[sumo] [spoilers]Takanohana and steroid abuse

[Lon Howard]

On Dec 9, 2007, at 4:27 PM, Jezz wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I am a little confused as to point being made here in regards to  
> Takanohana.
>
> Please clarify how the following two statements link...
>
> I am thinking that the goalposts may have been moved a little.
>
> On 09/12/2007, Scott M. Kahn <smk1 at columbia.edu> wrote:
>>
>> The reason there
>> was no outcry against Takanohana is obvious, and the reason that
>> many people get outraged when presented with these accusations is
>> that they would rather not take a critical look at the crown prince
>> of sumo of his time.
>
> On 10/12/2007, Scott M. Kahn <smk1 at columbia.edu> wrote:
>
>> Let's remember that the public outcry over steroid abuse began years
>> later, it was overlooked at the time.  Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
>> were championed for their home run feats in the US even though it
>> was obvious their performances were enhanced.
>
> As far as I recall regarding Sosa and McGuire, at the time of their
> home run race, nobody was talking about steroids (although McGuire -
> and possibly Sosa - admitted to using something that was legal at the
> time for baseball).  It was not the perceived public notion that they
> were using them - and therefore 'not obvious' to the public at large.
> (No doubt *some* people suspected it, but it was not the overall
> conceived opinion of the time - to suggest otherwise, would be to
> think that the general baseball watching populace condoned steroid
> use.).  They were therefore treated as heroes.  Even now, I have not
> heard that either of them did anything illegal *at the time*.
>
> In the case of Barry Bonds, there has long been the suggestion that he
> was using something illegal.  Therefore, he has been considered by
> many as the cad.  A lot of people did not want him to take the home
> run record.
>
> My apologies if anything is wrong in the above two paragraphs, as I do
> not really follow baseball.
>
> I would suggest that Takanohana fitted into the former category of
> McGuire and Sosa.

I think anytime you compare sumo things with baseball things, a lot  
of people are going to have trouble agreeing, but in general I would  
agree because at the time of their prodigious feats in the late 90s,  
there was no 'public outcry' going on, there was a public lovefest  
with Sosa and McGuire.

The difference between the two situations is what exists right now  
regarding public perception in the U.S. and Japan, even though  
nothing has been proven in either case.  In the U.S., a majority of  
baseball fans are pretty much convinced that both Sosa and McGuire  
knowingly took illegal substances, while I'm pretty sure that is not  
the case in Japan regarding Takanohana.

Of course, this is just my own opinion.

Lon Howard
Shomishuu



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