Katsunorifuji

When I made my initial post about Mario Kart I was only thinking of console games and forgot about my true favorite: Civilization. I remember playing the first on the SNES before playing 2 through 5 on the pc. It’s been years since I last played and I think I heard 6 has been released since. Each had its ups and downs in terms of enjoyment from the simple but fun Civ 2 (which seemed so advanced at the time) to the complex and graphically advanced Civ 5. I’d say I prefer the later versions which were more multidimensional but to be honest they were all great.

I wasn’t aiming so much for an apples to apples comparison but chose the NFL because it was another sport where someone who is heavy and strong can make a name for themselves as an offensive lineman. With the big pay differential it surprises me a bit that we don’t see more people start in sumo and then try their hand at American football if their sumo careers don’t look to take off. I know the skill sets aren’t a 1 to 1 transfer but the foundations aren’t all that different. But my main question was more about how much extra someone like Hakuho, or anyone in the salaried ranks, can pull in with all the added awards and prize money. I know sumo loves it’s awards so that base salary is a lot like the CEO who $1million as a salary but then $20 million in stock bonuses. My curiosity was around how much the sumo “bonuses” increase their earning potential.

60 million yen equates to a bit $600,000 USD per year if my math is correct. That seems low for someone who’s considered the best of all times. A rookie in the NFL is guaranteed $480,000 according to a quick google search. Do the perks and extra bonuses for winning total up to a significant amount more, or are these guys really making amounts that would place them on the lower end of most profession sports (at least comparing to US leagues)?

My favorite tv show in recent times has been Smallville. The later seasons weren’t the greatest but all in all the series did a great job of showing the life of Clark Kent from high school to becoming Superman. All time favorite honors would go to one of the Star Trek franchises. TNG and DS9 in particular I still enjoy watching from time to time. Other honorable mentions go to Stargate SG1, Highlander, and Shark Tank. Lately I’ve been watching NCIS LA and NO but we’ll see in a few years if they join my list of favorite shows or if they fade away.

Mario Kart gets my vote. It was fun to play alone or with others. The N64 version was my favorite game by far.

This echos my thoughts exactly. If you can’t compete at the top levels of sumo then sumo will shuffle you out as quickly as needed. You can’t really hang out in in the top ranks past your prime because because the way sumo is set up just won’t allow it. If Kotoshogiku wants to give it one last shot it’s hard to blame him. Once you retire your out and you don’t get to change your mind. Maybe he feels he can still make one last push into the maegashira ranks. Or maybe he just wants to enjoy one last basho. Either way it’s his choice and if he can’t compete at this level then and he keeps trying he’ll get pushed further and further down until it’s no longer with his time.

I may have missed something but what does it mean that he is “negative”? Pessimistic about his abilities? Always saying bad things about others? A generally unhappy guy? I have seen him described as negative many times but jot really why people think that.

I think he’d probably have traded enough to but Naruto heya at the bottom of this list. Oshoryu is so close to juryo but it feels like it’s a million miles/kilometers away. That one win might not have pushed him much higher up the banzuke but the MK this month has to feel pretty demoralizing.

What happened to Oshoryu? He was coming up fast but seems to be slowing down. His results aren’t particularly bad, but after starting 21-0 he is now 14-14 over the last 4 basho.

Good basho for Naruto. As a Kotooshu fan I keep hoping more good things from them.

Great basho. Most of my thoughts have already been echoed above but here are a couple takeaways I see. Congrats to Shodai, big time. For a guy who wasn’t really a household sumo name before January he’s no a yusho winner, an Ozeki, and just maybe a Yokozuna contender. Hoping he keeps this momentum up Enho is still pretty early in his career so it’s hard to generalize yet, but I’m getting the feeling we are seeing where his career will play out. The guys in the joi are simply big enough and fast enough that Enho can’t win consistently at his size. But he’s fast enough that those in the lower maegashira ranks can’t beat him consistently. Perhaps this is is sweet spot, a really good wrestler who hangs out in the upper single digit ranks with the occasional jump into joi and the occasionally slip to the higher double digits. But he’s a man of surprise so don’t quote me to that prediction. Im expecting Kotoshogiku to retire but kind of hoping he doesn’t. Just like a band or tv show that’s past it’s glory days I keep holding out hope for one more great run.

