Mongolith

I feel a lot more for the lady behind. She got the full brunt of the squash while he seemed to get mainly just the legs.

I agree as there were lots of henkas, stepping sideways/back, and pulling. Also rather than thrusts saw too many handbag fights for my liking. Then my faves like Geeku, Ichi, and Shin looked like absolute garbage today (Well Geeku did not look that bad today just missing the umph from before and looking bang on for demotion). At least Fuji gave Hak a sweat and battled at the edge. Oh well not every day can be exciting like the last few.

I have not seen anything in a Hak-Ichi bout or even interaction that would merit that kind of treatment. Ichi has not henkaed Hak, used hari-te, or used a dangerous move at the edge when he is obviously going to lose. Other than a bit fluky slapdown win what has Ichi done to tick of Hak. Even in there training sessions Ichi just takes his beatings. Not really digging this side of Hak.

Aoi just buried any chance Kise had as he assisted him to his ring side seat. Can't feel bad for Geeku getting henka'ed when he makes it so easy. Goeido actually looked like an ozeki today as I thought Fuji would just maul him. Nice to see Kak keep pace in just his 1st basho back.

Welp the Geeku express has come to its last stop. Think Tenho also joins him in retirement as Father Time has finally caught up to him. Guessing Goeido is gonna amass yet another 8-7, actually looked good today. Ichi just looks terrible this basho and doubt he stays in the sanyaku. Hoping he can scrape a 7-8 and just drop to K.

Does this have the 1 yr. limit like Ms tsukedashi? Hoping there is no time limit other than the age limit. Great change as its kinda silly to have relatively successful college guys stomping on inexperienced kids

When the chairman says he will endorse Fuji's promotion its pretty much a done deal. Also several oyakata have stated that a yusho will bring him into consideration for ozeki, backtracking on their 14-1 criteria they stated earlier. I personally feel his promotion is deserved when comparing him to the current ozeki crop (No yushos & two 32 win promotions).

Its nice to see that they are considering Fuji's promotion with a yusho, since I thought his chances were dead with 3 losses. Its not like the current oz crop is very distinguished with nary a yusho between them, relatively weak promotions (Only Geeku got 33 wins), and all around 30 years old. Even the Bart/Oshu duo scrapped a couple despite being plagued with injuries. I do have to give Kudos to the ozeki's this basho as they blew open the yusho race with 2/3 upsetting Hak, but often they are non-factors.

At least Kise has put some pressure in the yusho race and has a long shot to get into a playoff. Hak was pretty reckless driving forward without tying up both of Kise's arms or grabbing his mawashi. Would like to see a megaplayoff but would be fine with just Hak/Fuji which seems more likely. Would be disappointed with just an outright winner.

Glad to see the yusho race extended. Ichi looked great going forward and neutralizing any shenanigans by tying up his opps arms. Would like to see both mongoliths occupy the S slots since Fuji can't reach ozeki this basho. Better this way having fuji prove himself through 3 bashos.

Damn Aoi just railroaded my boy Geeku. Three wins will be tough now. Fuji is gonna have to wait his turn as when Hak turns on his jets he is as impressive as ever. Was a freight train once his main competitors slipped and now bodied up nicely taking complete control of fuji before tossing him.

Maybe its just me but I never really notice Kak despite him being a Yok. He is just kind of there getting 10-12 wins, when he loses/wins a bout its usually not memorable (Like for example how Hara did Kise dirty with the nodowa), and his absence likely has not affected the Yusho race (Yes its going to be Hak again). They tried to lower the bar for Kise and it ended up being Kak who took advantage. Plus he has been gone the last two bashos so nobody has given him much thought.

Goeido deserves every bit of criticism he gets and i could care less how hard he tries or his limited ability. If he could not perform at the championship ranks then he should not have been promoted (Scraping a .500 record as oz). If Ichi (been disappointed with him this basho) or Osu get promoted to ozeki then I would at least expect them to flirt with DD in a calendar year. It just devalues the Ozeki rank (which for the longest time was the summit) to have rank holders that cannot meet its standards even on an intermittent basis. That is a different level of responsibility than a rising guy toiling in the junior sanyaku ranks and getting tossed back to the pack if they fail to perform.

