped for a rikishi to have his nose wiped!

Edited May 16, 2017 by RabidJohn

[ALAKTORN 346]

^They get stopped for bleeding some times too.

[Asashosakari 18,786]

1 hour ago, RabidJohn said:

'Rules' not rules. Let's say it was an unconventional promotion then, as was Kise's (which is not to suggest either was undeserved), so it appears to me that the Kyokai has shown a recent willingness not to adhere strictly to convention when it comes to the highest promotions.

I don't consider it a bending of rules-in-scare-quotes either. That's exactly the point: It's only unconventional if the premise is that there's such a thing as a conventional promotion in the first place, and I don't agree that that's the case. There's always been way more discretion involved than people like to acknowledge. Leave out promotions that are so clear and obvious that there's simply no arguing them - let's say, everything with 35+ wins - and the picture actually becomes quite murky in the 32-34 wins range. Heck, even a Takayasu promotion with a 10-5 isn't a 100% lock here.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Asashosakari

[Bumpkin 438]

13 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

Heck, even a Takayasu promotion with a 10-5 isn't a 100% lock here.

I agree, especially since the Kyokai kept him at Sw. He better get at least 11 wins.

[Bumpkin 438]

2 hours ago, PawnSums said:

Kakuryu Will Lose Tomorrow, Then the next day, then the Kaktai (Kakuryu + Intai, Kaktai)

Kakuryu is only 31. He is not a Japanese citizen, therefore he can't buy a kabu. He usually gets 10 or 11 wins. All this means, IMHO, is that Kakuryu has plenty of years left. 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,248]

Kisenosato has been really great so far. I hope he can stay in as along as possible.

[Tiger Tanaka 222]

It's still early obviously, but the two rikishi who appear in best form right now are Takayasu and Hakuho. Right below them are Harumafuji and Mitakeumi. Still a little concerned that Mitakeumi hasn't been using his left hand much. He hasn't needed to use mawashi or pull down techniques yet.

Takayasu vs. Mitakeumi tomorrow should be a good one. 

[PawnSums 59]

2 hours ago, Bumpkin said:

Kakuryu is only 31. He is not a Japanese citizen, therefore he can't buy a kabu. He usually gets 10 or 11 wins. All this means, IMHO, is that Kakuryu has plenty of years left. 

kakuryu is 31, kakuryu, from what I've seen, is usually hiding injuries. Asahifuji was 31 too when he intaied.

[Dwale 419]

2 hours ago, Tiger Tanaka said:

Takayasu vs. Mitakeumi tomorrow should be a good one. 

I can't wait!

[robnplunder 974]

9 hours ago, Bumpkin said:

Kakuryu is only 31. He is not a Japanese citizen, therefore he can't buy a kabu. He usually gets 10 or 11 wins. All this means, IMHO, is that Kakuryu has plenty of years left. 

At that age in sumo, it seems they are one major injury away from intai.  If not, they are coming off the peak of their career and started to slide.  I think Kak and the other Yokokzunas have a few competitive years left.  The one I see going long is Kisenosato,

 

All 3 of Satoyama's win have been exciting in case anyone missed them.  

Edited May 17, 2017 by robnplunder

[mikawa 1,794]

Takayasu's looking good at the moment, so's Yoshikaze, but Kakuryu?

[CT3* 331]

Great action today! 

[whtbox 10]

Damn miscalculation on Kisenosato, thought Endo slipped and tried to push him down. 2-2 now for Kise :(

 

Takayasu performance was great today and Same with Terunofuji.

Edited May 17, 2017 by whtbox

[Philioyamfugi 378]

Takayasu looks like a beast. Manhandling mitakiumi. Gagamaru beats osunirashi to go 3-1. Toyonoshima losses to go 0-2 :( 

[Philioyamfugi 378]

Tomorrow is the rematch...Terinofuji and Kotoshugiku...... Get em Geek !

[d_golem 213]

Waiting....waiting for Kinta's vid...dum du dum du dum...

[Dwale 419]

Some good stuff today, though I haven't seen all the matches yet. Just a few thoughts...

Mitakeumi v. Takayasu was indeed a good match. Takayasu is just in the zone, though. At one point Mitakeumi rushes away to wipe down and throw salt again, while Takayasu casually saunters to his corner, looking almost bored. I think Mitakeumi was nervous about this one, and not without reason. A rivalry in the making, I'm sure of it. 

Chiyoshoma looks like a flippin' toothpick against Terunofuji. Never had a chance, poor guy.

Ura didn't manage a win, but looked not bad at all. Echoes of Mainoumi in this one. 

Kisenosato shooting himself in the foot, there. This happens with him sometimes, he thinks when it would be more to his advantage to act. Unfortunate.

