Comments on: Sumo wrestling, Japan’s NASCAR, to remain Japanese, stagnant

By: Kalev

Kalev — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 21:21:31 +0000

Baruto is best!

By: Riho Rannikmaa

Riho Rannikmaa — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 20:01:44 +0000

Kaido, me oleme uhked Sinu üle!

By: Adamu

Adamu — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 13:58:34 +0000

True, I must have unconsciously meant popular sport with mass appeal. I had thought hockey had mass appeal until recently, but really I don’t think of golf and tennis on a daily basis. Please forgive my unintended slight.

By: John Thacker

John Thacker — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 21:59:05 +0000

NASCAR is hardly the only sport dominated by whites in the US. The other forms of auto racing are as well, as are quite a lot of the sports that lack mass appeal, are expensive to play, or have rather small regional appeal. Swimming, soccer (in the US), all that X games crap that ESPN shows, golf, tennis, lacrosse, hockey, etc.—lots of white people (although many foreign whitish people in hockey). (Black people do very well in track, of course, and there are brilliant individual exceptions in many of these sports.) Rednecks don’t tend to be as big fans of those sports, though.

A better things to say perhaps is that NASCAR is the only sport with mass appeal that isn’t dominated by black athletes, and hence rednecks like it. That’s because rednecks don’t like elitists or sports stereotyped as being for the elite or wealthy, either. NASCAR, because it’s based on stock car driving rather than special body car, shares with other mass sports the idea that just about anybody could do it, at least in the USA, because everybody owns a car.

But perhaps when you said sport you meant popular sport with mass appeal. (And automatically excluded golf, tennis, and hockey?)

By: Mutantfrog

Mutantfrog — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 08:05:00 +0000

Don’t forget the large sumo scene in Brazil, which was started by Japanese immigrants, but has now gone native.

By: aburioe

aburioe — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 03:13:42 +0000

As a huge fan of sumo, I have to admit that while I think the Sumo Association is blatantly racist, I support the restriction that they have placed on foreign wrestlers. The fact is, it’s a Japanese sport, made by Japanese for Japanese, and they should have the right to protect it.

I think most would agree that a Sumo banzuke with 75% foreigners would lose lots of fans, which in turn send the sport into further obscurity. I can’t blame the Japanese for tuning out in that scenario. The fact is, if baseball or football were predominantly foreigners who didn’t speak my language, I would probably stop watching those sports. A testament to this tendency is the fact that MANY soccer leagues around the world have similar restrictions on the number of foreigners allowed to play (Mexico, European Union, etc).

My problem with the Sumo Association is their lack of ANY attempt whatsoever to save the sport (beyond the foreigner restriction, that is…). They pay the wrestlers squat compared to what other athletes in Japan get, they broadcast the big guys at 5:30, instead of prime time, they take sucker punches in the media at Asashoryu every chance they get (why drag down the best, making him the villain, not the hero?), etc. They need to adapt the sport the 21st (or 20th, for that matter) century, and market it better. Allowing women on the dohyo might help, too.

Having said that, I guess it all goes hand in hand…it seems that the tradition of the sport is what is holding it back; yet the tradition is what draws us in…