Beckett & I had some fun playing with YearbookYourself.com this morning:
Asashoryu has kept the roll going all the way to the last day. With strong wins over the Ozekis in the last few days, he's now 14-0.
Hakuho has not looked as good as Asashoryu the past week. He's had lots of matches where he's gotten very good fights, struggling on the belt for up to a minute, before managing somehow to pull a great move at the end to get the win. But he's won them all and is still very much alive at 13-1.
Tomorrow Asashoryu faces Hakuho in the last match of the day. If Hakuho wins, the two will have a rematch playoff for the championship (which they did as well in January, when Asashoryu won his last tournament). If Asashoryu wants to keep his record for most wins in 1 year (84), he'd better beat Hakuho the first time. If Hakuho wins, he'll have 71 wins and only need a 13-2 record in November to tie Asashoryu's record. (I think they were also saying today that if Hakuho wins, he'll tie the record for most tournaments in a row with only 1 loss or less.)
The Ozeki team seemed to be competing better than usual this tournament, but in the end, they've all ended up with typically bad records. Kotomitsuki has done the best, at 9-5, though his only win since day 9 was a default when Chiyotaikai dropped out. Koto'oshu was 8-1, then lost 5 in a row to drop all the way to 8-6. Harumafuji has shown flashes but is also only 9-5. Kaio looked like a shoo-in to win 8 again, but managed to lose his last 4 and needs a win tomorrow vs. Harumafuji to get a winning record and not face demotion/retirement in January.
Baruto stayed strong (11-3), though he lost a tough one to Kakuryu today. It looked like Baruto was going to pull off his usual move of just picking up the smaller guy and carrying him out, but Kakuryu had a great defense for it:
Baruto will move back to Sekiwake in November and a strong tournament then might even get him a promotion to Ozeki. The other Sekiwake in November could be Kisenosato, who's at that rank now and, at 7-7, has a chance to win on the last day and keep his rank. Kakuryu is 10-4 and has a good chance to move back up to Komusubi in November. He'll probably win one of the prizes tomorrow (I'd guess Technique).
Continual up-and-down wrestler Goeido is heading up. He's gotten 5 straight wins to get to 9-5.
Takamisakari is heading down, but not much. He's lost 3 in a row and dropped to 6-8.
The top scrubs, returning from the minor leagues for this tournament, have been Bushuyama, Wakanosato, and Hokutoriki. All three are 10-4, and all three are in their 30's, so don't expect this to carry over much in November when they move up the rankings.
One wrestler who could carry the momentum is Tochiozan, also 10-4. He has great skill, is still young (22), and seems to be bigger and stronger this time around. He was a Komusubi in May, but had a bad tournament, then a disastrous 0-13 start in July. He must have gotten healthy in the last couple months, and should be good again in November if he stays that way.
Unfortunately, Futeno keeps sinking. He's 5-9 and will be back in the minors in November.
Meanwhile, the foreigners keep coming. In the low, low minors, one division was won by a Georgian and another was won by a Brazilian.
Sadly, my great run in the Sumo pool is coming to a crashing halt. Despite having my best tournament for picks (70% correct), my schedule has given me 4 straight losses to drop Kunitachi to 6-8 and assure me of demotion in November.
I've just been reliving the Bon Iver concert I saw this week, through the magic of YouTube. (These videos are from the show on Tuesday.)
It was an incredible concert. Bon Iver have only made one album plus an EP, so I think they pretty much played everything in a short hourlong set, plus a really nice Graham Nash cover ("Simple Man"). I think they basically played everything as it is on the recordings, but the concert still felt live and loose, probably because the album is so tightly produced (one guy doing everything, after all).
The real reason the concert was better than I expected was the singing. Justin Vernon does all his singing in a high falsetto. It's really amazing when you see this very big
guy singing with that voice, and it's a little weird. Why doesn't he sing in his normal register? After all, he sounds really good when he does. Maybe it's because he's so good at the falsetto. Even live, he was hitting all those notes, and what's more, his backing band all sang harmony, sometimes in falsetto, sometimes not, and the blending was terrific.
