Re: Takanohana

[Yugo Yodogawa <yyy@soda.berkeley.edu>]

Hmm, well although I agree with many of you that Takanohana should not be
promoted yet (even if he wins all the rest of his bouts, he'll finish with a
34-11 record in his last three basho's, not up to Yokozuna standards), I
don't think inconsistency is one of his faults.  With the exception of his
make-koshi last November, his last eight basho's have been:

14-1(*), 10-5, 11-4(+), 11-4(+), 14-1(*), 13-2(+), 12-3(+), 14-1(*)

with * denoting a yusho and + denoting a jun-yusho.

That's pretty consistent in my book.

Now INCLUDING the make-koshi, he is 106-29 over this period.  Only Akebono has
a better record (110-25), and the next closest is Wakanohana with a 96-39
record.

So, I don't think a promotion after this basho would be appropriate, but once
he puts the make-koshi at least four basho's behind him, if he keeps it up like
he has been and gets the 36+ wins "necessary" (he actually had 39 wins over
three basho's last year), I think he would deserve it.

-yugo