[sumo] Will 'good guy-bad guy' faceoff revive sumo? from JTOL

[jdouglas at nyc.rr.com]

and your point is?   ???????

Oh yeah, you sent an article for our perusal.

Huzayomama -  sick of the bad boy crap





---- Patrick Bal <pbal at guam.net> wrote: 
>  
> Will 'good guy-bad guy' faceoff revive sumo?
> 
> By REIJI YOSHIDA
> Staff writer
> 
> The sacred sport of sumo boasts a history of 1,300 years, but recent
> scandals and undignified exploits of some of its champions are threatening
> to reduce its status to heresy.
> 
> Yokozuna Asashoryu is swarmed by reporters in Osaka on Feb. 26. KYODO PHOTO
> 
> 
> 
> The first sumo matches took the form of rituals dedicated to the gods, with
> prayers for a bountiful harvest. But nowadays, Japan's national sport has
> become popular fodder for TV gossip shows.
> 
> The entire sumo industry has been damaged by scandals, ranging from
> allegations of systematic match-fixing to the fatal beating of a junior
> wrestler in October that resulted in the arrest of his stable master and
> three of his senior colleagues last month.
> 
> Meanwhile, a yokozuna, supposed to serve as a role model for the sport, is
> routinely the stuff of TV gossip, especially in between tournaments.
> 
> Most recently, Asashoryu showed up in Hawaii on Feb. 24 wearing an aloha
> shirt, breaking a long-held but tacit taboo against wearing anything but a
> kimono in public.
> 
> Upon his return to Japan at Kansai International Airport, Asashoryu
> reportedly told reporters to "go to hell," a comment plastered on the front
> pages of the tabloids the following day.
> 
> Although he later denied making the remark, the 27-year-old Mongolian has
> been drawing frequent criticism for displaying an apparent lack of dignity
> in his role as grand champion.
> 
> Last July, he was videotaped playing soccer in Mongolia after withdrawing
> from the annual summer sumo tournament after claiming he was suffering from
> stress fractures and an injured left elbow ligament.
> 
> The Japan Sumo Association reprimanded Asashoryu and ordered him to stay
> home for four months unless visiting his stable or getting medical
> treatment. But he insisted he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and
> returned to his country for "treatment."
> 
> Tabloid and TV reporters dogged him and taped hours of video footage.
> 
> Scandals damaged sumo's popularity further last year.
> 
> NHK's average household viewership rating for live matches in the Kanto
> region hovered around 7 percent last year, compared with 21.5 percent in
> January 1994, according to Video Research Ltd.
> 
> Longtime sumo watchers, who lament the lack of humble yokozuna like in the
> past, frown on Asashoryu. Some are even urging him to bow out.
> 
> "I think it's best for (Asashoryu) to retire by making the decision by
> himself," writer Makiko Uchidate, a member of the yokozuna council, wrote in
> a book published in January.
> 
> The council is the authority that assigns wrestlers their rank. It promoted
> Asashoryu in 2003 on condition that his stable master improved his behavior.
> But his behavior only worsened, Uchidate said.
> 
> "He is making money and a living and getting benefits in a foreign country,
> but it seems he never shows respect for that country," she wrote.
> 
> But at the same time, TV reports show that many sumo fans - particularly
> young ones - still support Asashoryu because he is, beyond a doubt, one of
> the strongest wrestlers sumo has seen in recent years.
> 
> Whether good or bad, Asashoryu is still one of the few stars of the sport
> who can command public attention.
> 
> When he came back from his long leave of absence and faced off with fellow
> yokozuna Hakuho on Jan. 27, TV viewership surged to 24.4 percent. Asashoryu
> lost the match.
> 
> As this year's spring Grand Tournament gets set to start Sunday in Osaka,
> the sumo industry hopes the combination of "baby face" Hakuho and "bad guy"
> Asashoryu will give sumo a shot in the arm.
> 
> As Uchidate wrote in 2003: "A bad guy (wrestler) makes a baby face
> attractive, and a baby face makes a bad guy attractive."
> 
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