Takanobaka

But, what might be the possibility that Dejima would drop out after racking up his 8th win? While that definately doesn't put him in the Ozeki hunt for the near future, and would probably be frowned upon somewhat, it seriously might not be a bad idea in ensuring his long term health.....

Mono ii!

How do you even find out what your margin is? All I've been able to see so far is X's and O's (and unfortunately more Xs than Os so far (Yawning...)

In the old NFL challenges, that really wasn't the case. A great part of the reason is, due to fear of injury, their tachiai were very tentative. Actually, more than tentative...they really just walked up to one another and grabbed the Mawashi. One of them I really remember was Kevin Greene against Bill Mazeroski...Greene actually ended up winning the match by something uncommon....sort of a reverse sotogake...almost like a judo move, where he flipped Maz over by tripping him up and twisting his arm into a full flip (and just barely missing hitting his own knee before Maz's stomach hit the ground). Not something you see everyday, but I guess you'd exepct something original when two guys who have never wrestled before go at it.

If he gets more than 11 wins, I think we'll have to start a poll seeing how long it is before the Japanese press starts calling him the Great Japanese Hope (Laughing...) I think he'll get about 10, as an adjustment. He already has the size to compete up there, and there's a really good track record for college competitors who made it to Juryo as quickly as he did (the majority of them ended up at Ozeki or higher, and did well in their first Juryo tournaments). Either way, I'm privately hoping he lives up to the hype....

The problem with wrists is that they usually never heal fully unless a really significant amount of time is taken off to allow it to heal. Just too many bones and tendons in there, and if something ends up misaligned, then he's screwed. I think he should be able to come back by Aki and do fairly well for a while, but not quite back up to his old form. Besides the injury, he's starting to get a little long in the tooth for a power rikishi, and it seems like he's at about the age where they generally start to fall off. Thus, I'm not sure if I see many more Yusho ahead of him, but he's got enough gas left in the tank to go for about another year or two if he doesn't get injured again. However, if he reinjures his wrist, he'll be done. However, even if he misses the next two Basho, I doubt there will be inordinate pressure for him to retire...everyone here knows about the state of the sports popularity, and with most of the other guys who could help revive interest somewhere on the two-year horizon to make it to Sanyaku (i.e. down in lower Juryo at the moment, and a couple of guys in mid-Sandanme), I doubt the Kyokai will force one of their big drawing cards out if he feels he can be ready to compete before next year.

I'm really not sure a weak Yusho will do it either. The problem with Taikai is that he's a great Ozeki, but to a certain extent wouldn't be a great Yokozuna. While he's inconsistent overall, he's marvellously consistent to the extent that he's able to rack up all the easier wins, while he does relatively poorly against guys similar to his own status. Hence, with all four Ozeki competing in this Basho, I really don't see Taikai taking it. Maybe he's finally able to get over that hump, and I hope I'm proved wrong (It's not as if Musashimaru wasn't in the same position for quite a while), but I'm not sure that he'd get a promotion until he's able to prove that he can beat other Ozeki and Yokozuna on a fairly consistent basis. All that said, I think he can get promoted if he gets a 13-2 Yusho with wins over 2 Ozeki and Asashoryu, or a 14-1 D if he's able to beat all of the above and lose to one of them in the playoff... Just a note for all of those who keep reminding me that a Yusho would be Taikai's 4th: remember that even Takanohana had 7 Yusho under his mawashi before he was promoted to Yokozuna. Other than Asashoryu, who has just been a dominant freak of nature, the standard for getting promoted to Yokozuna has been pretty darn strict since you-know-who....

You wouldn;t happen to know if there's a picture of this anywhere? I'm also a huge Bucs fan (raised in Tampa), and I think it would be hilarious to show some of my pals pictures of Shelton Quarles in a mawashi..... Speaking of which, has anyone else seen the old NFL challenges where they used to do sumo? Definately approached things very differently than someone who was formally trained, but it was utterly hilarious to see them trying to do shiko.... And yeah, Robocop's a whackjob, but that's why we all love him!

Similar to a previous topic.... I've made myself a nifty little avatar (somewhere along the lines of Zenjimoto's, morphing myself and Takanotsuru), and I'm just wondering how I can get it up on here. I've even posted it on another website message board, but it wouldn't allow me to link (because it didn't keep the .jpg extension at the end of it). Then, I tried uploading it to my website and linking it that way, but instead I have this pretty little X under my name. Thus, I was wondering if anyone knows of any better ways to upload an avatar here, and if not, would whoever runs the site be kind enough to upload it for me? Thanks a ton!

What does that mean? East/West... Note: But wow, that IS quite an extensive glossary lol

I agree completely with Zentoryu's post above. Lurker, coming out of the closet here.... On the other hand, it would be pretty well unprecedented (aside from certain people whom the Ass'n were hoping would reach Yokozuna from day 1) for someone that injury prone and inconsistent to get promoted. I think a 14-1 Y might do it for Taikai, but probably not much less. There have been much better rikishi in the past who weren't promoted from two consecutive strong showings, and they at least want someone who will be able to contend for Yusho on a fairly consistent basis up in the top post. Less than 14-1 probably won't do it for him, but if he can pull off 12-3 or 13-2 both this time and in Nagoya-basho, he has a good shot of being promoted so long as he's able to get a couple of Jun-yusho....but if Asashoryu and Kaio do as well as they're looking so far, this may become an entirely moot point by the end of the month... Somewhat unrelated (but along the lines of possible future Yokozuna), has anyone seen Futeno (Uchida) wrestle yet? I haven't (didn't get there early enough in Hatsu to check out non-Sekitori), but considering his record so far, size, and college experience, might he end up being a better Yokozuna candidate than the current group of injury-prone Ozeki? Any insight would be appreciated....