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I used to be big into sumo until the Japanese press ran Asashoryu out of the sport for acting "Mongolian". I still followed Kaio out of sentimentality for awhile, but when he decided to retire, I pretty much lost interest entirely. The match fixing scandal was really just something that's been going on for a long time finally getting dragged out into the light. Promotion is actually a lot harder than just winning out for the tournament and gets progressively harder as you ascend through the ranks, but kachikoshi (having a winning record) gets you a substantial boost in your purse for the tournament, so a lot of guys who have already lost 8 would throw matches in exchange for a cut of the purse. Since salaries are pretty drat low, and there are all sorts of restrictions on endorsement contracts and not much demand for rikishi as spokesmen in the first place, the system seems almost designed to be gamed. Chiyotaikai was in danger of being demoted from ozeki 14 times, won out on his final day on several occasions, and was finally demoted back down to sekiwake for the first time after losing 8 in a row his 14th time in kadoban.
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Feb 5, 2012 23:13
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Gozinbulx posted:I was going "who is this Haramufuji whos now ozeki?" I liked Ama more before he started gaining, back in like 2005 he was all about the yotsu and pulled off some incredible wins against guys twice his size like Kotooshu. Is Takamisakari still around? I loved that guy's pre-bout routine. EDIT: Figured I'd add that since I'm looking at salaries from the perspective of baseball, where MLB league minimum just got bumped up to 400K USD, rikishi make lovely money for really high injury risk and a guarantee of serious health issues later in life. It makes perfect sense that a lot of young Japanese guys are turned off by the idea of going into professional sumo.
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Feb 8, 2012 00:21
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