No change in the Sumo tournament as the two Yokozunas continue their domination and records continue falling.
Asashoryu and Hakuho are both 9-0 now. Neither one has been in any danger this whole tournament, though they've each had 1 or 2 long matches. Today, Asashoryu had a real battle with Baruto but ended it with an awesome Kakenage (which, I think, means a throw that includes kicking his leg up with your leg to get him to flip.)
By winning his 9th, Baruto got to 80 wins for the year. He's the 6th wrestler ever to do that and he did the fastest. (Among the others who've done it are Asashoryu, Takanohana, and Chiyonofuji.) 5-1 the rest of the way and Hakuho has the all-time record for wins in one year.
In the Ozeki team, Koto'oshu is hanging in at 8-1. Kaio has also finally started winning, getting to 6-3, and tying for 2nd all time with 804 career wins. He's 3 wins away from tying Chiyonofuji's all-time record of 807.
Chiyotaikai is 2-7 and faces Asashoryu tomorrow. In other words, he's almost guaranteed to get a losing record this tournament, which will mean a demotion, and hopefully one step closer to retirement.
Yoshikaze made it to 7-0, but then he lost on Day 8. He came back with a win today, though, to stay just 1 back.
The wrestlers at 7-2 include Toyonoshima (a highly-skilled wrestler who's lower in the rankings than he should be right now), Tochinoshin (the youngest wrestler in the bigs), Miyabiyama (a giant lardo who manages to do well every other tournament), and everyone's favorite hero Takamisakari.
Baruto has lost to the two Yokozunas in the last 3 days and dropped to a mediocre 5-4. Still, I expect him to pick it up in the second week and end up with 10 wins.
Once again, I'm having my best tournament ever for picking winners (averaging 7 out of 10 right each day) but not seeing the wins. Lost 2 tiebreakers and one match, 9-8. Kunitachi now sits barely over .500, at 5-4.
Remember Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon?
Haven't seen her in a while. What's she been up to? Looks like she's been having some major surgery to turn her into an African-American for her next role. Amazing.
OK, that's not really Reese Witherspoon, just someone who looks exactly like the African-American Reese Witherspoon, who I saw on a Web site the other day. Weird, isn't it?
Of course, I love Reese Witherspoon, ever since she rocked the Reclining Pig poodle skirt for the Golden Globes.
Yes, we're already 5 days into the Kyushu Tournament and here's the update...
Looks like a 2-man race this time. At an undefeated and unsurprising 5-0, we have Yokozuna Asashoryu (back in his rightful place at the very top of the rankings thanks to his victory in a playoff in September) and Yokozuna Hakuho. (Also 5-0 is Yoshikaze, who's down in the middle of the rankings and has little chance to compete to the end.) Both Yokozunas are looking good this tournament and setting up for a Day 15 showdown like last tournament. There will be some added incentive this time: with 14 wins, Hakuho will break Asashoryu's record of most wins in 1 year. (Asashoryu went 84-6 many years ago and won all 6 tournaments in one year. Hakuho could go 86-4 with a perfect 15-0 this tournament, though it would only be his 2nd win, I think. Not so good in playoffs...) Hakuho did already nail down the title of wrestler with the most wins this year with his 76th win of the year today.
In other record news, this tournament is the 98th of Kaio's career, an all-time record. He also won his 800th match on Day 2. He's only the 3rd wrestler ever to get 800 wins and he's less than 10 away from the all-time record (held by the all-time greatest Sumo wrestler Chiyonofuji). Unfortunately for Kaio, he hasn't won since he got #800 and he's now 2-3. But he's not alone in sucking. As usual, Chiyotaikai looks terrible. He's now 2-3 also, and if he doesn't win 8, he'll be demoted from Ozeki. Chiyotaikai already announced he will NOT be retiring if this happens, but if he can't get 10 wins in January to get his Ozeki rank back, he will. (Oh, please, oh, please.)
Even Harumafuji is succumbing to the curse of the Ozekis, falling to a 2-3 record himself. Kotomitsuki is not far behind, at an underwhelming 3-2. The only Ozeki attempting to compete at the top is Koto'oshu, who still managed to lose an early match and stands at 4-1.
I expected some competition from Baruto this time, but he's only 3-2. There are a few 4-1 wrestlers, including young Georgian wrestler Tochinoshin (though he hasn't really looked that impressive).
There were no new rookies in the majors this time and no one new to the top ranks, either. In other words, this whole tournament is a snooze-fest. The biggest excitement so far has been a couple matches lost by penalty due to hair-pulling. Russian Aran (nickname The Cheater?) lost a match for pulling his opponent's top-knot for the 2nd tournament in a row.
In the minors, my personal favorite Futeno got off to a great start at 4-0 after being demoted from the majors this tournament, but then he lost and got hurt today and may have to drop out of the tournament. No luck.
And in the Sumo pool, despite an unlucky 7-8 record in September, Kunitachi didn't get demoted, staying at Jr. Minors #38. I started out 3-0, but then lost 2 in a row by tiebreaker. Ouch.
I was very sad today to hear of the untimely death of Ken Ober.
It was especially poignant to me because I had just been thinking of him the day before. Yesterday, I was listening to Colin Quinn's appearance on Howard Stern from earlier in the week. When Quinn mentioned meeting Adam Sandler long before they both did Saturday Night Live, I knew he had met him when they worked on MTV's game show Remote Control in the late 80's (along with Denis Leary and Ken Ober). Which immediately had me missing that show, which I remember so fondly, and wondering if they had any episodes out on DVD now? I seriously spent a few minutes trying to decide if Remote Control was on my Top 10 list of Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Seriously. That's how much I loved that show. Apparently, I'm not alone -- I saw countless recollections of Remote Control today from just about anyone online around my age.
I always wondered what happened to Ken Ober after that show. I thought for sure he had a bright future ahead after Remote Control. I guess he did get work writing and producing, just maybe never another big hit in front of the camera. Too bad.
Warning: Adult content...
Today at work, I was working on a new feature where the user can enter text into a free text field. We want to block people from using inappropriate language, so I had to find a list of dirty words and spec out an error message for those who use them.
So I wanted to check a couple sites to see what kind of error messages they were giving in that situation.
I went to Match.com and tried to create a new account using a bad word for a username, figuring I'd get an error message. Wrong.
The username "fucker" had been taken already. So they suggested close alternatives I could use.
Please enjoy (the 2nd suggestion):
A few months ago, I showed how Pearl Jam had stolen a song from Devo.
Apparently, Pearl Jam just really really want to be Devo.
Exhibit B: Their Halloween show a few days ago:
PS - I'm seeing the real thing Friday! Woo!
