Terunofuji Story Creates Awkward Silence

[Gaijingai 1,519]

With video

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/naga-munchetty-shut-down-bbc-24598967

[Seiyashi 4,068]

Sometimes it's things like these that make me wonder whether sumo really benefits from a more international audience that may not have the time, patience, or inclination to delve into it. It's probably an overreaction on my part, but what attracted me to sumo was that you needed to read up on so much to even begin to appreciate it, despite its apparent simplicity.

[Swami 245]

The story of Terunofuji's battle back against extreme adversity deserved more mention internationally that it seems to have done.  One of the truly great comebacks ever.

But for it to be appreciated in context, you need someone far superior to Naga Munchetty to convey the message.

 

Swami

[neonbelly 226]

These people don't matter.

[Swami 245]

it also reminds me a bit of the press coverage back in 1991 at the time of the London Koen, admittedly there were a few reports which went into more detail and appreciated the feats of strength and agility, but most of them took pot-shots at the like of Konishiki, the interest was quite superficial from the media side.

 

Swami

[yorikiried by fate 1,987]

Sumo (and its habitat) is a curious case. When you get to know it, it alternates between easy facts and being totally opaque. Independently of how much you know, this never seems to stop.

[Tigerboy1966 1,369]

The top three sumo stories of 2021 according to the BBC website:

1. Covid: Japan's top sumo wrestler infected with coronavirus. 5 January 2021

2. Sumo wrestler dies one month after concussion. 19 April 2021

3. There is no number 3...

The top three sumo stories of 2020 according to the BBC website:

1. Tokushoryu win: Underdog sumo wrestler celebrates unexpected win with tears. 28 January 2020

2. Coronavirus: Japanese sumo wrestler dies at 28. 13 May 2020

3. There is no number 3...

[Kuhne 57]

Tokoshoryu officially the most famous sumo wrestler of all time.  
 

deservedly so 

[Tigerboy1966 1,369]

Also from the BBC website:

Sorry, there are no results for Terunofuji.

Suggestions

• Make sure that all words are spelled correctly.
• Try different keywords.
• Try more general keywords.

[dada78641 884]

She doesn't even summarize it in a way that makes sense. "His wife put him on a fish diet, he stopped drinking, he'd been relegated down to the lower ranks but because he'd done so well he won a tournament and got promoted to yokozuna." This sounds like the way a 5 year old tells a story.

And really, even someone who's never watched any sumo in their life and has no interest in it is gonna be skeptical about the implication that a small change in diet is responsible for a miraculous comeback to the highest rank in the sport.

Edited July 24, 2021 by dada78641

[Churaumi 723]

It's pretty unfortunate he finally got his promotion the same time a global competition his sport has nothing to do with is finally commencing. A lot of sports writers are probably focusing on other uplifting stories from the Olympians right now, which is too bad for them because Terunofuji is one of the best examples of the sporting ideals out there at the moment.

[Asashosakari 18,650]

On 23/07/2021 at 16:41, neonbelly said:

These people don't matter.

Is the correct answer. It's morning TV, who's taking that seriously for any topic that is brought up by on-screen people not employed as actual newsreaders?

[Swami 245]

23 hours ago, dada78641 said:

She doesn't even summarize it in a way that makes sense. "His wife put him on a fish diet, he stopped drinking, he'd been relegated down to the lower ranks but because he'd done so well he won a tournament and got promoted to yokozuna." This sounds like the way a 5 year old tells a story.

And really, even someone who's never watched any sumo in their life and has no interest in it is gonna be skeptical about the implication that a small change in diet is responsible for a miraculous comeback to the highest rank in the sport.

That is par for the course for that particular host.  In fact the way she described it, totally belittled Terunofuji's achievement.

 

SwamI

Edited July 25, 2021 by Swami

[Naganoyama 5,806]

1 hour ago, Swami said:

...

Swamu

u?

[Swami 245]

2 hours ago, Naganoyama said:

u?

Apologies, my spelling is normally faultless.

 

Swami

[dada78641 884]

By the way, you don't have to sign your posts manually. You can set up a signature in your user settings so that it's automatically added to each post, if you want.

[nagora 88]

To be fair to Naga, she was just reading a story from one of the newspapers that had caught her eye. She wasn't presenting the Sports News or pretending to be a sports reporter, just doing a review of odd stories in the morning's chip wrappers.

[Seiyashi 4,068]

1 hour ago, nagora said:

To be fair to Naga, she was just reading a story from one of the newspapers that had caught her eye. She wasn't presenting the Sports News or pretending to be a sports reporter, just doing a review of odd stories in the morning's chip wrappers.

