What was Roho thinking?
I watched the last
few day 7 bouts as fast as possible while my ride to the airport waited out in
front of the house, so while I did see the Chiyotaikai - Roho bout, I hit the
fast forward button before Chiyotaikai had even hopped off the dohyo and the two
exchanged words. So you can imagine my shock as I scrambled off of my plane in
Osaka and ran to the nearest television showing NHK to get an update on the day
8 bouts only to see that Roho had been suspended from action for three days and
Otake-oyakata would be docked 10% of his allowance from the Sumo Association for
the next three months.
After pouring through the headlines and going back to watch that bout over and
over to see what really happened, I came to the following conclusion: Roho is an
idiot. As for the bout itself, Chiyotaikai did move to his left at the tachi-ai,
but Roho read the move perfectly. However, instead of driving Chiyotaikai back
and into the second row on the head judge's side with a nice thrusting attack,
he went for a stupid pull-down that Chiyotaikai capitalized on by driving Roho
into the second row. Now I don't know why Chiyo hopped off the dohyo after the
bout. I don't know if his momentum just carried him off or if he wanted to stare
Roho down a bit. The reason doesn't matter. The Ozeki has every right as Roho's
senpai to do whatever he wants after the bout. I would love to know the contents
of that conversation the two had, but I'm guessing Chiyotaikai said something
like, "You dumbass. You had me strung up, but you went for the pull-down
instead?" Regardless of what Chiyotaikai said, Roho has got to keep his
trap shut unless he's going to offer a slight bow and a "hai"
acknowledging Chiyotaikai's advice.
Now, if you've read Sumotalk for more than a few basho, you know where I stand
in regards to Chiyotaikai, but I give the Ozeki a hard time because I don't like
what I see from him in the ring. Outside of the ring, I have no problems with
him, and I'm glad to see him in his kohai's face, especially after said kohai
breaks protocol. One thing I love about Asashoryu is that he polices the other
rikishi. He doesn't put up with sumo that sucks, and he doesn't put up with
rikishi who are slackers in the dohyo. I'm glad to see Chiyotaikai doing the
same. Regardless of how far his sumo has fallen at this point in his career,
he's an Ozeki and champion three times over.
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's gaijin who come to Japan and then
complain about this or that, accuse the Japanese of racism, or think they're
better than the establishment here (and the same goes for you Japanese folk who
go abroad and complain!). They think they are some sort of revolutionaries out
to enlighten this country. They criticize, they disrespect, and they
belittle...all while they're fattening themselves up on Japanese cuisine,
sleeping with the Japanese women, and earning more money here than they do in
their own sorry-ass country. If you live in Japan and you have a single
complaint about it...get the hell out. If it's so bad, why are you still here?
The Japanese will probably never tell you foreigners this, but their biggest
complaint about you is that you don't respect them. And for the most part,
they're right.
Roho's act was a perfect example of this, and all it did was to validate the
Japanese people's opinion about foreigners. Roho's refusal to bow to Chiyotaikai
after their bout was a disgrace. And his being pissed off after that bout was
ludicrous. Roho's over here performing half-assed sumo, he's pulling in a
paycheck probably 50 times what he could earn in Russia, and he's even driving a
Hummer for godsakes. He's living off the fatted calf of this land, so the least
he could do is show a little respect and bow to an Ozeki that just kicked his
ass when it should have been the other way around. He's an idiot if you ask me,
and he's damn lucky the only punishment he got was three days off. They should
have deported him back to Russia for a year or two and actually made him work
for a living.
Geez, I'm worked up already, and I haven't even talked about Roho's assaulting
two cameramen. I actually don't care a lick about that. The Japanese press can
be annoying as hell and probably deserved everything they got. Did those two
dudes really need a close-up of Roho's face coming out of the bath room?
Actually, does anybody really need to see a close-up of Roho's face? Just pull
out an old picture from one of your files. You're not going to win a Pulitzer
Prize for being sneaky enough to capture a photo of Roho in the back halls of
the venue. There's press seating and a press room for a reason. Stay the hell
out of the rikishi's private lives unless you're invited in. It's not like Mrs.
and Mr. Britney Spears were in the house.
The whole point, Roho, is that you need to get over yourself. Nobody wronged you
in anyway on day 7. You brought it all on yourself and you look like a complete
dipshit at this point. It's no wonder that the Sumo Association has put a limit
on the number of foreigners they want in their sport. On one hand, yes, they are
tired of getting their asses kicked by the foreign rikishi, but on the other
hand, Roho showed just what a liability they can become. Letting bad sumo work
you up to the point where you disrespect an Ozeki on and off the dohyo and
assault two other people afterwards is a problem. Thanks to you, the focus of
his basho has been taken off of the dohyo and redirected in all the wrong
places. Way to take a great 4-2 start and parlay that into a 4-6 record and
possible legal action. Stupid is as stupid does, so you deserve everything you
get. Sumo has taken a step backwards thanks to you, your piss-poor attitude, and
your bad sumo.
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