Pretty exciting day with everyone & their mothers tied for the lead, the ozeki uncomfortably close to all losing in the same day (Yet again), and Endo picking his 1st win looking half decent. Don't know what juju Shin has over Ichi but he seems mentally defeated before even facing him and inevitably losing. Don't care much for the Yok's elbow (or that technique used by anyone) but at least Hak does not employ it too often.

Surprised that Endo keeps going as he is just getting destroyed on a daily basis. Seems about the only way he is getting a win is if his opponent withdraws.

Sad seeing Joker and Endo looking that together they would at best have one set of healthy legs. I wish more sumos would be willing to drop down and recover like Shin. Seeing Goeido suck like usual, Geeku rush in blindly, and Kise blow a Yusho opening is just par for the course. At this rate Goeido just getting DD at Oz (even just 10) may be the highlight of his Ozeki career.

Gonna be one hell of a yusho race now. Maybe Hara can break his drought but he does have a bum shoulder. Maybe Kise can exorcise his demons or Ichi starts off his ozeki run with a boom. Still think Hak recovers and takes it but today has made the race very interesting.

It's a bit early imo. Taka missed over a year before coming back. Mind you Kak is not a Dai-yok like him but a decent return next time out and he should be fine. Its just an injured shoulder and he should come back fine from that. I think its a good idea that he he is taking advantage of his Yok rank and not participating as an injured mess before going kujo if doing badly/aggravating his injury.

If anything I think they should relax the Ms places as Asashosakari stated they did in the past. Maybe increase the Ms qualification period for amateur champs to 24 months so wrestlers could finish their degree if they are more than halfway through. For example ms15 w/in 12 months and ms60 12-24 months. They already have a lot of miles in their bodies so why have them chalk up more beating up pups in the lower 3 ranks as Joker had to do. College sumotori are typically known a bit by the public and will have at least a minute fanbase established from their respective universities if they rise up quickly thus generating buzz. Seeing guys meteor up the rankings (ex. Endo and Ichi) is exciting and if they don't have the tools then they can quickly move on with their lives.

Seems like sumo medical care is stuck back at the time they started using the chonmage. Endo's Uni major must not be health related as it would be foolish for him to follow his oyakata's treatment advice.

I went for Kise also as I can't even remember him missing a basho and he should be good enough to at least make kk in a consistent manner. Hak seems to getting tired of the dog and pony show & appears to be lashing out. Likely feels underappreciated and unloved by the general public which is what I took from his prior comments.

I think the message, to Kyokai, is: "I don't give a damn! I surpassed you all!" Exactly what he wants I don' t know. Be respected as a elder? I don't know. BTW: that choke move from Harumafuji against Kise has a name? He used it many times and my first memory of it was against Kaisei in 2010 - I was "choked" by the sheer agressivity of it. I think its called nodowa. Last basho he embarrassingly upended Kasei and Kise with it.-BTW I do agree that Hak no longer gives a damn about apperances. That replay on day 13 has set him off (I personally thought he would be over it by now but the grudge with the press has made it persist).

I would slag off Hak off for the Henka but its almost like Kise wanted to dive into the dohyo. On Morgan's pic Kise is almost horizontal before Hak even touches him. Has looked awful getting owned by the nodowa yesterday and today appeared to be wearing blinders.

There is will always be yaocho and as long as it does not usually affect the yusho winner then I am fine with it. I can do with the odd promotion of mediocre Oz (Yes I am talking about Goeido) or living legends like Kaio staying a bit too long. If the Elite Mongolians can engineer promotions for their countrymen that is a bigger indictment on the rest of the Banzuke. There is only a handful of them and some like Hara/Fuji can't even face each other.

Meh its just one person's opinion so take it with a grain of salt. I am sure there is some yaocho like always (I mean come on how else was KK-MK rotating Goeido ever gonna reach Oz & beat Hak 3x in a row) but it rarely affects who wins the yusho. I typically find mike's reports very informative and if that bout was fake then the Mongolians have yaocho to another level. (Was a very entertaining bout & Looked real to me).