K. Sear

His entire heel wouldn't be in the sand, only about an inch or so of skin, which I can conceive of leaving either no mark, or one too faint to be picked up by the cameras or visible on the videos. Regardless, it appears that people's minds are made up and there isn't any swaying them.

I don't understand how anyone can look at that picture and say it is inconclusive.

As already discussed on tachai.org, a light enough touch would not leave a discernible mark. A mark proves a touch, but lack of a mark does not disprove a touch.

Yeah, I spotted this frame on the videos early today and it made me believe he was out. Then I came here and was surprised to see that no one posted it and only Tachiai.org seems to be talking about it. Everyone is so adamant that Tochinoshin wasn't out, he was robbed, the judges should be fired, but I have no idea how they can be so sure when this shot is out there.

While I'm not happy about it, I am in the camp that the judges got it right. Tochinoshin's heel sure looks out to me.

Even when Goeido is doing well, some still need to twist it so they can crap on him.

Same thing happened to me a couple of times. Two banzuke went missing: John replaced one when the following basho happened and the other just evaporated. I also bought this year's sumo calendar and it went missing, another was sent, then both showed up on the same day. It is odd that you also had the same problem.

I have no idea, you would need to talk to John about these sorts of things. John seemed a little perplexed as well when he told me but isn't in a position to do anything about it either. All I know is I don't get banzuke anymore and that makes me a little sad, but I'll live.

As far as I know John can't send them out of the country anymore due to changes in the rules from the kyokai. I got them from him for a couple years, but this year he had to stop, otherwise I would still be "subscribed" with him.

Kisenosato's henka was okay in a karmic sense in my book, not because he was injured. Sometimes a henka is called for, like here or when Hakuho pulled a beauty on Kisenosato awhile back after Kise dicked around at the tachiai. Neither guy went for a henka while both were injured and the championship was on the line since they both knew it would be totally out of line, no matter the justifications. There is a time and a place for the henka, and it was not when Terunofuji pulled it out.

No, for not living up to his rank and ability.

Winning is winning no matter the conditions so I think it is impressive regardless. It's great that Kisenosato now has back-to-back yusho after struggling to get one for so long and getting the reputation of being a big choker. Hopefully it is a sign that the monkey is off his back and he can perform to his full potential all the time.

I also highly doubt it. All the drama aside, there is the simple fact that he has barely avoided demotion several times in the past year, being kadoban four times. He will need to demonstrate that he is back to his old form and will be able to perform consistently at a high level before a promotion will be on the table. I hope he is back since the sport is a lot more fun when he is healthy.

Terunofuji's hair was a sloppy mess from the very start of the match. That isn't strong evidence.

Yeah, this is definitely my most anticipated/favourite pre-basho thread.

Is it though? I assume the promotion criteria are kept vague intentionally to give the YDC some wiggle room, even though I think a well-defined standard would be preferable overall. With vague standards then can look at a bigger picture to define "the equivalent" if they want, which seems justified in this situation given the rather lengthy period of strong performance at the top level.

If the standard is "two consecutive yusho or the equivalent" then past performance counts by definition.

How do you define "struggling to win a basho"? It seems pretty absurd to claim Kisenosato will be "struggling to win" when he has 5 jun-yusho/yusho in the past six basho.

I am definitely in the "promote Kisenosato immediately" camp. If a record of jun-yusho/yusho in five of the last six tournaments isn't worthy of Yokozuna promotion I don't know what is. The argument that he didn't have to face two Yokozuna is kind of silly since he can hardly be faulted for people withdrawing. He's been knocking at the door for a while now, the only missing piece has finally been added.

Kotooshu and Baruto didn't retire until after a few tournaments at sekiwake. While they were kyujo in their demotion basho and didn't really "lose", they certainly didn't retire when they were "not good enough anymore" either.

Do YDC decisions actually carry weight though? For instance, when they chose to not promote Konishiki the recommendation stood, suggesting the committee isn't a completely ceremonial body either.

Given that Goeido and Kisenosato both got promoted with 32 wins it would seem that he should be just for consistency. However, one of the things I dislike about sumo is the vagueness of the promotion criteria. I don't think he'll get it with 32, mainly because they probably won't want to have 5 ozeki. However, if Terunofuji does get demoted I would think that can only strengthen the case for Takayasu, unless they want to give Terunofuji a chance to 10-win his way back in from sekiwake before filling his slot.

And? Maybe he isn't tearing it up, but he certainly isn't crapping the bed either. He isn't being retired when his performances rank him solidly in the top five when healthy. Kakuryu absorbs so much flak for no reason. Harumafuji had a rather "weak" 2014-2015 campaign if 11 wins isn't good enough for a yokozuna but no one thinks he should have been shown the door. When records start to look like those of Onokuni, Takanohana II, Wakanohana III, or Musashimaru near the ends of their careers it is fair to talk about forced retirement but not when they are still consistently turning in double digit wins.

The 2-2-11 has a lot to do with that. Make that an "average ozeki" basho and he is right up there with the other top performers. He's not being shown any doors.

In all fairness, Futahaguro wasn't sent into retirement due to his in ring performances, which weren't really that bad. With only 8 basho before expulsion it seems likely he would have won at least once if he had been able to compete longer.