Re: [sumo] kaio chances

[Alex Ferguson <abf@cs.ucc.ie>]

On Wed, Dec 01, 2004 at 04:28:38PM +0200, Moti wrote:
> And there is no comparing Sumo to Western sports (chess???) in any way, 
> when it comes to the dignity factor. I feel that if you don't get that, 
> you are missing the whole essence of Sumo.
> KaioU participates in a sport that has certain standards for promotion, 
> which are being bent in his honor. Those standards were centered around 
> two straight yushos or the equivalent, like it or not. And if he can't 
> cross the lowered threshold, forget it.

So either a) 'the whole essence of Sumo' changed sometime around 1990,
or b) the current promotion criterion is not, in fact, immutable and
integral to same.  (I vote for b.)  It ought to be possible to discuss a
sensible 'rule' without drifting off into these semi-mystical reveries
(or at least to keep them under separate cover).  I mean, it's not as if
the YDC is hanging on our every word here, anyway...

I was fascinated to find an old message which claimed that
statistically, far from being the utter disgrace of anecdote, Futahaguro
was only about 2/3 of the way down the rankings of yokozuna.  (Sorry,
don't have the reference to hand.)  I appreciate we might be getting
into lies, damn lies, etc, territory but I do wonder if this indicates
that the promotion standard really is getting stricter over time, and
not just in the most recent adjustment.

Cheers,
Alex.
[EndPost by Alex Ferguson <abf@cs.ucc.ie>]