Looking at the standings it appears Asanoyama still controls his own destiny. Assuming he beats Shodai tomorrow (a big if) and he gets scheduled against Tobizaru (assuming he wins as well) on the final day he can still force his way into a potentially crowded playoff. I know it’d be more traditional for the two Ozeki to meet on the last day but would they really let Tobizaru go against lighter competition on day 15 if an Ozeki is still in the race?

I’ll second this one about Takanosho. When the match started my initial reaction was why did he go head to head with Terunofuji, he has no chance! Shoulda henka’d! Then a few seconds later he was pushing Terunofuji out of the dohyo like it was no big deal. Another good day of sumo by my books.

Aoiyama’s attempted foot sweep of Takarafuji today looked more like a kick when watching it on tv, but kudos to him for trying something. And kudos to him for winning a match that lasted more than a few seconds. Usually if he doesn’t win right away I expect to see him pushed out of the ring. But he surprised me today and we got an entertaining bout out of it as well.

I had the same thought after watching his match today. He seems to be getting his confidence back. Hopefully he keeps up the momentum and salvages what looked to be a lost basho two days ago.

With Asanoyama’s early struggles the talk about a Yokozuna run went away. But let’s think more general about this, what are the chances we don’t see a new Yokozuna for several years? We talk about the inconsistency among the top rankers but maybe parity is a better word. These guys are evenly matched enough that it’s really difficult for someone to dominate and win two yusho in a row. Common sense seems to indicate that one of the guys in the top 5 should be able to pull it off at some point, and someone could always break out, but given what we’ve seen I wouldn’t be shocked if Ozeki was the top rank on the banzuke for a while once Hakuho and Kakuryu retire.

Hokutofuji off to a rough start. No shame in losing to either of the guys he’s faced so far, but if he is going to reach his potential then he’s got to start winning these matches. I still think he’ll pull out a KK like he so often does with a strong second week. But I’d really like to see him consistently staying up in the ranks and joining our next Ozeki speculations.

I was wondering if anyone else noticed that or if it was just me. Definitely didn’t hurt him to not be all bandaged up in day 1. Hope the rest of the basho goes like today, lots of great sumo.

Asanoyama is the safest bet for yusho so I’ll predict he wins it all this month. He’s getting better and better and I see him joining the Yokozuna ranks before next summer. Shodai and Mitakeumi both have good, double digit win tournaments and tie for runner up. Both are Ozeki by the end of the year. Terunofuji has a good tournament but fighting against higher rank opponents from day one combined with a shorter turnaround time from the last basho slows him down just enough that he doesn’t repeat the yusho. Takakeisho I really hope has a good tournament or at least gets his KK. I wasn’t a big fan a year or so back when he looked poised to dominate sumo, but now that he is struggling I really want to see him back in that old form. I’ll guess 8-7. Predictions aside it’s going to be an exciting basho with an interesting story line behind whoever does win in the end.

1. X 2. B 3. A 4. A 5. A 6. B 7. A 8. B 9. A 10. A 11. B 12. A 13. A 14. B 15. A 16. B 17. B 18. A 19. A 20. A 21. X

With the time zone differences and my schedule I don’t usually get to see the days matches until really late and by then it’s too late to come here and review. But the last two days I cheated and watched the matches in the app so I had time to see everyone’s comments. Here’s mine: Impressed by Kotoshogiku, he is really hanging in there and is having a great basho for someone who looked to be on his way to retirement not that long ago. When did Takakeisho get injured? He didn’t seem all that on this basho but I was surprised when he withdrew. If I had posted this a couple hours earlier I would have guessed Hakuho to win the yusho. Now I’ll pick Asanoyama, he just seems like he’s more ready for it. But sumo surprises us all.

Not my best work. Better luck in September.

1. A 2. B 3. A 4. B 5. A 6. B 7. A 8. A 9. A 10. A 11. B 12. A 13. A 14. A 15. B 16. B 17. A 18. A 19. B 20. B 21. A

Admittedly I haven’t been as in the loop as much as I’de to have been over the last few weeks, but how confident are we that we’ll see a basho in the coming weeks now? It seems like the likelihood is high based on what I see but what’s the consensus here?

I was going to vote yes because a few years ago I remember doing one. But just for fun I tried one at home. The gravity in Michigan must be stronger than where I used to live because I could not pull myself up at all! So I voted no.