Re: Solely 'what have you done for me lately'?

[<f95-sge@nada.kth.se>]

>>I also think 12-3 yusho would (and should) be enough... Musashimaru's
>> double 13-2 in times of absents was hardly better than Wakanohana's
>> 14-1+12-3 in times of absents.
>
> Just raising a question here.  Let's assume for the moment that
> Asashoryu loses the next two days and goes 12-3 but wins the yusho,
> making him a borderline candidate for promotion.  For these kind of
> cases, should yokozuna promotion be based solely on a "what have you
> done for me lately" criteria?  After all, the two-yusho criteria is
> intended to be a guideline and not written in blood.  When Musashimaru
> and Wakanohana won their double yushos, it was the 5th yusho for both of
> them.  This would only be Asashoryu's 2nd.
>
> Would the Kyokai consider career history in deciding promotion for these
> types of borderline cases?  Should they?

My view is that two consecutive yusho, with an average of 13 wins per
yusho, should make for certain promotion, whether the rikishi have had
earlier yusho or not. Even an Ozeki who have had 7 earlier yusho could
fail while someone who had two jun-yusho can succeed as yokozuna. It's
that hard to say in advance, so I think only extreme cases of inexperience
should count against someone fulfilling the basic criteria. I also think
that not promoting someone with that record would open up for a more
subjective view on Yokozuna promotion that could be dangerous for the long
term. Therefore I say that while the whole history of a rikishi could make
it (marginally) easier for him to become Yokozuna, I don't think being
unexperienced should make it harder than the currently used criteria.
13-2Y +12-3Y could be an in-between case where I would be ready to accept
a more subjective reasoning, based on the earlier record of the candidate,
and the behaviour and stature of the rikishi in question.

But that's my  view...