This entry is all about sumo, so if you aren't interested you can stop reading now.

When we last visited our rikishi (sumo wrestler) friends, Asashoryu was what? about 34 and 0? Well, my friends, his winning streak was broken during the May basho. And what a blow it was when he lost. He looked shocked and I felt like crying.
Asashoryu is a 23 year old from Mongolia. I am not really sure how quickly a man who finally attains the rank of Yokozuna normally does so, but he seems to have done it rather quickly considering that the current Ozeki (the rank just below Yokozuna) have been ranked there for a number of years. It seems to me that Asashoryu must be a bit of a novelty. And what I mean by this is that at such a young age he has attained that much covetted highest rank. Just for kicks, let's look at the four guys currently ranked at Ozeki and then I will get to the recent developments that have no doubt transfixed your attention on this great sport.
Tochiazuma is a 27 year old Ozeki from Tokyo. He attained the rank of Ozeki in January of 2002, and he broke into the Makuuchi (the top tier of sumo rankings, about 40 guys are ranked here at any given time) ranks in November of 1996. He has won two bashos, the first coming in January, 2002, and the second coming in November, 2003. He is quite good and was up for a promotion to Yokozuna during the January basho of this year, but he had a lackluster showing and went 9-6. Since then things have gotten even worse for the guy. In March he lost his two first fights and then pulled out of the basho with a shoulder injury. He sat out of the May basho, too, and will most likely loose his Ozeki ranking for the next basho. So July should be interesting for this guy if he is back in the show.
Musoyama is the next Ozeki that will be discussed here. He is 32 and was promoted to Ozeki in May of 2000. He got into the Makuuchi rankings way back in September of 1993, so he's been around for a while. To date he has one basho win to his name. Musoyama is a big guy that tends to overpower his opponents but lately he hasn't been a very convincing winner. In fact, this last basho saw him finish with the unfortunate record of 6-9. An Ozeki needs two consecutive showings of at least a 7-8 or worse to be fair game for demotion, so in July Muso will need to turn it up a notch. In all likelihood he will never attain the Yokozuna ranking.
Chiyotaikai is a fierce fighter who often gives Asashoryu a run for his money. He was promoted into the Makuuchi rankings in September, 1997 and by March of 1999 was up to an Ozeki. He has three basho championships under his belt and nearly took his fourth in March of this year when he faced Asashoryu and lost, thus handing the basho over in the process. But despite that loss his showings over the last half year or so have been good enough for the powers that be to determine that the Yokozuna rank would be his depending on how May's basho went for him. The road to that rank was more than likely one that ran through Asashoryu but unfortunately for Chiyotaikai it never even came to that. He got off to a good start going 3-0 in the first three days, but then matched that with and equal amount of losses. On day seven he recovered from the disaster but by then it was already too late. A basho championship usually sees the winner loosing one or two matches, three would be hard to recover from. Although Chiyo finished with a winning record at 9-6, it was not even close to what was needed for Yokozuna status. If he is turn in his application for promotion again, he will need to do very well in both July and September's bashos. He is 28 years old and if it's going to happen for him, it needs to happen soon.
Kaio is the fourth and final Ozeki. He is slightly younger than Musoyama and will turn 32 in July of this year. He broke into the top ranks way back in May, 1993, and, like Muso, took a while to climb to the second highest ranking of Ozeki finally attaining that status in September of 2000. Kaio is a methodical fighter who seems to hardly break a sweat in defeating his foes. He has won four bashos during his career and is one of Asashoryu's best opponents. Over the last four bashos he has finished with records of 10-5, 10-5, 13-2, and 10-5. He is a solid fighter and was also up for the Yokozuna promotion in May's basho but his 10-5 showing was not good enough. And unfortunately for Kaio, that may have been his last chance at the top rank considering his age. If he can manage to put together a couple of very good showings in the next couple bashos, though, perhaps he will get another shot.
