(SPOILER) Re: [sumo] Day 6 spoiled!

[Lon Howard]

On Jul 14, 2007, at 3:21 AM, Joshua Maciel wrote:

> I know it's tough to remember way back to when Kotooshuu actually got
> promoted, and before his injury, but my recollection is that back  
> then he
> wasn't doing henka much at all, relying on the left uwate to win bouts
> instead.
>
> I think his knee and his head are the problems, and it's causing  
> him to do
> bad sumo. He's also had a switch of Oyakata, which may have  
> something to do
> with it.
>
> Is there a way to check the previous henka nomination polls to see  
> if he
> actually was doing it more or less prior to his injury?

Actually there is a way, through the magic of the 'save' function....

The Henka Sightings project started in Nagoya 2005, Osh's last basho  
as a komusubi.  His first basho as an ozeki was Hatsu 2006 and he  
injured his knee in a training session on March 2, just before 2006  
Haru.

In the four basho before his injury, he was nominated for henka 6  
times, but only one of those received a majority yes vote, so he  
really only henka'd once during those four basho, although he  
obviously liked to be creative at the tachiai.

In the following eight basho (not including the current one), he was  
nominated 14 times, only a slightly higher ratio than before, but the  
big difference is that 9 of those 14 were voted as henka.  Another  
huge factor is that he has won all 20 matches in which he received a  
nomination (not including this basho, again).

 From this, I personally would draw these conclusions (just one man's  
opinion, of course):

He has always had a tendency to shift at the tachiai, both before and  
after the injury.

Since the injury, his henka-like tachiai have become more and more  
blatant, as evidenced by the much higher percentage of nominations  
that were voted as henka.

Since - up until this basho - he had never lost a bout in which he  
had been at least nominated for a henka - whether or not it was  
actually voted as one -  he is addicted to henka because he probably  
figures that without it, he would have had several make-koshi by  
now.  It is so ingrained that it will be impossible for him to  
change.  I would love to be proven wrong about this.

Lon Howard
Shomishuu