Kakuryu under-performing again, though it bears mention that Yoshikaze is a total badass...part of the time. XP

[Rocks 1,807]

Interesting night. Both Yokozuna losses were a bit unlucky. Kakuryu had Yoshikaze but stepped out. It's clear Kise thought Endo went down and let up which cost him.

I wonder if these guys are getting tired of these monolis going against Ura yet? I mean why was that even called? Ura's entire back hit the ground before Tochinoshin ever touched ground. It wasn't even close. Ura doing barrel rolls is fun to watch but it doesn't make a clear win into a close match.

[Jakusotsu 5,815]

14 minutes ago, Rocks said:

I wonder if these guys are getting tired of these monolis going against Ura yet? I mean why was that even called? Ura's entire back hit the ground before Tochinoshin ever touched ground. It wasn't even close. Ura doing barrel rolls is fun to watch but it doesn't make a clear win into a close match.

In the slomo replay it looked to me as if Tochinoshin touched down first while Ura was still airborne.

[Morty 1,480]

2 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:

In the slomo replay it looked to me as if Tochinoshin touched down first while Ura was still airborne.

He did but Ura was as dead body as you can get there (considering that he was most of the way through a 360...)

[Rocks 1,807]

8 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:

In the slomo replay it looked to me as if Tochinoshin touched down first while Ura was still airborne.

Oops! I didn't see Tochi's hand at first. Still, it would have been a travesty to give that match to Ura.  Tochi put his hand down to avoid going down hard due to his injury. Ura never really did anything worthy of winning that match.

[YoungSumo 93]

Takayasu's promotion should pretty much be a lock. I see no reason why he shouldn't be promoted even with 10 wins. Though at the end of the basho I don't think this will even be an issue, 12-13 wins looks very likely for him at the moment.

[Dwale 419]

1 hour ago, YoungSumo said:

Takayasu's promotion should pretty much be a lock. I see no reason why he shouldn't be promoted even with 10 wins. Though at the end of the basho I don't think this will even be an issue, 12-13 wins looks very likely for him at the moment.

He tends to tank in the final third of the basho, but I agree, he'll probably get 12 or so.

[Adil 232]

As Rocks said, Kisenosato may have let up because he thought that Endo touched down. Unlucky for the big guy.

Takayasu... Well... What can I say? He had just been promoted to Makuuchi when I first started watching sumo and slowly but surely, I started to like him. However, I refused to allow myself to become a full-fledged fan so soon because I have an incredibly bad record of supporting duds all my life. Decades before getting into sumo, my passion was cricket and I ruined many youngsters'  careers by jumping on their bandwagon very soon after seeing a bit of potential. After cricket became too painful to support (anybody who watched the 1999 World Cup Final knows what I'm talking about), I went into football after a 6 year hiatus from the sporting world. As luck would have it, I immediately fell in love with Arsenal in 2005. I don't have to say anything about what has been happening to them in the last 12 years. Please everybody! Put that pillory and basket of tomatoes down! I am already the laughingstock of my family, so no need to flog a dead horse (literally).

That's why I was cautious with Takayasu for over a year. However, I jumped on his bandwagon after he went 9-6 from M1 in the 2013 Nagoya basho. What I really loved about him was his absolute fearlessness. It doesn't matter who he is facing; he would always go in like a demon without an ounce of fear. The only other rikishi I can think of who is as fearless is Yoshikaze. With many other rikishi, you can sense a little bit of sheepishness or a change of body language against the big boys, but never these two. Kotoyuki also looks fearless , but in his case, it appears he is actually trying very hard to look like a tough guy and could come across as a bit of a brat, whereas Takayasu and Yoshikaze seemed like they don't have the word fear in their dictionary.

As luck would have it, Takayasu totally stunk up the joint with some of the worst performances I have ever seen in the next two basho, going 5-10 and then an incredible 3-12. It wasn't just about the records; his performances were pathetic. It seemed like he didn't really want to be on the dohyo. I have since seen Ichinojo and Terunofuji go through phases like that.  Although he had an OK Hatsu 2014 (9-6) after the two stinkers, the next two bashos were also not promising: 5-10 from M3 and then 6-9 from M8. I officially jumped off his bandwagon then. It was hard, but I persuaded myself that he's just another dud and there's no point in lingering on with him. After a so-so 2015, he has gone from strength to strength and now he is on the brink of ozeki promotion. Whether he will get it or not is another point. At least it is fun to see him get to the heights he deserves.

[Jakusotsu 5,815]

3 hours ago, YoungSumo said:

Takayasu's promotion should pretty much be a lock. I see no reason why he shouldn't be promoted even with 10 wins.

Because he will immediately join the kadoban carousel? He never had more than two good basho in a row so far.