I went to the US Sumo Open... again!!
I posted a little while ago about how the US Sumo Open was approaching in Long Beach, California. I was attending for the third year in a row. It's a really delightful event, and I never regret it. It's very amateur, but the contestants are extremely enthusiastic, which makes the emerging sports stories of the day very dynamic and good.
I've been attending for long enough that I now recognize many of the attendees and can remember their ups and downs from previous years. This year saw some major changes for past attendees - in particular, there were a couple guys who performed much better and placed much higher this year than I've seen them place previously. It was the kind of event where your cheering for the underdog was sometimes heavily rewarded!
You can see the entire event livestream here:
No spoilers, but if you watch the stream, you should absolutely watch the the "round robin" event at the end of the day, where the mens' weight classes all participate in a randomized bracket where anyone might fight anyone, regardless of size. This year the final contestants in the round robin were not who I expected. There were several shocking upsets and the final matches put a lot of skill and speed on display. Great stuff!!
Anyway... if you are in SoCal, this is an absolutely killer event. The hype is enormous, people spend the entire day screaming, the rules are pretty easy to understand, and the matches are very short and decisive. It is a perfect spectator sport and it's an even better amateur sport. I am going to have absolutely no voice tomorrow, but it was worth it!!