SumoSumoSumo

While similar to what a Banzuke does, the difference in this is that age and potential get taken into account in addition to the merit of your current place and how close you are/history/etc. Essentially, I already know there aren't "that" many with potential of Yokozuna, but the ranking still could give me (and others I suppose) a real sense of how members of this extremely knowledgeable community feel overall about certain rikishi (I am trying to use my basic vocab learned on here when I can, so if I use it incorrectly, let me know I have no concern with being told a mistake). See, I know most wrestlers only through the lens of daily input about their matches. As a result, I don't know as much about what their real "expectations" are and/or were, at what age/point optimism about certain goals start to fade away in terms of reaching a plateau, what certain indicators might be (if any, and beyond winning of course) about what the ceiling is of a certain guy. And also, this is about the odds of becoming Yokozuna ever, not about being the next one. And also, I realize that even once you're at #5,6 etc, you might already be into the single digits of percentage of this ever happening. So, if I were to guess a "most eligible yokozuna top ten", it would be this: Terunofuji Ichinojo (already the plateau starts here) Kisenosato Osunaarashi (another example where age comes into play) Tochiozan Tochinoshin Goeido Yoshikaze (this is where another drop off is starting) Ikioi Aioyama So, I guarantee my list is terrible, and I know a few reasons why already. Well first, I don't know anyone consistently in Juryo and below, since I (for now) only can watch the Makuuchi division. And those are also guys I am interested in if there are phenoms I would have no clue about. 2nd, I probably did a terrible job placing the more age promising wrestlers in their proper spot anyway. Osunaarashi is an example wildcard here mostly because he seems to wrestle the top guys tough already and is only 23. This isn't my steadfast opinion, it was more an exercise so I can see what people with far more knowledge think. That's just an example of projecting that 5 years from now Osunaarashi might be far ahead of where some of his fellow 28/29 year old wrestlers are now. This "potential" thing does raise a few further questions. At what age are you no longer "young" anymore? 25/26? And then at what age are your physical attributes most likely fully peaked, 28/29/30? It looks like the oldest guy in recent memory to get promoted was Asahifuji right at 30. It makes what someone like Yoshikaze is doing right now pretty cool. Alright well, thanks for any input on this, any info about wrestlers and potential, that whole dynamic, is great, I don't need top 50 lists with deep explanations haha. Thanks for any response.

Wow I am so sad to hear this... I've done a lot of looking up of these former greats and the era he was in seemed to be a spectacular time in the sport...

I've been lurking on this board for about 1 calendar year now, ever since I made the eureka moment and said "it's 2014, I wonder if there is a way to get up to date sumo coverage?" I watched the sumo coverage on ESPN back in the late 90s as a very early teen, and was always a fan of Takanohana, going against the even larger Akebono and Musashimaru. Thanks Kinta... Figured it's as good of a time as any to make a post. Keep in mind, I don't know much about what I'm really watching, although I am learning as time goes on. I personally found Hakuho hilarious today as well. I also did a deep belly laugh while watching. The young guy I was hoping would take the leap, Ichinojo, was coming off his jun-yusho the first basho that I started following daily. So, I've sort of been rooting for him, not that I don't root for Terunofuji as the other young rikishi with incredible physical talent (I've come to realize that while you have favorites, you mostly just like everyone and then they fall into a pecking order of sorts). I always wonder if Ichinojo feels like it's not "his time" yet or something. I almost feel like he "defers" to the higher ranked wrestlers... must be the fighting spirit discussion. I feel like he wants to wrestle more as a crafty guy, but doesn't have the experience to do so yet, instead of just winning by brute force and let the techniques come slower over time, while winning, hopefully. Beating Tochinoshin was a great sign today however, since he's always tough too. I love Tochinoshin also however. Too many guys to root for overall. This has been a great basho so far, love this one