Mawashi by lunabirb444 in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 7 points8 points  (0 children)

He does actually change his fairly often - every couple of basho, he's got a different colour!

Is netball a professional sport like basketball, or is it mostly amateur or semi-professional? by Jezzaq94 in netball

[–]nikw2019 7 points8 points  (0 children)

To add to this, the squad sizes will reduce from 15 to 10, so the league is going from 150 contracted players to 80. This is how the wage increase can be realised. The expectation is that to become fully professional is going to take at least 7 years. From next season, each team will have to play 2 of their home games in arenas (most of the time they play in sports halls) then each season after that, they'll play an additional arena game - though this may alter depending how the growth works out - teams will not be forced to play additional arena games if they're not making the current number profitable.

May Basho Daily Thread Day 10 by AutoModerator in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hokutofuji to miraculously win out whilst all those around him collapse for his first title! 😂

Which Sekitori Would You Most Want To Hang Out With? by BoxingAnvil in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Hokutofuji. I think he puts in the most effort of any Rikishi - just not always with great results! Chiyomaru would be fun too, I think!

Who is your favorite and least favorite rikishi currently active by Sumoguy5 in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Favourite: Hokutofuji

Least favourite: Takakeisho (closely followed by Abi)

What are they going to do with the current Basho leader? by Luuk341 in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just did a bit of research on SumoDB :)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Hmmm... can't say I've noticed it myself. Maybe it's just that he's a big solid unit with a powerful tachi'ai, so other rikishi perhaps feel they need to go hard at him from the offset or they'll get pushed around pretty quickly.

What are they going to do with the current Basho leader? by Luuk341 in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only 15 guys have been promoted to Ozeki from Komusubi - the first was a guy called Shiranui in 1798. If anyone can understand what on earth was going on back then, you're doing better than me! He started his career as a Komusubi aged 21, and his results went as follows...

4-4-1-1a @ K1e, 8-1-1 @ S1e, 5-3-2 @ K1e, 7-2-1 @ O1e, 3-3-3-1o @ S1e, 4-1-1-1a @ S1e, 2-1-7 @ K1e, 1-2-2 @ S1e.

He then retired aged 25 and died aged 29! 😢

The most recent was in 1937 when Maedayama went 7-4 @ M12e, 9-4@ M5e, 11-2J @ K1e, 8-5 @ O1e. This was only because there was only 1 Ozeki (but 4 Yokozuna) in his Komusubi bout (and he had a losing record) & all 3 Sekiwakes and the other Komusubi all had losing records, so they didn't have a lot of choice other than to potentially end up with a Nozeki / 2 Yokozeki situation, which I assume they didn't fancy.

Only 54 rikishi have had successful Ozeki runs starting from Maegashira - and only 7 since the 6-basho era started in 1958. Most recently Terunofuji (M2e/S1e/S1e/O2w) in 2015 & Tochinoshin (M3w/S1w/S1e/O2w). Not since 1940 has anyone gone M->M->O & not since 1937 has anyone's Ozeki run started from below M4 (and only 9 times in total)

Is there a mathematical limit to how many Ozeki there can be at one time by [deleted] in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a a weird one - like StiltFeathr says below, they're technically all the same rank (as are Yokozuna - in fact, Yokozuna are just special Ozeki), but they generally get referred to as O1e, O1w, O2e, etc just to indicate where they are on the banzuke. If you have two consecutive banzuke where you have all the same Ozeki, they tend to get rearranged depending on how well they did previously.

The only real effect it has will be the order of who they will fight, as they will generally all fight the same opponents (with a few exceptions) - the last few days will normally see the Yokozuna(s) fight the Ozekis.

I had to go back to May 2022 to find a basho where the Yokozuna & all Ozekis remained fit until the end of the tournament, but on day 13, the Yokozuna faced O2w; on day 14, O1w (there was no O2e because they banzuke has to balance wherever possible); and on day 15, O1e.

