Re: Rikishi of the Year

["RJ Friedman" <rjf@comasia.com>]

On Wed, 2 Dec 1998 11:06:14 -0800 (PST), Joe Kuroda wrote:

>I guess there is no question this has been the year of Wakanohana.  He
>won the championships and got promoted to Yokozuna. He also endured
>the brunt of the family squabbles. He won more matches than any other
>rikishi.  As a small soldier in the ever increasing "Size Matters"
>world of sumo, he has done more than anyone expected of, save his mom
>and dad.  Many thought he has achieved his pinnacle by not falling off
>the Ozeki rank.  For "Rikishi of the Year", I don't think any other
>rikishi came close to Waka whether he turns out to be a great Yokozuna
>or not, this was his year.

I have to disagree. If nothing else convinced me that at least some
of SUMO match outcomes are the result of factors other than the
ability of the rikishi (a polite way of saying match fixing), it was
Wakanohana's rise to Yokozuna. There were numerous matches in that
string that were so obviously rigged they were downright
embarrassing. I can remember one match that was by far the worst, in
which the opponent stood frozen in a defect position for what seemed
like several seconds *waiting* for Waka to get around to delivering
the coup de grace. Don't even mention Wakanohana to me. For my money,
without the Futa factor and Papa's behind the scenes activities, Waka
would never have made it as an Ozeki, much less a Yokozuna.

Did no one else remark on the coincidence of the timing of his sudden
and miraculous spurt of `invincibility' with Taka's uncertain future
due to his stretch of illness? Does no one else see the heavy hand of
Papa moving behind the scenes to ensure that one of the family was
going to continue on as Yokozuna? Am I the only one who surmises
the ill feeling between Taka and the rest of the family - which
`coincidentally' arose in this same time frame - might just
*possibly* be due to his being pissed off at this?


>As for Akebono, Musashimaru and Takanonami, again they can be
>charitably described as nothing but Gozilla size unadulterated flops. 

I'll concede Takanonami to you - he's another one who would not be
close to where he is without the benefits of the Futa factor. Akebono
has never been the same since his knee injury - sad but true. But,
IMO, he has never really recovered from it - and in some ways it's
amazing that he does as well as he does on a leg and a half.

Now - to Musashimaru. He represents - to me - one more example -
maybe a prime example - that there is more than ability at play in
the winning and losing of particular matches. It really amazes me
that some are so naive as to think that Musashimaru's supposedly
inexplicable losses are the result of him somehow `losing focus' (for
equally inexplicable reasons) in critical matches.

Does it not occur to you that the Sumo powers-that-be are simply 
NOT going to tolerate two `foreign' Yokozuna when it just about 
killed them to have the one - and they let him know that his future
in Sumo depends on his understanding exactly what his position 
in the greater scheme of things is? Hint: Yokozuna, it's not.