Aki 2023 discussion (results)

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

21 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:

Magaki on Abema told that conventional sumo is not for Hokuseiho, he has to do sumo his own way

I always thought Hokuseiho was a glorified Shishi. 

[Asashosakari 18,786]

16 hours ago, Sumo Spiffy said:

That's been Shishi's entire basho. He didn't even beat Mitoryu so much as just run him out of gas.

I'm not giving him a hard time for it, either. Mobility is a strategy, and when you can use it well on top of being really tall, that's great. But it doesn't seem like a strategy that's going to work very well if he makes it to makuuchi—he's done really well through exploiting weaknesses, but he's gonna have to figure out how to actively beat the boys up there.

I dunno, pre-injury Tomokaze made it all the way to M3 with that sort of approach. (Looking a lot more graceful than Shishi does, admittedly.) As usual with unorthodox styles the question will probably be less "can it beat opponents in makuuchi" and more "can it still beat the same opponent in makuuchi after he's experienced it a couple of times".

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

Is Tamawashi really going for a legit 0-15?

[dingo 1,160]

44 minutes ago, rhyen said:

Terunofuji & Atamifuji are heya-mates?

I guess in this case the Kyokai has to make an exception just like in the case of playoffs because according to some there's no worthy opponent to be found for Atamifuji amongst the sanyaku this basho. Or if not Terunofuji then perhaps ask Hakuho to put on his mawashi for one day? 

(for clarification: tongue very firmly in cheek on both of my posts) 

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

Well... So much for the mighty sanyaku champion Tobizaru. 

[Akinomaki 39,776]

Hokutofuji didn't do any better

Now Takakeisho needs to lose to make the lead perfect

[rhyen 1,809]

And Daieisho just gave Atamifuji a 2 win buffer

[Bunbukuchagama 688]

6 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:

Now Takakeisho needs to lose to make the lead perfect

If it happens, we can basically crown Atamifuji right now. 

[Akinomaki 39,776]

I think this mono-ii was meant to annoy Inosuke and Hoshoryu - no reason at all for it

[Kaninoyama 1,694]

5 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:

I think this mono-ii was meant to annoy Inosuke and Hoshoryu - no reason at all for it

I think following the mono-ii explanation the crowd was cheering more for Inosuke than Hoshoryu. 

[Akinomaki 39,776]

No need for Takakeisho to win another and his arm seems to say "I want to relax from now on", Takayasu also will hardly get to double digits with his bad back -  Tsurugisho is the last with a reasonable chance to catch up, the only one to beat Atamifuji so far this basho (and the NSK has given up on him: he only gets Ura and not a sanyaku like Takayasu).

Edited September 20, 2023 by Akinomaki

[Tigerboy1966 1,376]

Daieisho is on a tear, needs a win to keep rank, and has a mathematical yusho shout. I think tomorrows match ends badly for Atamifuji.

[Gospodin 187]

2 hours ago, Bunbukuchagama said:

Is Tamawashi really going for a legit 0-15?

Perhaps his streak is keeping him in ?

[dingo 1,160]

Aoiyama really tried everything he knows and everything he doesn't against Hokuseiho but none of it helped in the end. I mean Aoiyama going for an inside grip at tachiai, really? It's pretty clear there's a difference of level between the two and it doesn't favour Aoiyama. Maybe that's why he tried something really unorthodox, to put Hokuseiho off balance.

Mitakeumi should've finished Kagayaki much more easily. This basho he has occasionally surged back to his old level but today was not such a day.

Tamawashi was only at half tank today, not much power behind his nodowa. Kinda similar to Aoiyama actually. If he can't get a win against struggling Ryuden, can he get a win at all?

Seems like Ura's goal for this basho is not kachikoshi, but to invent a new flip for every day. Even if it's not good for his rank, at least it's fun to watch. Wonder if he has plans to stay as oyakata after retirement so that he can carry on his legacy... 

Tobizaru chose exactly this bout against Atamifuji to do straightforward sumo!? I admire the intent but I don't think that was the best strategy, as Tobizaru quickly discovered. 

Oh well, Takayasu is still the same old Takayasu I guess.... Now it's up to Takakeisho to uphold any semblance of yusho challenge by the sanyaku and ozeki ranks. Not that Takayasu is part of that currently but in my mind he has a sort of honorary status.

[Morty 1,480]

1 hour ago, dingo said:

Aoiyama really tried everything he knows and everything he doesn't against Hokuseiho but none of it helped in the end. I mean Aoiyama going for an inside grip at tachiai, really? It's pretty clear there's a difference of level between the two and it doesn't favour Aoiyama. Maybe that's why he tried something really unorthodox, to put Hokuseiho off balance.

 

His usual schtick doesn't work anymore so it was like he said "bugger it, I'm going to try everything else all at once and see if any of it works" (it didn't). He basically did every maneuver he has never tried before all in the same bout. He looks cooked, intai imminent.

