Fw: Yaocho comment

["Rob Hoey" <robhoey@gol.com>]

I remember this bout quite well and I hate it. It was a real downer.
Everyone was psyched up for the first playoff between the brothers and if
there ever was a yaocho match, this was it. I believe that Taka let Waka win
"big time" in this one.
I also know that Nami beat Taka 2 times in a playoff. I think in all of
these cases it would be to the benefit of the heya to let the ozeki win over
the yokozuna. The yokozuna has nowhere higher to go. He's already yokozuna.
To offer the ozeki a yusho would put him almost one step away from a
yokozuna promotion. Yokozunas bring in more money for the heya than an ozeki
does. Am I right on this?
Granted Taka's stablemates would know his weaknesses but these bashos were
when Taka was in his prime. IMHO I believe Taka took the fall. I don't mean
to blame this totally on Takanohana, but maybe he was forced to take the
fall by his father/oyakata. Maybe this lead to the strained relationship
between Taka and his father and brother. I don't know, it's all speculation.
Robanoumi
http://www.geocities.com/robanoumi/

>> I think it affected the winner of the tournament at least once - when
>> Wakanohana defeated Takanohana in their playoff meeting back in '95.
>> It certainly looked to many people like Taka threw that match.  He was
>> at the height of his dominance at the time, yet barely resisted Waka's
>> charge before crumpling to the dohyo.  One explanation I heard was that
>> Taka had thrown the match on daddy's orders, in order to give Waka a
>> yusho.  This match has also been seen as the starting point of the
>> soured relations between Taka and his father and brother.
>
>It's been sometime since I've seen the video of the match.  Is it possible
>that Waka was psyched up to beat his younger brother and Taka just choked?
>
>I found an interesting statistic in Ozumo magazine.  It seems that twice
>Taka put up 14-1 numbers at the end of the basho, but was denied the yusho
>in the play-off.  The opponent who beat him those two times?  Ozeki
>Takanonami.
>
>> From what I've read regarding the Futa factor, it seems many people feel
>that if Takanonami had to meet Taka during the basho, he'd lose more often
>than not.  But these guys train together all the time.  I imagine no
rikishi
>know Taka's weaknesses better than his fellow Futagoyama sekitori.  And
vice
>versa, of course.  At any rate, yaocho is always a possibility, but I think
>the good old "choke" is just as possible.
>