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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   1564 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 1, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I've always been indifferent to sports. Team sports kinda bore me, and for the American ones, like baseball or handegg, I can't even comprehend the rules, let alone understand what's going on in the field. Individual competitions look pointless to me - after all, jumping 2.40 or 2.42 high looks exactly the same. I mean, I understand how much it means to the athletes, but it doesn't excite me. And the combat sports look too cruel - I'm not a pacifist but I can't really enjoy so much pain being purposely inflicted on a person that didn't really deserve it.

However, some time ago, the Facebook algorithm, for reasons known only to it, started to suggest to me a lot of sumo content. Initially I just ignored it, as I ignore most auto-suggested stuff. I never thought much of sumo, and considered it being rather comical. But, after watching a few bouts out of idle curiosity, I discovered, to my big surprise, that I am actually enjoying it. So I looked for more, and turns out I like the sport! It has everything I want: it's competitive but not cruel (yes, it can be quite traumatic at times, but they don't try to hurt each other intentionally). The bouts are short (2 minutes is considered a long one, though lower leagues have longer ones but never seen such a long one in the top league so far) so I do not get bored. The rules - at least the basic ones I need to understand what's going on - are extremely simple. The participants are varied - everyone has its own style and approach. It has a lot of tradition behind it and also has varied and sometimes complex technical aspects.

During the last two basho - May and July - I found myself checking the results each morning and watching the highlights each evening, which I never ever did before with sports. I totally did not expect it but it looks like I became a sports fan. I definitely will also follow the next basho - in September one - closely.

I went through a phase in the Asashoryu years where I kept a log each basho, bought a book on moves, and would attend every year the March basho in Osaka. I've been many times. Great fun; I usually imbibe on these days and am well into my cups by the last bout at 6.

This and that occured, and all the wrestlers I used to follow are now either ringside judges or back to Mongolia. I once shook Ama's hand (he would later be Harumafuji) in a back alley in Tokyo day before his match. He was with two very large tsukebito (lower ranked wrestlers who are essentially lackeys) leaning up against a massive obsidian SUV that looked as if it could carry a black Op wet team into the PM's office. Anyway he lost the next day (so much for my handshake being lucky.)

It's rumored to be a world of hookers and gangsters, hardcore tradition mixed with courtesy, violence, extortion, and quietly ignored prostitution. That said many top wrestlers end up marrying announcers, actresses, or models and retire to a life of television guest spots, reasonable dieting, and possibly a position as a stable oyakata.

That said many top wrestlers end up marrying announcers, actresses, or models and retire to a life of television guest spots, reasonable dieting, and possibly a position as a stable oyakata.

Not much different from what is happening in Western sports, as I understand.

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