Apologies. Re: Natsu Basho.

[ACARTEN@derwent.co.uk]

          My apologies to all.
          
          My dept was placed on a new mail file server 
          recently and some outgoing messages were hoarded 
          until Wednesday evening when it started to send 
          out whatever it felt like.
          
          The problem has been sorted and I hope you will 
          not be receiving any more junk from me.
          
          Andrew.
          Well I'm back in the office after our bank holiday 
          break here in England and it's no surprise to find 
          Takanohana victorious again.
          
          I don't know how the rest of you feel, but there 
          is something lacking these days. It's not the 
          Futagoyama-beya factor that concerns me most, it's 
          something more fundamental. 
          
          Is it me or the restricted view I got of sumo over 
          here in UK during the few years that Channel 4 
          covered the Aki basho in the late 80s affecting my 
          perception of how sumo is operating these days? 
          Noone seems to be fighting hard these days, there 
          doesn't seem to be anyone who has that spirit 
          displayed by Chiyonofuji and Hokutoumi amongst 
          others. Is there anyone coming in from the lower 
          ranks that obviously displays this quality?
          
          What's wrong with Musashimaru? I remember when I 
          saw the rikishi here in London in 1991 , he above 
          all the youngsters "looked" the most likely to 
          excel and prove himself to be one of the most 
          formidable of sumo wrestlers. He's gone off the 
          boil. Why?
          
          And what's Kotonishiki up to? I haven't seen any 
          tapes yet but he surely cannot have been that bad?
          
          Thanks to everyone for the interesting tid-bits on 
          the gossip front, and of course for the informed 
          commentary from our resident experts. I can't wait 
          to get into the office when a basho's on to catch 
          up on your postings.
          
          Thanks to Ian and Richard again,for the sterling 
          work with the hoshitori contest, which really 
          makes my day no matter how far I plummet. I take 
          heart from Ranboryuu's performance this time, 
          since I'll "only" be M2 for Nagoya.
          
          Roll on July.
          
          Thanks to everyone involved
          
          Andrew.