Please, sir, I want sumo.

I've always enjoyed watching sumo on TV. In fact, you could say it's my favorite televised sport. The reason for this? It's so frickin' simple! There are no interceptions or fouls or yards or number of balls or runs or strikes or any of that to worry about. It's simple and works like this: two guys get into the ring, do a little bit of psychological warfare with starting and stopping, and then, finally, they suddenly go at each other. The goal: either push the other guy out of the ring or get him to fall down (or touch some part of his body besides his feet to the ground) inside the ring and WIN! That's it. Really. That's all. It's great! It's easy to get really into the competition without having to be a die-hard fan who follows all these different players and the team's track records and blah blah blah to care about what's going on. You pick one guy and root for him until that round is over and you start all over. The rounds usually take less than 30 seconds and then "Next!", and you move on to the next set of guys. To me, this is what sports should be about - simple competition that doesn't cause hundreds of English football hooligans to try to kill each other or police officers.

A couple weekends ago I went to watch one day of the sumo tournament with my dad. It was the first time I've ever been to see sumo live (Not counting the fake sumo matches I used to have with my dad when I was about 7 years old... somehow I never one those matches. Hmm.). Before we went to our seats, we took a look around the sumo museum, which is found in the lobby of the sumo arena. There was an exhibit on a special group of sumo wrestlers from the mid-1800s who are the "Big Boys" of sumo. I know, I know. You guys are all ready with your "fat sumo wrestler" jokes, but these guys were really, really big. Not just in belly circumference, but in height as well. In fact, the tallest sumo wrestler ever to play is from this "Big Boys" group, stacking up at 227 centimeters - that's 7 feet 6 inches!! Where did they find these guys??

















We had a great view on the same side of the arena as the Royal Box, which was empty, no member of the Imperial family taking any interest in this the 8th day of the 15-day tournament. When my parents came to watch sumo on a similarly normal day more than 20 years ago, they happened to have a perfect view from the left side of the arena of the Royal Box, in which was ensconced a certain Prince Charles and Princess Diana of England along with their hosts the Emporer and Empress of Japan! No such luck today, though there was a really adorable little girl, about 3 years old, sitting behind us, shouting, "Hakuho, Gambatte! Hakuho, Gambatte!" wishing 'good luck' to her favorite competitor.



























Here's video of the final match of the day, between the guy who was the top-ranked in Japan and another wrestler. The top guy is on the left.



I like the little slap the winner gives to the other competitor at the end, but my dad said that's bad sportsmanship. In any case, it was good entertainment and really fun and easy to watch. They had a lot of support for non-Japanese speakers (English commentary headsets were available to rent for only 100 yen - about a dollar - and a lot of the brochures explaining sumo were in English as well). Sumo is played in Tokyo 6 times a year, every other month's tournament taking place outside of Tokyo in another big city somewhere in Japan.

p.s. The little girl's favorite, Hakuho, ended up winning the tournament as a whole. He overtook the top guy later in the final match of the tournament on the 15th day.