The crew at Tachiai welcome a new site dedicated to bringing English language sumo fans the rich media environment they deserve. They call themselves “Grand Sumo Breakdown”, and they appear to be focusing on audio podcasts.
We have attempted, in the past, to establish a podcast regime, but the overhead of running the text content for the site and the pre/post production of audio was just more than our personal lives could manage. So we welcome the GSB crew, and look forward to actively listening to their contributions to the sumo world.
Their podcasts are available on iTunes and Stitcher (coming soon to Google Play).
Gave these boys a listen this morning, and their enthusiasm is infectious. They are relatively new to Sumo, it seems, but that makes the podcast accessible to others getting into it for the first time (or, like me, returning after a long absence).
Love the idea of Fantasy Sumo though I imagine it would be ruinous to my general productivity during a basho!
Apologies for the hijack, but I might as well use this as an opportunity to plug the hub of international sumo gaming for those who might not know that there’s a whole games ecosystem out there:
http://www.strongoak.net/sb/
Not a hijack at all, it’s highly relevant.
Thanks for sharing.
Way back in the archives of Tachiai, there are a few posts on my aborted attempt at Fantasy Sumo. Thank you for this. My hope was a game where you build your heya. These games can get us more engaged & familiar with and knowledgeable of lower-ranked rikishi.
What was your shikona for FS? As the banzuke maker I’m kinda curious now. :)
There have been a few long-term games over the years, but the administrative effort tends to be very high and not easily transferable to a new person, so they only lasted as long as each game admin did. There was one called ICHIMON at least 10 years ago, which had players draft rikishi exclusively, and a more recent effort that ran until 2013 or so called Stable Development with non-exclusive picks (which naturally allowed for a greater number of players, but also much more uniform and thus less interesting squads).
The biggest issue IMHO is that those games often sound better in theory than they are in practice – if you’re not one of the more successful players that type of game quickly becomes a chore to play. The general-interest games that are part of the Super Banzuke all allow for a fresh start each basho, with the penalty for suckitude only coming via one’s banzuke position.
Wait, my games myopia struck…you meant “Fantasy Sumo” in general terms, not the long-running prediction game that uses that name, right?
Yes. Though this basho is sure to produce some very interesting takes for the prediction game. I assume it will be more likely to have more sansho and maybe even a maegashira jun-yusho.
Thank you so much for your kind words! Make sure to check out our blog at grandsumobreakdown.wordpress.com for a more detailed post about the fantasy sumo league!