Today the NHK announced that they will be cancelling their live coverage of the Nagoya basho -- the first time since they started covering in 1953. That alone begs the question: is this gambling scandal really so awful that it merits such an unprecedented reaction? My answer is a clear and resounding NO. In fact, who in the world has anything to gain from cancelling the coverage, and who is this supposed to be punishing/appeasing?
Well, we can attempt to answer these questions, as I slowly get more and more pissed off at this whole affair. In fact, I'd like to point out that I just bought a new TV about two months ago for the soul purpose of watching the Natsu and Nagoya bashos while still in Japan. Thanks NHK, now I get 50% of the sumo I thought and bought a completely unnecessary new accessory.
Anyways, back to those questions. Well, it seems that the NHK is the only one with something to gain from cancelling coverage, and I suppose this is feasible. Sumo is not as widely popular as it used to be, and viewership would certainly be down due to the scandals. Still, what sort of programming are they going to replace sumo with? Anyone who watches the NHK will comment at how absolutely awful a lot of it is; so now we'll get TWICE the duration of diet sessions and disgraced CEO resignations instead of the kokugi. That's just lovely (saracasm). "But Patrick," you say. "Sumo viewers/fans are a minority, and surely the NHK can broadcast something more widely appealing!" To this, one needs only to keep in mind that the NHK has broadcast numerous special interest programs in the past. In fact, a lot of their programs could be considered special interest, and I can assure you that sumo is far more popular than most of the other special interest programs...
So what else could be driving behind this? Well, the 68% of online polled individuals who said the NHK should not cover. In fact, these are the true individuals to blame for the cancelled coverage. First, let me say that the results of these polls is completely meaningless, as most of those who vote are likely not sumo fans and as such don't give two shits about sumo being broadcast. Certainly I would vote to ban showing basketball amidst a scandal, as I find it to be atrociously boring, but this does not make me an accurate representation of those who really care about the issues in basketball. Some sumo "fans" claim that they want coverage cancelled to hurt the sport and force the NSK to clean up their act. To be blunt, I find anyone who is willing to sacrifice the coverage and popularity of a sport they supposedly "love" just to get their way in potential changes that might result to be an asshole -- and not a real fan at all. These "fans" want to inflict wounds upon sumo in order for it to change more to their liking. Not only is this unbelievably selfish, but it is a horrible and immoral way of going about the changes they desire. It is akin to shock therapy or domestic violence for fuck's sake!
These are the same sorts of people who think sumo's traditional practices should be abolished altogether. But I'll ask this: if we take away all of the rituals and traditions, what does that leave to distinguish sumo from other grappling sports? Just the mawashi. Great, I'll go watch some ssireum and Mongolian wrestling. Sumo's individuality resides in its unique traditions, and stripping it of these will just leave an empty husk of what used to be a grand spectacle. So let's all do ourselves a favor and quit trying to kill sumo as we know it, and rather work to reform it while still enjoying the wonderful things it has to offer.
Really, cancelling coverage only hurts sumo, regardless of changes that may come about. In fact, why would systematically working to crush sumo's popularity help bring about changes? If anything, I would think that the resulting obscurity that some are hoping for would drive the sumo world to become even more traditional, the opposite goal of these so-called progressives.
Honestly, the worst outcome of cancelling coverage is the negative impact on those fans who still want to watch sumo (myself included) and all of the rikishi who worked so hard to achieve their positions on the banzuke. In the case of fans who want to watch sumo live everyday, we are being punished as a result of a few stupid rikishi/oyakata who made the poor choice to gamble illegally and a group of non-fan jerks who want to see the basho not air. These people who feel so strongly that the coverage should not air and are soooo offended could, oh, I don't know, simply NOT WATCH the basho. I feel like I missed some sort of step in this logic; how do we get from illegal gambling to fan's not receiving coverage? I'll repeat my question from above: who is this supposed to be punishing? Those who should be punished are the offending parties, and guess what, they were. Consider all of the completely innocent rikishi who are being negatively affected by this whole blown out of proportion firestorm. Good guys like shin-juryo Kaisei and shin-makuuchi Gagamaru have worked extremely hard to make their respective debuts in these divisions, only to have the NHK come along and cancel the coverage, depriving them of their well-earned moments of glory. Indeed, we are punishing the many for the sins of the few. Ridiculous.
Finally, I will pose one last question: If the NSK and sumo world is so uncompromisingly corrupt, evil, archaic, and incompetent as so many of these reformers seem to think, then how has sumo managed to survive and succeed for so long? Obviously reforms have been and still are needed in key areas, but trying to bring down the entire sport and punish everyone from the fans to the non-offending rikishi by cancelling coverage is not the proper way to go about change. There is a lot that is wrong in the sumo world, but nothing so terrible that the whole sport needs to be shunned, killed, and resurrected.
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