Re: Comparing sumo with other sports

[Stephen Messer <smesser@hiddenmind.com>]

Aaron Willis wrote:

> 
> I think it is important to be able to compare and relate one sport to the
> other, there is so much that can be learned from this.  I know and
> understand American sports.  The most effective way for me to learn is to
> compare and contrast my knowledge of one thing with something else that is
> new.  


I know and understand American sports, too, but for some reason I never
found
it necessary to compare sumo with basketball in order to understand
sumo.  I
learned about the function of heya by reading newspaper articles and
books,
visiting the stables, and reading posts on this list.  It never occurred
to
me to try to draw parallels between unrelated American institutions.

Sumo is what it is.  You can say that a sumo stable does this and it
does that,
and you can understand it on that level.  There's really no need, imo,
to
try to relate what you've learned with an American sport any more than
you
would try to learn about the tea ceremony by comparing it to
Thanksgiving
dinner.

It's better to take something for what it is, instead of making it into
something
it's not through the use of false comparisons.

Just my two cents,

sjm