The band seemed very appreciative of a great crowd (I got there late and was stuck near the very back, there were so many people). Vernon didn't talk much (he made clear why when he said talking between songs "is not my touche, er, forte") but made it feel like an intimate show with crowd participation on a couple songs.
The finale was a bluegrass/folk song, done with the openers Megafaun (which made me wish I'd heard their set):
People who know me know I love visiting National Parks. I try to see my closest parks Yosemite and Sequoia/King's Canyon (highly underrated) at least once every year or two. One of my happiest moments on my trip across country was purchasing my annual National Park Pass (at Crater Lake, the first of many NP's on my journey) and knowing it would get good use. I planned my trip around National Parks, visiting (among others) Crater Lake, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Mammoth Cave, Smokey Mountains, Shenandoah, Rocky Mountains, and a bunch of historic parks and battlefields. And I wasn't disappointed once.
I'm really excited to see the new Ken Burns documentary series on the National Parks. It starts Sunday on PBS. I'm sure there will be a lot of interesting stories about the people who were instrumental in setting aside the land, etc. But of course, the reason to watch is the amazing footage from the various parks. This is really going to make me wish I had HD.
Here's a Viewer's Guide, care of the National Parks Conservation Association (great organization).
And here's the preview. If you're not convinced already, this should do it:
Quick update: There was a small shakeup at the top of the standings today - nearly a big shakeup.
Asashoryu won easily to go to 10-0.
Kotomitsuki and Koto'oshu were both 8-1, but both lost today. Koto'oshu lost to Kaio, who continues his renaissance, raising his record to 7-3 and, more importantly, taking 2nd place all alone on the all-time career wins list with 965. Kotomitsuki lost to Harumafuji, who seems to be settling in (7-3) for some spoilerish action this week.
Meanwhile, it could have been a big shakeup because Hakuho nearly lost to Kakuryu. Kakuryu really should have had him, but somehow lost his balance just long enough for Hakuho to get his back and yank him down by the arm. Here's the video (w/ English commentary - ugh). Match starts at 4:00.
Baruto keeps rolling, now 8-2. At the bottom of the rankings, Hokutoriki is up to 8-2. A couple more wins and he might have to face someone at the top of the rankings to put him in his place.
And, in the biggest news today, Chiyotaikai lost again (to Tamanoshima) to drop to 2-8 and assure himself of a losing record. He promptly dropped out of the tournament. (Hmm, I think I remember someone predicting that either Kaio or Chioytaikai wouldn't make it through this whole tournament.) He also caused some questions about whether he would retire from Sumo, to which he didn't have an answer. (I imagine he'll be back in November, but if he can't win 8 then, he'll retire.)
I've alternated losses and wins for several days now in the pool. Kunitachi now stands at 6-4 after a tiebreaker win today.
Standings:
10-0: Asashoryu
9-1: Hakuho
8-2: Koto'oshu, Kotomitsuki, Baruto, Hokutoriki
7-3: Harumafuji, Kaio, Kakuryu
2-8: Chiyotaikai
3 big Matches of the Day tomorrow: Asashoryu vs. Harumafuji; Hakuho vs. Kaio; Koto'oshu vs. Baruto
For everyone with kids, or who just want to hear Disney music done well, Los Lobos just released a new CD of Disney songs. Includes a couple hits from movies (sounds like The Bare Necessities is the best song on the CD) and obscure songs from movies, and even more obscure songs from the theme parks (I think that's the song they play in the Haunted Mansion?)
Sounds good, but maybe a little too mellow -- seemed like The Bare Necessities is the only fast song on the whole album. They even slowed down I Wanna Be Like You, which they had done before, faster, on a Disney tribute album.
Well, the biggest news today was that I had my first perfect 10-0 day in the Sumo pool. Need it all, as I won 10-9, which sadly only got Kunitachi to 5-3 after I lost a bad one yesterday.
