I wanted to take this opportunity to announce Tachiai’s Hatsu Basho contest winner, Andrew B.! Congratulations, Andrew! And thank you to BuySumoTickets for sponsoring the contest! I’m looking thinking up a new contest for March, possibly Ochiai’s record as a Juryo debutant? What do you all think?

Andrew has watched a sumo tournament in person before, watching multiple days of the Natsu 2019 tournament — where Asanoyama actually won. Unfortunately, he’d missed out on his next opportunity because of the pandemic. But he feels May is a great time to go since it avoids January’s cold and the heat of August. He actually also already had tickets to Hakuho’s retirement ceremony, an event which I will summarize in my next post (along with Toyohibiki’s ceremony). He does not expect to see Yokozuna Takakeisho at Natsu, quite yet. With so much instability at Ozeki at the moment, other chances may come. I, for one, am eager to learn of the T-Rex’s new yotsu skills will develop into a reliable weapon, especially for opponents above Maegashira 13. If he’s got that second weapon, it might put him over the edge and turn a nay-sayer, like myself into Yeasayer.

Yes, I made a terrible pun in order to have an excuse to share a song that I have been absolutely obsessed with…even if the video is a bit weird (even for a Tool fan). I go a little stir-crazy in between tournaments. Once again, Congratulations to Andrew for winning, and good luck to all future contestants in March! Stay tuned for more details on this weekend’s activities.