Kotonosato

Much better to be Finnish than finished. (Sign of approval...)

Thanks for the interesting reply, Kotoseiya. It doesn't account for why the two of you have such excellent English skills, however. Had you lived abroad? Or are you just very intelligent? Is there a disproportionate number of Finns on this Forum? Some special connection to sumo perhaps? It looks like you guys might have been among the founding members.

My deepest apologies. (Whistling...) I've heard that the Germans love the Hoff. Can this be true?

I had never heard this expression before, but I think the SML should rightly be named the SMPML.

There's is no way that he's still saying that now. (I should say: There is no way he's still sending his psychiatrist out to say that for him now.) That would be a complete outrage to the kyokai and the public. If he really still thinks that, then his oyakata should not allow him to speak in public until he's ready to apologize. There will be no redeeming himself with anyone if he doesn't turn it around soon.

Judging by your taste in avatars, I thought you'd be more of a fan of Hasselhoff, not Hassel. (Whistling...)

Four hundred posts later and you guys are still arguing this aspect? Give it up already! We've moved on, haven't we?

I'm still wondering about this one. Also, you mentioned Estonians. Are there many in Finnland? PS: I love Bjork.

Sorry to open up an old thread again, but we started talking about English education in Finnland elsewhere, and I thought it would be more appropriate to continue it here.

Here was one thread about Finnish school system: http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=447 Thanks for that. At the risk of reopening a long-dead thread, I'll move further questions over there.

I thought you might also be in love with English. How did you get so proficient? I assume English is not used in daily life in Finnland. Can you tell us a little about English education there?

Definitely! I think the most difficult aspect of living in a non English-speaking country is giving up the independence and power that come with a command of the language. Up with self-reliance! Some day I'll find the time to study Japanese again. Until then I'll just have to rely on the kindness of strangers.

He doesn't have to "please" anybody. He has to fulfill his duties as a yokozuna and act like one, or at least how the NSK sees a yokozuna, which is pretty straight forward to me... Either way, it's clear that Asashoryu has failed. He may have "tried everything", but it didn't work. He wasn't adaptable and never "grew into the job". A yokozuna is a lot more than someone who simply does the best sumo on the dohyo.

Knowing that, wouldn't all wealthy celebrities and all doctors who wished to have wealthy celebrities team up together. I doubt very much that anyone on Asashoryu's team is telling anything to the press that he doesn't want them to. The doctor doesn't stand in front of the house and says things that he knows will get him fired. And that goes for the doctor's reports too. "My high-profile client wants a few weeks off from jungyo so that's what I'll write on the report." That must be the case when it comes to pain and back injuries which don't manifest themselves clearly, at least. Even your family doctor will write you a note when you're too "blue" to write an exam.

Many years ago I took 3kyuu. (You're welcome! (Laughing...) ) I can make oyaji gags, but my grammar is still lousy.) I passed way back then, but I haven't studied at all since then. My kanji, grammar, and everything (except perhaps my listening skills) has been stagnating ever since. (Whistling...)

Someone posted a dissertation about sumo at the address below. It includes a statistical analysis of bout rigging. http://homepage.sunrise.ch/mysunrise/mvonw...issertation.pdf I'd like to hear people's thoughts on its validity.

This is kind of a generalization, but it appears to me that Japanese society does not believe in "things psychological" they way that Western countries, particularly European countries do. It seems to be more of a "work harder and don't think about your problems" kind of society. On the other hand, they LOVE prescription drugs.

I've never heard of pre-depression before. Is this really in the diagnostic and statistical manual? Sounds more like mild depression with the possibility of it getting worse (or better). I'm guessing that any medical treatment the doctor suggests will not differ from those for regular depressive disorders.

If you want independent pro-Asashoryu reports I suggest you check the Sumo Mailing List and Sumotalk. There you can read a lot in defense of Asashoryu. I do you a favor and sum up a couple of arguments brought forward on these pages (that's at least how I understood the line of reasoning): 1) "Asashoryu is not to blame because everyone who supports the NSK view is an irrational idiot. I must know because I know everything about every sport. And the Kyokai is a bunch of capitalist idiots." 2) "I once dissed a girlfried because I am such an extremely tough hombre. The reason for me dissing her was that she was pouting. The jungyo organizers are pouting (just like my girlfriend), so they deserve a good bashing. All Japanese deserve a good bashing for their constant pouting." 3) "Asashoryu is not to blame because I once had dinner with him, and he appears to be a nice guy." I recognize 1 and 3 from the SML (perfect summaries, I might add). I guess 2 must be from Sumotalk. I see I'm not missing anything over there.

Did I miss the part where his illness was proven to be a fake? If he is truly on the verge of real mental illness, calling him weak or wimpy is way out of line. I know we have very, very high expectations about a yokozuna, especially an ironman like Shoryu. But a little bedside manner might be called for right now. If in the end, this is proven to be some kind of "publicity stunt", let's nail the guy.

I wouldn't call it the first hurdle, after all he's been handling the pressure on and off the dohyo for years now, always under the magnifying glass. But you're right, does anyone related to sumo really want the world to think you can actually be a yokozuna with a "weak" mental state. Many fans regard a yokozuna as the ultimate embodiment of shin-gi-tai. Can you really win 20+ yusho with only 2 out of 3?

You know, I didn't really like Kotomitsuki's shikona when he first took it. Now, though, I prefer it to Kotozakura. I think there are enough Koto and enough sakura already.

It's interesting to hear how everybody thinks. Without giving away your "secret formula", can you tell us a little about your approach, too?

What IS "the stats"? Think about it and tell me what "the stats" are meant to be in this context. How would you use "the stats" to make picks? Maybe you agree then that even thinking about that can give helpful insights. I'm afraid the only insight this might reveal is my complete ignorance of statistics ( (Laughing...) ), but that hasn't stopped me yet, so I'll continue... For example, what if you were trying to "guess the banzuke"? Based on prior outcomes, you might have calculated that a rikishi with a 9-6 record at East Maegashira 12 is typically raised 2.5 positions for the next basho. On the other hand, due to his popularity with the crowd and the kyokai, you might feel that he will be given a slight advantage, so instead you predict that he will be given a 3 or 3.5 position boost. I suppose you could quantify "popularity" into the equation, too, or would you just leave the final decision up to "intuitive tweaking"? Another example: What if you were trying to predict the final results of a given rikishi before the start of a basho? You know that he has been raised five positions on the banzuke since last basho, so you can calculate his average score after a five-rank promotion. You can also predict what his score should be at his new rank based on previous results. Maybe you can even create a formula to combine these two and give you an accurate reading of the two factors together. My question is: Would you leave it at that, or would you go beyond "the stats" and say, for example, "regardless of his past performances, I think he is approaching the end of his career. He will not perform up to what 'the stats' predict." Thus, you would conclude that he will be 6-9, rather than, say, 7-8 as the stats might have predicted? Finally, (without making me look too stupid, please) is that the kind of thinking that you bring to bear on the sumo games? Or is your approach completely different?

That makes sense. Maybe someone could run the same analysis for the first half vs. the second half of the basho to confirm this.