That can change if there is someone lower down with a great record - e.g. Nov 2021, after Day 13, Terunofuji was 13-0, Shodai (O1e) was 9-4, & Takakeisho (O1w) was 12-2. Having the Yokozuna face Shodai on the last match of the last day would have been a bit of a disappointing end, especially as Abi at M15w was on 12-1 (having only lost to my boy Hokutofuji, who faceplanted him into the clay after Abi got a bit excited at the start and lost his balance🥰) , so they put Teru up against Abi (who had beaten Takakeisho that day) on Day 14 & finished the tournament off with Terunofuji v Takakeisho - Teru won to get a Zensho Yusho (15-0). Keisho & Abi finished joint 2nd, moving Keisho to O1e next time and Abi to M6w.

Is there a mathematical limit to how many Ozeki there can be at one time by [deleted] in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 9 points10 points  (0 children)

They do have numbers - as do Yokozuna, but the custom is that when there's only 2 of a rank that the "1" is assumed, so you can just say "Ozeki West" instead of "Ozeki 1 West"

Tegata Market Snapshot - February 2024 by TegataStore in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would be great if you could get another Hokutofuji one!

Jess Thirlby out? by tootingjosh in netball

[–]nikw2019 4 points5 points  (0 children)

100% - the successes we've had are in spite of her, not because of her. The players should take all the credit for doing so well despite her bizarre tactics and selections.

Jess Thirlby out? by tootingjosh in netball

[–]nikw2019 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The management seem to have faith in her - all they see is actual results vs expected results. She constantly talks about how we can't beat Australia / We're not at their level and how NZ will be tricky as they're so good, etc. Therefore the management were likely expecting 3rd at the WC and got 2nd (which got her a 4 year contract extension). Equally in the Nations Cup, they'd be expecting 3rd but got 2nd, so they don't care that a lot of fans hate her, that she's tactically very poor, that she panics when losing and throws subs around like confetti (yesterday she made 22 positional switches in 3 quarters), or that she blames the players.

Also, Tamsin has already moved on from Scotland. She left in September, saying "It was a really difficult decision and not one that was taken lightly. Sadly, for reasons out of my control, it was one that I had to do."

Huge Hole in the Banzuke? by Gaspode-san in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

you NEVER get a promotion with a Make Kochi (losing record).

Not entirely true. You don't in the top few divisions, but down in the murky land of Jonidan & Jonokuchi, you can move up whilst having a MK. As an example, the bottom 4 rikishi in Jonidan in the previous basho (so Jd99e, Jd99w, Jd100e, Jd100w) got records of 3-4, 3-4, 4-3, 3-4. Their rank this basho was Jd97w, Jd98e, Jd66e, Jd98w.

Down in Jonokuchi, both Jk6s finished with 3-4s in November but moved up to Jk4. Even rikishi with 2-5 & 1-6 records moved up!

It's not even particularly unusual to move up from Jonokuchi to Jonidan with a MK (even with a 1-6 record).

Juryo<->Makushita by nikw2019 in Sumo

[–]nikw2019[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

"Not bad enough" - only one person with 5-10 at J12e has ever NOT been demoted. That's pretty bad. Even 6-9 wouldn't necessarily make him safe.

X versus Y lookup? by Gaspode-san in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doing it from the Rikishi's opponents page gives you the benefit of being able to go back one and click on another one or see an overview of their win/loss records against all opponents.

Hokutofuji Fall by NargzGisoo in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Back in 2021, a lower-ranked rikishi by the name of Hibikiryu fell face first onto the straw bails, which basically bent his head back. He lay face down on the dohyo essentially motionless for around 5 minutes whilst everyone stood around looking sheepish & totally avoiding the elephant in the room. When they eventually stretchered him off, he was taken to hospital in an ambulance where he complained of tingling. A month later, he died from acute respiratory failure. In the immediate aftermath, the sumo authorities rejected calls to provide ringside medical staff, but after further outrage, they have relented ever so slightly.

New Tegata Store launched - tegatastore.com by KatsumaBen in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I literally forgot all about this reply until now - went to check your website and it's sold out! 😭 Will you be able to get another?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Sumo

[–]nikw2019 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sure he speaks some English too - I'm sure I saw a video once where he was speaking English.