Returning our attentions to Asashoryu we can now compare his numbers to the four Ozeki mentioned above. This is not to take anything away from their accomplishments but is only meant to illustrate how quickly the Mongolian ascended the ranks of sumo. Asashoryu made it into the Makuuchi ranks in January of 2001. He then climbed to Ozeki by September of 2002, which in itself is an awesome feat. But he didn't quit there. He kept the pressure on and became a Yokozuna in March of 2003. That's just two years and two months, or 13 bashos, from the time he broke into the rankings of the top 40 to the time he achieved the ultimate rank. Pretty damn impressive.
Asashoryu has won seven bashos, finishing two of these, January and March of this year, with records of 15-0. Until he did it in January, no one had gone undefeated in eight years. At six bashos a year that's roughly 48 tournaments. And, of course, he didn't just do it once but twice, an amazing feat. But as mentioned before, the giant was finally defeated on the sixth day of May's basho, thus, ending his streak at 35 wins. He sits ninth on the list of consecutive wins, which may seem a bit unimpressive but we must remember that sumo is hundreds of years old; the number two guy on this list, Tanikaze, saw his streak begin in 1778 and end in 1782. In what is referred to as the "modern era" of sumo Asashoryu's streak gets him a ranking of number four on the list. When, exactly, the modern era begins I do not know; but it would have to be after 1916 at least, as the fourth ranked guy on the all-time list ended his streak then.
But, you might be asking, who beat Asashoryu, this modern day sumo god? Well, my friends, it was a guy that I had paid little attention to. Indeed, most fans of sumo paid little attention to this guy before May (the paper kept referring to him as "surprise package").
Hokutoriki is a 26 year old from Japan who broke into the Makuuchi ranks in May, 2002. In the three previous bashos to May's his records were 10-5, 5-10, and 9-6. He had never won a basho but was (and is) slowly improving his form steadily. Enter May's basho. On three of the first four days he was thrown to the lions and faced all three Ozeki competing in the basho. And get this, he defeated all three and also won his other match. Things were looking good for the man, but bashos are fifteen days long and he had a long way to go. By day six he was 5-0 and was put to the true test against Mr. Yokozuna himself.
Hokutoriki, 5-0, never won a basho against Asashoryu, 34-0, winner of six bashos, the last two at 15-0. Didn't seem like much of a fight. In all likelihood, Asashoryu would discard Hoku as he had 34 other guys and take one more step forward in this history making streak. But then the ground shook and the gods decided that enough was enough. Just as it looked like Asashoryu would force Hoku out, Hoku lowered his center of gravity, raised Asa's, and ran him backwards and out of the ring. And all of Japan erupted in a fury that would make Mt. Fuji proud. I, of course, sat in shock, knowing that I would soon be attending this basho live and feeling robbed of the chance to see a bit of history in the making.
But the story doesn't end there, fellow sumo fans. By day 15 Hokutoriki was sitting on a 14-1 record with Asashoryu one behind at 13-2. All Hoku had to do was win his match against a rookie to the Makuuchi rankings and the basho would be his. But, once again, the gods sneezed and Hoku faltered in his fight falling to 13-2 in the process. Now Asashoryu had to win against Ozeki Chiyotaikai in order to force a one match playoff. And as you might have guess that is exactly what happened.
So about fifteen minutes after Asashoryu earned the playoff match, Hoku, 13-2, and he, 13-2, stepped onto the dohyo to see who would take the championship. Could Hokutoriki beat Asashoryu twice in a row? Or would Asashoryu get his revenge? The basho title was on the line.
The fight was really nothing extraordinary and Asashoryu showed why he's a Yokozuna. He simply did what he does best and never allowed Hoku a second chance thrusting him off the dohyo in a convincing manner and, thus, claiming his seventh basho. Hokutoriki, on the other hand, was sent packing and probably thinking about that match against the rookie which he really should have won.
Anyway, Asashoryu's streak was impressive to be around for and considering his young age his career will no doubt be a fun one to keep an eye on.