Chisaiyama

I don't believe I had Aran for day 3 and then 2nd guessed myself out of a win. This basho is not boding well for me in any of my games so far! Day 4 - Yoshikaze

How about you all join Twitter and follow each other!

We must have been typing them in at the same time because your entry hadn't shown up in my browser when I started my post. I guess you must have hit submit about the time I started typing. Heck 2nd ain't bad either. :-(

Thanks I missed that because I have a link that takes me directly to the G.I.S.P. page of the Gunga site so I hadn't looked at the Home page.

Well technically the form is here it's just that it is still the Haru form. This is cutting it awfully close if it's going to run this basho.

Damn, Damn and Double Damn! (Yucky...) I always forget this game starts early because of the early release of the 1st two days matches. Ok I just start off 0-0-2 then. Day 3 - Aran Baruto

The following was posted today on the SML, can't vouchsafe for it's accuracy has anyone else here heard this info? This from today's edition of Japan Today.Emmett Torideyama Fall-out rumored between Yokozuna Asashoryu and wife TOKYO

Let me be the 1st, hopefully it will be a winner as well! 1. A 2. A 3. B 4. A 5. A 6. A 7. B 8. A 9. B 10. A 11. A 12. B 13. A 14. A 15. A 16. B 17. A 18. A 19. A 20. A 21. A

Where was all this esprit-de-corp before? Where was the Sumo Forum Ichimon get-up-and-go prior to 3 basho ago? I cannot even recall exactly how long ago I joined the Ichimon but to do it I had to query Manekineko who had just recently (at the time) resigned as the SFI Oyakata to find out who to contact. There was no page in the forum dedicated to the Ichimon (still isn't so far as I can tell). I never received any communication from anyone but I checked the BS Ichimon pages and sure enough I had been added as a member. Time passed and there were never any communications either here or on the BS email system between our members, no let's get those other ichimon messages, no cheerleading as it were, nothing. Nothing that is until about 3 basho ago when the boys at Sumo Talk invaded the BS game and founded their own Ichimon and started a not-so-quiet revolution. I have long been a member of both forums and quite frankly I am happiest getting my Sumo news and information and exchanging thoughts and ideas etc. with Sumo Forum. My daughter however was a member of ST and when they formed their ichimon I was natuarally invited to join them. I hesitated, I truly did, because I was already a member of SFI. I debated it for several days, I won't go so far as to say I agonized over the decision but I really though it out good and long. Finally I decided that I would go ahead and jump ship if it was allowed. I checked with the BS gurus and explained the situation and they said that normally it wasn't allowed but that they would allow it this once. So once again, after all the time I had been a "member" of SFI, I still had no idea of who, if anyone was in charge! So once again I had to pick someone to ask so, knowing that Kinta-san was a member and would almost certainly know who was in charge I asked him to forward my resignation and he graciously agreed to do so. So now I am a member of an ichimon that actually has communication between it's members and who certainly aren't just lurkers in the BS game either. We have made our presence felt. Not quite enough to take the flag yet but we're not letteing anybody else coast into victory lane either. And contrary to how this may have sounded at first it's not a sour-grapes missive. I am glad that the presence of STI in the BS community has finally awakened some pride and spirit in SFI. I'm glad that it has got you all moving and yes actively recruiting! I hope it continues and doesn't just fade away again. Comptetition is a good thing for all concerned. For the longest time I kind of wondered why I used to only see byplay between Massashigawaw and NPI just about everyone else never seemed to get into the spirit much. It's a shame that flag isn't flying over at STI but our time WILL come. It does look good on you though and I'm happy to see that your get-up-and-go hasn't gone after all!

Yes I used your database for that. I looked at the torikumi for each day of the Aki '81 basho to see who was in the MNI. I then looked at a tournament later in which Akebono, Musashimaru and Takanohana were all Yokozuna and all 3 of them rotated daily but of course that was well within the Heisei era. Thanks for the info clearing up the who gets assigned the YO duties.

Since we are discussing the performance of Ozeki in general and the 2 Oldies-but-Goodies in particular, I have a question about what happens when the rare occasion occurs and there are either only 1 or even, albeit rarely, no Ozekis on the banzuke. I know that in these instances that 1 or more (as needed) Yokozunas will be assigned as Yokozuna-Ozeki. What I am wondering is how is it decided which Yokozuna fulfuill that duty. Does it start with the most senior or the most Junior? Does it affect whether or not they participate in Musubi-no-Ichiban? Also, for that matter, have the rules regarding Musubi-no-Ichiban changed since say the '80s? I ask because In Aki '81 Kitanoumi Y1E and Chiyonofuji Y1W alternated in the Musubi-no-Ichiban on days 1-3 but starting on day 4 after Chiyonofuji had gone kyujo Kitanoumi was the only Yokozuna participating in MNI bouts despite the fact that Wakanohana II was YEHD. Thanks in advance for any information anyone can give on this.

Thanks one and all for the information. I don't know why or where I got the idea it was eliminated so early. That explains everything. Thanks again.

