Josh joins Bruce from Tokyo to discuss one of the more surprising and unpredictable sumo tournaments in recent memory. We discuss buying tickets to see sumo, the reaction of the crowd in the Kokugikan vs what you see or hear on TV, the chances of the embattled Yokozuna and Ozeki corps, and we revisit our predictions. I will note that Andy’s pick, Endo, is the only one from our “going to take the yusho” choices still in the basho.
Video version to follow later today.
Insightful and prescient discussion. Thanks!
Did you record this before Kakuryu went kyujo? If not, I feel the “not a responsible adult”-thing to be a bit harsh.
The comment was referencing a quote in this previous post, an interview we did with Kintamayama: https://tachiai.org/2019/08/14/tachiai-interviews-kintamayama-part-4-if-hakuho-goes-we-have-no-responsible-adult/
There was a bit of argy-bargy regarding that particular point in the comments section of that post, which we referenced in the podcast. We did record this after he went kyujo. My point (and Bruce apparently agreed) was that while it was a strong statement, Moti may have been right because if you’re injured, you can’t be there to regulate and at his age, you can’t count on his fitness (it’s actually kind of unfair to do so). That doesn’t stop him being a good Yokozuna, but it does mean that he isn’t going to be expected to put up the kind of strong numbers basho in-basho out that make it difficult for the new stars to achieve promotion.
Tochinoshin’s only option is Knee Replacements honestly, and at that point he would no longer be able to do sumo. No matter how many times he gets his knees repaired the amount of scar tissue and the atrophy from having the surgeries is going to just keep hammering him down. I truly think be years end or maybe mid year next year that he won’t be competing anymore.
With Big K injuring his MCL, I agree that if it was a more serious tear then we won’t be seeing much more of him anymore unfortunately. It’s absolutely something that can be overcome and heal but not in a sport such as Sumo where you’re destroying yourself.
It’s going to be a sad 2020 for Sumo I feel.
The damage being done to Tochinoshin’s knees is concerning. If he wants to continue wrestling, I would assume he has to change his style – completely – but is that even possible at this stage of his career? I doubt. Good luck Tochinoshin, good luck…
“It’s going to be a sad 2020 for Sumo I feel.”
Depends how you look at it IMHO. We’ve lost a number of heroes this year already (Kisenosato, Takekaze, Yoshikaze, Aminishiki). We really didn’t for a long time, which was great! But with the glass half full, new stars will hopefully take the place of the old guns, and that can be exciting!