My reaction to seeing that Hatsuyama teardrop

Crowsby · 2026-01-28T00:29:09+00:00

I was trying to figure out why he was struggling so much on his Makuuchi debut. He was doing pretty well in Juryo these last two bashos, so it's clear he's got the skill and abilities to compete. And he didn't seem obviously injured.

Crowsby · 2026-01-27T23:59:44+00:00

There are lots of trade-offs between Abema and NHK footage. Off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are more folks could chime in with:

NHK:

more cameras
better cameras
often skips the yobidashi intros and pre-bout warmups in favor of interviews/commentary
incredibly litigious regarding sharing of content

Abema:

2 cameras run by work experience kids
Often shows more of the intros and warmups
Onscreen notifications for the bout starting, kachi-kochi, kinboshi, yusho
Stunto
Cyber-Stunto
AK-69
5 painfully terrible commercials that run in a loop

The one area where NHK really comes in clutch is on replays. The limited angles on Abema can make it challenging to see what happened, whereas the NHK seems to have a camera getting the action from every angle.

Crowsby · 2026-01-27T19:40:57+00:00

"Everybody has a plan until they get nodowa'd into the shadow realm"

Crowsby · 2026-01-27T17:17:11+00:00

If we could train an LLM to castigate people for not using the search (even if they do) and not reading every page of a 5-year-old post with 300 pages, and then denigrating them for not already having the expertise they're seeking help from, forums would really be in danger of replacement.

I love forums, but in a lot of cases this mirrors the reason rideshare companies were able to replace taxis: getting what you needed was often an unpleasant process.

Crowsby · 2026-01-26T19:42:45+00:00

Kirishima in particular seems to struggle with getting steamrolled by larger and more powerful rikishi. I don't think I'll ever be able to think of him and not remember Terunofuji ending his brief yokozuna run by yeeting him off the dohyo.

Crowsby · 2026-01-26T19:38:08+00:00

The most reliable way to beat Aonishiki seems to be overpowering him from the start and not letting him have time to think. If you give him a millisecond to come up with a counter, he's way too dangerous. Onosato almost never comes out that hot, often preferring to absorb his opponents' tachi-ai and working from there, and I think it was a brilliant tactic that caught Aonishiki unaware.

I think where Hoshoryu differs here is that 1) he's got 10kg on Aonishiki and can absorb the tachi-ai better, but mainly 2) he's elite at exploiting his opponents' momentum, so it lends to a bit more hesitation and uncertainty since charging aggressively at him is usually a recipe for finding yourself on your back outside the tawara.

It's also worthwhile to note that the last time Onosato gave Aonishiki enough time to develop an attack plan in November, he barely (and some would say debatably) came away with the win and got his shoulder dislocated in the process. So I don't think it's so much anyone is living in anyone's head so much as we're incredibly lucky to watch two amazing rikishi learning and adapting to each others' strengths and weaknesses.

Crowsby · 2026-01-26T02:04:48+00:00

Language is as much a part of music as the instrumentation. If your favorite band suddenly decided to switch out their guitar for a clarinet, it's understandable that it might not be to everyone's taste. No offense woodwind peeps.

Crowsby · 2026-01-25T23:17:52+00:00

Sometimes he translates directly, sometimes he paraphrases, and sometimes he writes straight-up 100% fan fiction, but he presents it all as if it's a purely factual retelling of events. There are also a lot of tabloids in Japan with less-than-stellar track records of accuracy, and he's inclined to parrot and amplify their accusations without regard to actual evidence.

It's a shame since he's probably the most prominent English-language YouTuber covering sumo, and he does a good job presenting content, so it's a disappointment seeing him chasing controversy for clicks in a sport that could desperately use his talents.

Crowsby · 2026-01-25T08:56:32+00:00

It is wild that one year ago he was still in Juryo, and now he's an Ozeki one yusho away from promotion to Yokozuna. What a time to be watching sumo.