Can someone tell me when Kosho was eliminated? I was under the impression that it was in either 2000 or 2001. I ask because in Kyushu 2002 Chiyotaikai went Kyujo on the 9th day ending the basho 6-3-6 then sat out the entire Hatsu '03 tournament. I have to believe that Kosho was still in effect then as he was listed as O2E for Haru '03 getting a technical promotion since he was listed at O2W in the Hatsu 03 banzuke. So if Kosho was eliminated in '00 or '01 then why wasn't Taikai a Sekiwake in Haru 03? Thanks in advance for any/all assistance on this one.

I have to ask: examples, please? I suspect what you're remembering wasn't a quality-of-opponents issue, but rather a "not enough space to do it any other way" issue. In actual point of fact as I went looking back to find what I believed would be numerous examples I find that perhaps I was simply having a senior moment, reliving "good old days" that weren't as good as remembered. I find that the leap frogging has been far more prevalent for far longer than I remembered, although not as wildly so as it used to be in the 70s when a 12-3 from a M10-M14 might easily result in a M1 and on at least 1 occasion a K rank the next basho instead of the M4-5 that might have been expected in strictly numerical evaluation. We do seem to be approaching that again as in Tochiozan's leap from M12 to M2 based on a 10-5 record. His barely eked out 8-7 KK this time means it wasn't totally unjustified but again he faced a pretty weak Sanyaku/Ozeki group in Haru. Nonetheless I still believe we will see Homasho not Tochiozan in the Komosubi spot. It could be said Ozan faced "tougher" opponents if you simply consider their ranking but in fact of his 8 victories only 4 of those went on to have winning records while 7 of Homashos opponents were rikishi who compiled KK records. Does a 2-13 Ozeki qualify as a "tougher" opponent than a 10-5 rank and filer for instance? Homasho beat 11 rikishi with a combined record of: 85-81 while Tochiozan's victims had a combined: 56-64, who should get to play with the big boys next time? And let's remember that 10-5 of that 56-64 came from Harumafuji, who twisted, turned, inashied and flat out henkad his way to many if not most of his victories, even he admitted he wasn't displaying good sumo, in his daily comments. Not to take everything away from Tochiozan, he is a strong rikishi with a great career ahead of him as I believe Homasho has ahead of him, I just think that Homasho has earned that KW slot this time with better overall sumo against overall stronger opponents.

Thank you Asashosakari & Doitsuyama, I have been away from my computer for a few days and just got a chance to read your replies.

Not to mention in that particular instance that M3w also had an 8-7 and M6E right above shimotori was Dejima with 10-5 and he got bypassed also. This sort of leapfrogging has become common again it used to be just around 1 1/2 or 2 years ago that the quality of opponents and the current banzuke rank had much more impact. Then Tochiozan would have gotten the nod for sure but now I believe it will be Homasho in that Kw slot with Tochiozan at M1e. (Sigh...)

I have a couple of questions regarding the conversion of raw scores to w/l scores. You said Norizo socred 87 out of a possible 92 how was that 92 determined. If 15 is multiplied by 9 one gets 135. Now I understand that the Yokozuna will face each of the Sanyaku and Joi jin rikishi so x number must be deducted form the 135 to account for that but it is relatively small and dependent on the particular Maegashiras chosen so there cannot be a fixed maximum. Was the 92 based on Norizos rikishi choices? If so then it must follow that some of the other players must have had a higher possible maximum score though they obciously didn't score it. I notice that 86 alone was equivalent to 11-4, yet 85 & 84 equalled 10-5 and 83 & 82 equalled 96 yet only 81 equalled 8-7 yet 7-8 was represented by both 80 & 79 while 78 & 77 was good for 6-9 and 76 alone was 5-10 etc. My point being there seems no consistency in this, no pattern as it were. It does not appear you are using a fixed scale. My question is how are these equivalencies derived and could it be possible to add this information to the Rules page of the web site to make it available to players and prospectvie players of the game? I mean I and 6 others scored 80 points which is only 7 less than the high score of the basho and 19 points more than the lowest scorer and yet we all came in at the 7-8 make koshi level. Is this done on a curve and if so how is the curve drawn? Thanks in advance for your indulgence in my curiosity.

Thanks again for a truly fabulous game! I can hardly wait for the May basho. I play about 13 or 14 different games each basho but of all of them I believe this is my favorite, closely followed by Jejima's Guess Kisenosato's Aite. Keep up the good work. See you in May! (I am not worthy...) (On the banzuke...) (Clapping wildly...)

Day 15: Gotta be Tochiozan

Like my football coach used to say, keep running the play til you get it right: Day 14: Baruto

Well he's had all the Yokozuna, all the Ozeki, all the Komosubi so logically it's gotta be: Day 13: Baruto

Day 12 - Baruto

I thought I had missed the deadline, I have been very confused this basho but from the results we are all getting we have all been confused this basho. I'll join the throng and say: Day 11 - Hakuho

Day 10 - Kakuryu

Jejima-san, when did I fail to submit a choice. I have been extra careful to make the deadline each day. Though of course I haven't yet got a correct prediction! (Shaking head...) Day 9 - I also say Hakuho