Takanobaka

Sounds like a perfect candidate for Musashigawa! ;-)

Convoluted logic and just about everything else. I would give it about as much credence as the local looney who prophesizes the end of the world and shouts about our impending doom in public places. Not worth the thirty seconds of my time I tried to think about it.

And now, for my William Tell impersonation....

Strange. Musashigawa-oyakata never struck me as having been the overly athletic type of rikishi :-P ;-) You know who I mean (Sigh...)

Primarily problems with injuries and lack of height. Additionally, he was of average speed (at least when I saw him, but those occasions were after his first set of injuries). He had amazing fighting spirit which kept him as high as he got, but he was barely tall enough to be allowed to become a sumotori (about the same height as Nakao and Takekaze), but unlike other guys in his height range, he wasn't shaped like a bowling ball or so ridiculously athletic that he could trick his opponents (a la Mienoumi). Still, very sad to see him go. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if he was born with dual US-Japanese citizenship? I know he doesn't qualify to stay on as Oyakata, but I figured that maybe that's why he stuck around so long after injuries knocked him way down.... Also, for more good pictures of him, there's www.sentoryu.com.

lol I'll try to pay better attention now...

Don't know much about Hakuho, but Roho (besides obviously being Russian) seems slightly more yotsu than oshi, although he seems to mix it up a bit more than most. Also, he's fairly slim and muscular, although it looks like he could still fill out quite a bit. As for his personality, I'll just assume he's a good guy until proven otherwise (Sigh...)

Asashoryu looks like a cabbage patch kid in that pic!

By now, the rank he deserves is closer to Maegashira 4 W. Still, I voted yes because he always seems to pull wins out of his butt in life or death situations. *Edit* Got beaten to the punch by a few seconds....

Only thing I've seen here (NY) is when Tyson challenged Akebono.... ...not even ESPN picked up Moose's retirement, but I didn't notice that it said it on the CNN ticker. Last time ESPN picked up anything on sumo was when that mae-zumo kid died back in July....

Azumazeki Oyakata himself, then known as Takamiyama. Since he said "that day has come to pass" I guess... none I'm not 100% sure so please correct me if I'm wrong. Yes... Takamiyama had just started in 1964, however, and didn't reach the salaried ranks until a few years later...

Injured tail-bone, injured arm from last basho, the old back problem acting up again. He seems to be in a great deal of pain. You can see it just in his movements on the dohyo. I would greatly surprised if he manages to finish the basho, let alone get his KK. I wouldn't be too suprised if he withdraws from the Basho and drops to Sekiwake, but I highly doubt he'll go intai as well. If he manages to not suffer any more injuries, and gets some rest between basho, he still stands a good chance of garnering 10 wins next basho and jumping right back up to Ozeki. For that reason, if Kaio retires in the near future, it probably won't be until at least Basho.

:-S

WWE probably wasn't an option; K1 is, for the most part, based out of Japan, whereas WWE is almost exclusively in North America. If Akebono left to work for WWE, there is a chance he could have lost his citizenship (which I presume he would want to avoid). Also, the way the tax systems work between Japan and the US, WWE would have had to pay him more for the after-tax income to be the same (but on the other hand, standard of living is lower in the US...). As for the other part, there seems to be slightly more honor in K1 since it isn't choreographed. Additionally, K1 stars get just as popular in the mainstream as WWE stars do (Bob Sapp's public persona is somewhat similar to that of The Rock, only quite a bit more self-deprecating). Besides, rather than hire a real yokozuna, Vince McMahon would just hire some fat schlub and call him a yokozuna (or a rikishi *pronounced Rah-Kee-Shee* (Sign of disapproval) for that matter...)

Worry not, I should be able to usurp those titles next basho (Bleh!)

"Even wearing a mage cannot prevent the occasional bedhead."

Would displaced Floridians, such as myself, count?

"And now it's time for double orange frappucino!" (Sorry, reminds me somewhat of the gasoline dousing scene in Zoolander) The judges declared Musoyama the victor of the first ever "wet mawashi contest" Kaio: I really need to remember this trick for the ladies the next time I head to the beach!

Wow, you really have gained weight....I used to be able to get in only up to the second knuckle...

Maybe I'll actually try bench sumo next basho....at that point my vote might change.

I went with 6-7 wins....there's a reason most first-time Komusubi don't stick. However, I think he can make it back and possibly make his way up to Sekiwake eventually.

...Kaikitsune's analysis? I actually miss it quite a bit this basho. For a relative novice like myself, I felt that he offered a lot of insight on the matches in his comments. Mostly just wondering if anyone else feels similarly. I feel like he's able to notice quite a bit more going on that I see in the tiny streams...

Actually, it didn't mention Akebono. It merely said former sumo champion, or something along those lines. Running an archival search, it was the first time sumo had been mentioned in the Post at all since Akebono retired. However, Tyson has become quite the favorite of the New York tabloids...

I can't seem to find the article online, but in this morning's New York Post I read that supposedly Mike Tyson wants a piece of Akebono in the ring. Now THAT would be scary. If I find the article, I'll reprint it here.

"wassaaaaaaaaaaaaap" "wuzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" "Ok, you play Manute Bol, I'll play Henry Miller" "Nah, I'd rather be Paula Jones and you can be Tonya Harding..." "These Japanese folks really like watching us huge Americans beating each other up" "Yeah, well my wife don't mind beating up on me either"