Today's the day!

[riley@hachi.hi-tech.ac.jp (Totoro)]

Hello out there in fan-land! It's a beautiful sunny day (at least
where I am) for a new basho. We've got 55 entries so far for the
hoshitori, down from a big surge in Kyushu. Maybe if the US could
get their government back to work, some others would have access
to the net again. :-)

My vote for the best new shikona: Wishiwashi!

To the hoshitori entrants, thanks for the nice notes. I just
don't quite have the time to reply to all of you. 

Thanks to the people who sent email about the new web page, and
I really hope to add new updates more often, so tell me what's
not correct or needs changed or whatever. Tell me what you'd
like to see on it, too!

Waka/Taka, Tosanoumi and Musoyama are getting all the press on
the basho, with nary a word about Akebono. The media seems to
be counting him out from the start, though total lack of print
on him may not be anything bad. I didn't know until the latest
Sumo World came out that Musashimaru has been having some bad
shoulder problems, which would account for his apparent dearth
of power in Kyushu. Wakanohana was hospitalized last month for
influenza, but seems to have regained his strength. Kaio and
Kotonishiki remain question marks, as usual, with the Komusubi
boys expected to shake up the Futagoyama/Hawaiian dominance.

I don't expect that Wakanohana would be a strong contender,
myself. Not so much due to the parties, as Ken noted (though
that can be a factor), but mostly because Waka isn't really
big enough to maintain a 2 or 3 basho run, IMO. He's had a
string of nagging injuries and also tends to get sick kind
of regularly. I'd imagine Taka will be back strong, and 
Akebono will want to dispel rumors about his condition. The
rest of the group is very difficult to make predictions on,
which makes the basho exciting. Personally, I think this one
will be a real nail-biter, as everyone has a lot to prove,
and the Hatsu Basho is the best time to begin anew anyhow.

Since Tito is taking a break, the info you get from me and
other sources (come on, all of you!!) will have to fill in.
If I get something really hot on video, I'll digitize the
spot and let everyone see it.

Otanoshimi-ni...

Totoro