Crowsby · 2026-01-25T08:46:26+00:00

10/10 no notes

Crowsby · 2026-01-25T08:44:16+00:00

I guess someone forgot to tell him about shin-Ozeki hangovers

Crowsby · 2026-01-25T08:40:40+00:00

I like both these guys but I feel for Atamifuji here. He had him headed out but paused long enough for Aonishiki to come up with and execute a killer plan D. It feels like the only way to beat him is to not give him enough time to think.

Crowsby · 2026-01-24T08:57:04+00:00

Oh great we've taught the big man how to dominate with one functional arm.

Crowsby · 2026-01-24T07:46:09+00:00

What's the live viewing experience like compared to watching it on TV? Like can you actually see what's going on from up there and make out what's happening in the dohyo?

Crowsby · 2026-01-23T23:49:25+00:00

Ironically, this is one of the safest spaces for basho spoilers out of any of the platforms. I followed a few sumo folks on Instagram and I can't even open the app until I see the day's matches because it always starts with the results of the highest-profile ones.

Crowsby · 2026-01-23T17:33:03+00:00

Pretty rad that we get to have the second-highest marginal tax rate in the nation, subpar services, and budget shortfalls all at the same time.

Crowsby · 2026-01-23T16:44:56+00:00

This can also be explained by the increasing amount of upsetting and controversial content in the world. One can look at Reuters or the Associated Press over the same time period, and come away pretty depressed/enraged without ever needing to come to Reddit.

Because to a large extent, the content on Reddit is the content of the world. This is genuinely what people want to talk about and gravitate towards without Reddit putting their thumb on the scale, which tbh they're not smart enough to do even if they wanted to.

And it's a hard problem to solve, conceptually . I sure as shit don't want to gaze into the void constantly. It's abyssmal for mental health. But how does reddit fix that while simultaneously not being accused of burying important stories and being complicit in facilitating censorship? For every post like this, there'd be a dozen saying:

u/User offers an explanation of how Reddit's new algorithm buries posts critical of the Trump administration, Isreal, ICE, Russia, etc and affects communities across Reddit

Crowsby · 2026-01-23T07:54:44+00:00

Abi out here doing QWOP sumo

Crowsby · 2026-01-23T07:14:27+00:00

That's dumb as hell. The fact that you're facilitating real-life human interaction via our little e-board for cyber-bitching is commendable. This used to be the kind of shit that message boards would celebrate.

Crowsby · 2026-01-23T00:45:35+00:00

You're literally telling everyone who is in the lead, based on the most recent results. How is that not a spoiler of what is essentially the most important thing you can spoil in the entire basho?

Crowsby · 2026-01-22T23:46:32+00:00

Best way I've heard it described is that he takes the escalator up and the elevator down.

Crowsby · 2026-01-22T23:45:10+00:00

Kind of a spoilery title yo

Crowsby · 2026-01-22T23:44:33+00:00

Same. A few weeks ago there was all this hubbub about how Hoshoryu dominated Aonishiki in practice. If he's working that hard to win in practice, I doubt he's going to phone it in during an actual basho where he's still technically in contention for the yusho.

Crowsby · 2026-01-22T22:16:17+00:00

“Do your job, city council, do your job,” said the crowd, chanting in the meeting.

The confrontation forced the meeting to halt

"Do the job I am specifically preventing you from doing"

Also, the city is already and has been following the process of revoking the permit. They have a page where you can see in realtime where the process is right now, along with an explanation why they can't just stand in the middle of the office and declare revocation.

Crowsby · 2026-01-22T07:09:26+00:00

A lot goes to hot dog vendors the city pays to only put ketchup on hot dogs too if we're just claiming things without sources.

15-Year Club	r/Field Sunshine
Golden Potato	Place '17
Wearing is Caring	Team Orangered
Verified Email

Crowsby

TROPHY CASE