[sumo] Re: (sumo) Yaocho Story

[Earle Jones]

On Feb 7, 2007, at 5:23 PM, Doreen Simmons wrote:

> And of course in recent years the Judging Committee doesn't make  
> the final day's pairings till the last possible minute on Day 14,  
> to ensure getting the most exciting and honest bouts (like two 7-7-  
> men meeting). (And how I wish people would stop quoting that  
> article as if it were  serious study of real sumo done by people  
> who have closely followed sumo over some years.)

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Doreen:

Indeed, "Freakonomics" was not written by "...people who have closely  
followed sumo over some years."

It was written by PhD Statisticians who have closely followed  
probability theory for some years.  What they claimed is that a  
rikishi who is 7-7 on day 15 has a much, much better chance of  
winning than the law of averages would indicate.  And the idea of  
pairing two 7-7 rikishi on day 15 is a very good one, to reduce (not  
eliminate) the appearance of yaocho.

earle
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BTW, Doreen, I enjoy your postings very much!  Keep up the good work.

yosakoiboi
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