[sumo] [getting off-topic] Police To Charge Tokitsukaze Oyakata

[Keri Sibley]

In addition to what Joe said, let me add that Baseball
also has a heritage of hazing and rituals. Some of the
simplest being blowing a bubble gum bubble and placing
it on top of a rookies hat during a game. Football
players tape other players to the goalposts. Hazing is
fun when its done non-maliciously. I have been hazed
myself and am no worse for wear. Now if someone were
to hit me on the head with a beer bottle, that's not
hazing, that's brutality and assault.

And then there's Takatoriki's forehead. He used to
deliberately konk heads with his opponent at the
tachi-ai. How does one prepare for that kind of
assault at keiko? It's inevitable! In sumo your going
to get konked on the head a few times...but by a beer
bottle...not necessary.

Baseball has a dark side as well, and the commissioner
has done nothing about it. You see on ESPN at a
minimum of once or twice a week of an incident where a
pitcher throws a baseball high and tight, or even at a
batters head. The pitcher does it on purpose. Is
someone going to have to get killed for it to stop?

Tokitsukaze needs to be dealt with by the authorities.
Kitanoumi cannot police every heya 24/7. The Oyakata
need to be responsible and maybe this is what it will
take to clean it up. Maybe this will encourage
Takasago to come down on Asashoryu for beating the
crap out of everybody who threatens to become a rival.

Just my 2¢

Hinerikeri

--- Joe Petrow <joepetrow at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 9/27/07, Scott Kahn <smk1 at columbia.edu> wrote:
> > Your comparison to the baseball commisioner is
> irrelevant because he
> > does not preside over a sport with a deep rooted
> cultural heritage in
> > Japan
> 
> Actually, yakyu (baseball) has a very deep rooted
> cultural heritage in
> Japan.  They take baseball more seriously than any
> country in the
> world, United States included.  Attending a Hanshin
> Tigers home game
> is almost a religious experience:
> 
>
http://www.japannewbie.com/2007/09/02/hanshin-tigers/
> 
> When you make such statements that are so blatantly
> ignorant of
> Japanese culture, it's kind of hard to take
> seriously anything else
> you say on the subject.
> 
>   - Peterao
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> Sumo at webtrek.com
> http://www.webtrek.com/mailman/listinfo/sumo
> 



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