Meanwhile, in actual Sumo, it's Asashoryu leading the tournament all by himself. He hasn't dominated quite as much as he had been in the last couple days, but he's still winning.
After Hakuho lost his first on day 6, Koto'oshu (in black) lost to Kakuryu (in blue) on day 7:
Koto'oshu followed that up with this match today vs. Toyonoshima:
Then, today, Kotomitsuki was beaten by Kisenosato and that left Asashoryu alone at 8-0.
Kakuryu (now 7-1) and Kisenosato (5-3) both look like the real deal. Kakuryu is a little guy who wins with speed and Kisenosato is a big guy who wins with power, but both are young, with lots of skill, and could be Ozekis some day.
Also looking like the real deal this tournament: Baruto. He's still only lost to the two Yokozunas and looks as healthy as ever. Here's his match from today against fellow 400-pounder Miyabiyama (in purple):
As for Hakuho, he's won both his matches since his loss, but he got all he could handle from the lowly 1-7 Tamanoshima today. Maybe this just isn't his tournament. (Or maybe he'll win every match from now on and beat Asashoryu on the last day to win it all.)
Chiyotaikai lost to Kaio today to drop to 2-6, and he faces Asashoryu tomorrow. He may be dropping out of this tournament very soon.
8-0: Asashoryu
7-1: Hakuho, Koto'oshu, Kotomitsuki, Kakuryu
6-2: Baruto, Hokutoriki, Masatsukasa
5-3: Harumafuji, Kaio, Kisenosato, Tochiozan (one of my fav's, who's looking good this tournament), Kunitachi
4-4: Takamisakari
3-5: Futeno
2-6: Chiyotaikai
Big matches tomorrow: Hakuho vs. Kisenosato; Kotomitsuki vs. Kakuryu
I think the headline gives it away, but here's the setup: On the left, The Grand Champion Hakuho, 5-0 and completely dominating his competition. On the right, Shotenro, 0-5 in only his 4th tournament in the majors, facing a Yokozuna for only the 2nd time ever (after losing to Asashoryu on day 4). (Match starts at 3:20 in the video...)
That's pretty much perfect Sumo by Shotenro. Very shocking and makes this a very interesting tournament. That's only Hakuho's 4th loss this whole year, but that puts his chances of beating Asashoryu's 1-year win record in jeopardy. (Also makes Asashoryu's 34-win streak facing guys for the first time look that much more impressive.)
Speaking of Asashoryu, he is rolling. Although he moved backward for the first time this tournament, he beat his nemesis Aminishiki with a nifty sidestep move at the edge today to go 5-0.
Also 5-0, Koto'oshu and Kotomitsuki have both looked great this tournament. Neither has even looked in danger of losing yet.
The other Ozekis have been shaky. Harumafuji lost to weak competition, Tamanoshima and Tochinoshin, on consecutive days, but came back to beat a strong Kakuryu today to even his record at 3-3. Kaio hasn't looked up to beating the tough competition, losing to Baruto and Kisenosato, en route to a 3-3 record so far. And Chiyotaikai has looked completely hopeless, with no power behind his slap attack, falling to 2-4 so far.
Baruto has looked great with losses only to the two Yokozunas. And yesterday, he put up a great fight vs. Hakuho and almost got him:
Kakuryu lost his first today to Harumafuji, but he's looked great against the lower competition at Maegashira #3. Takamisakari is doing well again, 4-2 and in danger of moving up too high for his skills in November.
Masatsukasa is living up to his awesome name, at 5-1 in his first tournament back in the majors since January.
And I am doing great in the Sumo pool. Kunitachi is now 4-2 (the two losses were a tiebreaker loss & a 9-8 loss), picking at a 75% rate this time, and heading for double digit wins again.
Finally got back to doing some writing today.
OK, I only wrote one sentence, but it's a good one:
By the middle of his second life, James Stringfield thought he had buried his past as The Amazing Regurgitator, but somehow it kept coming up.
Just try not to read the rest of that story... (as soon as I write it, I mean.)