[Sakura 1,472]

2 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

No need for Takakeisho to win another and his arm seems to say "I want to relax from now on", Takayasu also will hardly get to double digits with his bad back -  Tsurugisho is the last with a reasonable chance to catch up, the only one to beat Atamifuji so far this basho (and the NSK has given up on him: he only gets Ura and not a sanyaku like Takayasu).

I don't think they've necessarily given up on Tsurigisho. He'd lost to go two behind when the torikumi for Day 12 was made. He could potentially get a sanyaku on Day 13, or maybe someone like Abi.

[junsan 170]

Abema with a better angle on Atamifuji's superb uwatenage:

 

[dingo 1,160]

1 hour ago, Morty said:

His usual schtick doesn't work anymore so it was like he said "bugger it, I'm going to try everything else all at once and see if any of it works" (it didn't). He basically did every maneuver he has never tried before all in the same bout. He looks cooked, intai imminent.

Dunno about intai, he can still survive in Juryo at least for a bit unless he gets injured. Whether he would want to is a different question. 

[Sumo Spiffy 535]

5 hours ago, Akinomaki said:

No need for Takakeisho to win another and his arm seems to say "I want to relax from now on", Takayasu also will hardly get to double digits with his bad back -  Tsurugisho is the last with a reasonable chance to catch up, the only one to beat Atamifuji so far this basho (and the NSK has given up on him: he only gets Ura and not a sanyaku like Takayasu).

 

2 hours ago, Sakura said:

I don't think they've necessarily given up on Tsurigisho. He'd lost to go two behind when the torikumi for Day 12 was made. He could potentially get a sanyaku on Day 13, or maybe someone like Abi.

 

To add to this: if you look at the schedule and compare it to the banzuke, who else made sense as an opponent? He can't fight Endo due to both being from Oitekaze. Once they decided to put Hokutofuji and Onosho together, that effectively meant he'd face someone who was, at best, 6-4. If we figure they're not going to plunk him down against a sanyaku opponent until he gets at least eight wins, that removes four of the 6-4s (though Daieisho was already not an option due to also being from Oitekaze). Abi had already pulled Endo. Hoshoryu took Gonoyama as part of his rotation. The last four were Kinbozan, Mitakeumi, Hokuseiho, and Myogiryu; Tsurugisho's already faced all of them except Hokuseiho.

That left it down to either Tsurugisho v. Hokuseiho or shooting him further up the banzuke to face someone at 5-5. Asanoyama got pulled by Tobizaru as part of Tobi's rotation, and then it was down to M4. (He could have gotten Takanosho and then Meisei goes against Ura, but at that point it's a distinction without a difference.) Would Hokuseiho have clearly been a more fitting matchup? If you go strictly by record, I suppose so, but rank is frequently taken into account as a balancing factor. This is a pretty normal matchup under the circumstances.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Sumo Spiffy

[Bakayokozuna 52]

So basically Atami needs two more to have at least a playoff! 

I have a hard time seeing any of the 8-3 guy go perfect from now on so i am tempted to say one win for playoff and two for Champagne shower 

Lets see what actually happens 

[Sumo Spiffy 535]

3 minutes ago, Bakayokozuna said:

So basically Atami needs two more to have at least a playoff! 

I have a hard time seeing any of the 8-3 guy go perfect from now on so i am tempted to say one win for playoff and two for Champagne shower 

Lets see what actually happens 

If he wins two but one of those losses is to Takekeisho, there's a better-than-average chance that Keisho runs the table and we have a Cyborg Child vs. Battle Hamster playoff.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Sumo Spiffy

[Akinomaki 39,776]

46 minutes ago, Sumo Spiffy said:

To add to this: if you look at the schedule and compare it to the banzuke, who else made sense as an opponent?

After m1e, m1w Meisei, same record as Ura

[Sumo Spiffy 535]

8 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:

After m1e, m1w Meisei, same record as Ura

Not at the time the schedule was made. Except for day 15, it's done before the previous day's matches are fought. So, at that time, Meisei was 4-6, and thus not a suitable option. Ura was 5-5.

[Akinomaki 39,776]

46 minutes ago, Sumo Spiffy said:

at that time, Meisei was 4-6, and thus not a suitable option. Ura was 5-5.

1 win difference doesn't make him unsuitable, he has the proper rank.

1 hour ago, Sumo Spiffy said:

Abi had already pulled Endo.

They could have given him Tsurugisho instead, he had a result that would make him quite suitable and also a rank high enough to say, the NSK still cares - Tsurugisho is/was of course no real threat at 2 wins behind, so there was no need to change the sanyaku schedule for him - he got Hokutofuji because he was 1 win behind at the time of scheduling

Edited September 20, 2023 by Akinomaki

[Akinomaki 39,776]

1 hour ago, Sumo Spiffy said:

If he wins two but one of those losses is to Takekeisho, there's a better-than-average chance that Keisho runs the table and we have a Cyborg Child vs. Battle Hamster playoff.

There is a close to zero chance that Takakeisho will win more than 2 of the 4 remaining bouts - he only once won more than 8 when he cleared his frequent kadoban and then it were 10 - and he really isn't in good form, especially after today: he'll rather go kyujo tomorrow, like Nagoya 2020