Re: Wakano-defensive lineman?

["William C. Blank" <wcb@bdi.com>]

I follow the NFL pretty closely, even in the off-season, and I have yet to 
have heard even the smallest hint about this.  You say he is going to 
"Arizona" but you don't mention the Cardinals organization.  Many NFL teams 
had camps the last few weeks, it is hard to imagine making a team having 
never played football and not having even attended a camp when it is 
already June and preseason games start in two months.  The Cards started 
their rookie camp June 4.

Does he have an agent?  Is he having contract talks?  This sounds more like 
a rumor than a fact to me, where are people getting this information?

I also highly doubt that a thirty-something injury-prone Wakanohana has 
even a shadow of a chance to make an NFL team, get real!

         -Tetsuonoumi


At 06:26 AM 6/11/01 +0900, you wrote:

>I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed before, but Masaru Hanada (former
>Yokozuna Wakanohana) is making a serious attempt to join the NFL.  He's
>traveled to Arizona and is in the midst of some hard weight training and
>conditioning.  Apparently, in a few months or so he's going to try out at a
>camp there.  Nihon TV showed some clips of him training the other night, and
>man, I think he could do it.  His face as he pushed himself in training,
>it's not like any way I've seen him before.  And he looks like he's back in
>fighting shape.
>
>In his book, Hanada talked about intending to try out for the NFL when he
>graduated high school, but he ended up joining Futagoyama-beya to look out
>for his brother.  In the final chapter, titled "Dreams", he talks about
>Michael Jordan trying baseball the first time he retired from basketball,
>and how he admired Jordan for that.  I'm sure he was thinking about
>attempting to try out even then, before his danpatsu-shiki.
>
>What position would he play?  The only one I can think of is defensive
>line-man, a pass rusher.  He'd be perfect for it.  Defensive line-man have
>to quick and nimble to dodge around very large offensive linemen and try to
>tackle the quarterback.  His proficiency in lateral movement would be a
>great asset.  If he was an offensive lineman, I imagine he'd instinctually
>wrap his arm around his man, like a yotsu-grip, and he'd be called on
>holding.  But defensive linemen can pick up someone blocking them and toss
>them aside with no problem.
>
>Two things give me pause.  One is conditioning.  He looked in great shape,
>but we're talking about being on the field for probably 30+ minutes per
>game, and for extended drives much longer than a long sumo match.  It
>wouldn't be that much different from five or six torinaoshi's in a row.  And
>he has his injuries.  Well, most football players have injuries from the
>time they graduate college, but it is a concern, I think.  And finally, I
>wonder about his football instincts.  Football players get the basics set in
>high school, and then in college hone their skills like reading a defense
>and/or an offense.  I wonder if he would be able to do that.  On the other
>hand, football is rigorously controlled from the sidelines, and really doing
>things like reading the opposition's formation is for the defensive captain
>and the quarterback on the field, so maybe this wouldn't be that much of a
>problem.
>
>Anyone with experience with American football care to comment?
>
>---------
>Josh Reyer
>jreyer@grn.mmtr.or.jp