In that event, then the fault lies with whoever wrote the story in the newspaper in the first place, if that's the impression the readers get that all he needed was to eat fish oil.

That writer ought to have done some research on this forum, considering all the other comeback stories that Terunofuji's being compared to in his promotion thread!

[dada78641 884]

1 hour ago, Seiyashi said:

In that event, then the fault lies with whoever wrote the story in the newspaper in the first place, if that's the impression the readers get that all he needed was to eat fish oil.

That writer ought to have done some research on this forum, considering all the other comeback stories that Terunofuji's being compared to in his promotion thread!

Yeah, you can just barely make out the article in the close up shot (maybe it's online too but I'm too lazy to find out). This is a case of the reporter putting too much stock into the fluff statements made by wrestlers in interviews. When Terunofuji says "I credit my success to my wife's healthy fish dishes and not drinking beer", he obviously doesn't mean it literally. And honestly, anybody who so much as kicked a ball once in their life understands that it's not that simple. There'd be a lot more 180kg superhumans walking around if it was, and they would include my mother. But the reporter apparently liked the romance in that answer and just reported it as though that's all there is to it.

Edited July 26, 2021 by dada78641

[Seiyashi 4,068]

That said, giving up vice seems to be a pretty common theme with wrestlers making any kind of comeback or sustained push (Chiyonofuji giving up cigarettes, Kaio giving up beer, and now Terunofuji also, apparently). Does it actually have a physiological effect, or is it just a happy collateral side-effect of the increased drive and discipline, do you think?

Sometimes, though, I wonder why sumo alone of all wrestling sports involves a stupid amount of weight gain beyond what would be considered healthy in normal people. I know it's to make them sturdier to resist pushes and lifts, but the perceived fat/bulk really isn't helping its image to casual audiences who pick up and run with stupid stories like this. (Tachiai's Twitter also recently posted an American TV feature on sumo, which was almost as bad if not worse than this.)

Edited July 26, 2021 by Seiyashi

[nagora 88]

33 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

That said, giving up vice seems to be a pretty common theme with wrestlers making any kind of comeback or sustained push (Chiyonofuji giving up cigarettes, Kaio giving up beer, and now Terunofuji also, apparently). Does it actually have a physiological effect, or is it just a happy collateral side-effect of the increased drive and discipline, do you think?

Sometimes, though, I wonder why sumo alone of all wrestling sports involves a stupid amount of weight gain beyond what would be considered healthy in normal people. I know it's to make them sturdier to resist pushes and lifts, but the perceived fat/bulk really isn't helping its image to casual audiences who pick up and run with stupid stories like this. (Tachiai's Twitter also recently posted an American TV feature on sumo, which was almost as bad if not worse than this.)

Giving up fags is a no-brainer, surely? From what I've seen of ex-smokers, the improvement in lung capacity is very rapid and you need oxygen to burn fuel for energy, which you need for effective exercise and any bout longer than 30 seconds.

Booze is harder to quantify, but it is a poison which your system has to neutralize or you die from quite small doses (of alcohol), so maybe that's not too surprising either.

In terms of weight, it's interesting that the normal sumo build is very similar to Olympic weight-lifters, at least to my casual eye. The guys that lift the big weights don't look anything like bodybuilders or gymnasts.

[yorikiried by fate 1,987]

40 minutes ago, nagora said:

Giving up fags is a no-brainer, surely?

It is indeed. All you need is gather your thoughts, focus on the rational side, let your current life behind you on a final sinful evening and sleep over it. Tomorrow everything will just fall into place.

 

You know.

Edited July 26, 2021 by yorikiried by fate

[Yamanashi 3,669]

4 hours ago, nagora said:

In terms of weight, it's interesting that the normal sumo build is very similar to Olympic weight-lifters, at least to my casual eye. The guys that lift the big weights don't look anything like bodybuilders or gymnasts.

The trend is to more of a bodybuilder's physique, always at lower weights, even now at upper weights.

[Koorifuu 858]

This is not surprising at all and will always happen. Some people won't have enough knowledge about a specific sport to make statements on it, and plenty of things will just come out wrong to a blood-boiling, gargantuous level.

In fact, we've had much worse than this happen in this very forum just a few days ago.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Koorifuu

[Yamanashi 3,669]

2 hours ago, Koorifuu said:

This is not surprising at all and will always happen. Some people won't have enough knowledge about a specific sport to make statements on it, and plenty of things will just come out wrong to a blood-boiling, gargantuous level.

In fact, we've had much worse than this happen in this very forum just a few days ago.

I said I was sorry and I regret my actions ... wait, which one are you talking about?