Michael Jordon Should not have Played Basketball....

[Shibuya Me]

Yuka Abe in the paper today ( Japan Times ) said that foreigners should not be able to compete in any sumo matches because...

" ...foreigners have the physical advantages..."

Yuka Abe also went on to say, " ...we Japanese are just not use to foreigners being involved in everything..."

So with that line of thought...( if this is indeed thinking )

Should we have kept Michael Jordon out of the game known as basketball?

He does have physical advantages after-all. And a lot of red necks in the southern states of America did not want a tall black man playing basketball at one time in history. After all, basketball was a "white mans sport!" By the way...Mr. Jordon bacame the best player in history. I think Japan is so afraid that a foreigner will do the same!

Thank you Yuka Abe. A fine way to show the true color of the Japanese way of thinking! You are a real peach! Bright girl!

Two thumbs up! :P

[Kanchou]

Well, I applaud her for trying to be honest, unlike alot of white Americans when they think of basically every sport in America besides soccer. I for one will admit that it's true, white men can't jump; atleast not very high.

[Cortana]

It's too bad, too. If I'd had the chance, I would've made one hell of a sumo.

6'5 and 350 or so (without the proper eating habits or training regimen)... I'd have been a scandal waiting to happen.

WHITE MAN WINS BASHO, 22 million oyaji commit suicide.

[Andocrates]

Remember when American sports teams had white players? Black's represent only 9% of the population of America and 78-80% of the pro sports slots. I think it's quite fair for the Japanese to keep their sport Japanese only, they are smaller people then the rest of the world.

[Shibuya Me]

[Shibuya Me]

Remember when American sports teams had white players? Black's represent only 9% of the population of America and 78-80% of the pro sports slots. I think it's quite fair for the Japanese to keep their sport Japanese only, they are smaller people then the rest of the world.

Yeah.....right.

That was a million years ago. Are you saying Japan should stay in the dark ages?

Think man! Think!

[jim katta]

white men can't jump; atleast not very high

no no no my friend, not true at all. listen to my tale. I play street basketball all the time here in nyc, and in just the last couple of months I've played with white dudes who were dunking on the heads of the mostly black players. Keep in mind, these black guys (muscular and in shape) were not dunking like these guys. I know this totally defies the stereotype, but I Swear I'm not making this up, these guys (who I experienced on totally different occasions) were just regular white street ballers who could play their asses off. hell, I'm over 6 feet tall and in my entire street ball experience I've only managed to dunk in a game twice.

I know this wasn't the point of the thread, but I had that story in my head and I finally had a chance to tell it to someone. these weren't college semi-pros acting as ringers with amateurs, these were regular guys. I also want to point out that these were not hip hop wanna-be guys, I talked to them and they were just regular dudes, no "I'm a white soul brother" stuff. just regular cool white dudes. I must admit, it did blow my mind both times, these guys were good, agressive, and I had to give them respect (I give few people respect on the basketball court). Finally, the best player I've had to play against in the last few years was this young French guy. holy shit. the guy had raggedy old broken down (UNLACED!) sneakers on and had just been in the country for a week. he wasn't that tall or muscular, but he outclassed everyone. the guy had a three point shot, dunked MANY times, and was just FAST as hell. no, anyone who thinks black guys have the market cornered on basketball has no idea of what's really going on.

all that said, yeah, I think the japanese should just suck it up and take on all foreigner challengers. if they can do it with soccer, and do as well as they did, sumo should be no different.

[American Oyaji]

The adage that "white boys can't jump" is BS. I was gonna say it was as much BS about black guys having big schlongs, but american black men were "bred" to have big ones during slavery times.

The reason that blacks seem to jump higher is because they practice jumping a LOT more because if everyone runs fast, the height of ones jump is the distuingishing factor. If one is white, one doesn't have the competition and the push usually to learn how to jump high.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

[American Oyaji]

E Honda

[GomiGirl]

Black Tennis Pioneer Althea Gibson Dies

Althea Gibson, a sports pioneer who broke the color barrier in tennis in the 1950s as the first black woman to win Wimbledon and the U.S. national title, died Sunday. She was 76.

OK it is a bit of a tangent, but I saw this on the news last night and wanted an excuse to post it...

[Shibuya Me]

Are you suggesting that black people, white people, and brown people should be a part of Japanese sports competitions?

Hide your passport!

[ramchop]

Are you suggesting that black people, white people, and brown people should be a part of Japanese sports competitions?

I really don't see the issue. It's a fairly common practise for sports teams around the world to have restrictions on the number of "foreign imports". I believe they even do it in America (soccer).

If it wasn't for these sorts of restrictions then I'm sure the entire Japanese rugby competition would be filled with Pacific Islanders.

The difference with Sumo is that it's an individual sport rather than a team sport. But should it matter? If there's a rule saying only 20% of a soccer team can be foreign then that amounts to the same thing as only 20% of the national competiton can be foreign. Why not have the same restriction in a national Sumo competition?

[cstaylor]

They already have that restriction. One of the main problems with Sumo in general is that they still use primitive techniques for training, which leads to injuries and early retirement from the sport.

The other problem is income: unless you make Juryo or better, your pay is next to nada. Without a good college education (some wrestlers start during middle school), what is life like after Sumo if you didn't get to professional rank? What Japanese parent would put their children through that?

The knee-jerk reaction from fans is that Japanese sumo is being ruined by foreigners, but the real answer is that the Japanese quality of life has come to the point where it doesn't make sense to send your child through that unless he's very, very big, and has a good fallback in case it doesn't work out. I think the blubbering fans should put up, or shut up; send your kids to live at a heya and see how long they last.

[Kanchou]

Applaud her for being honest? Being honest does not mean putting any logic to her statements....!

I never said it did. I think she's an idiot, but atleast she's saying what she's obviously thinking, rather than relying solely on the "special history" excuse.

And I was half joking, anyway.

[cstaylor]

Anybody remember akebono he was Hawaiian, he is probably the most famous sumo of all time and he is Gaijin.

He's the most famous foreign wrestler, but by far the most popular modern rikishi was Chiyonofuji "The Wolf".

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

Anybody remember akebono he was Hawaiian, he is probably the most famous sumo of all time and he is Gaijin.

He's the most famous foreign wrestler, but by far the most popular modern rikishi was Chiyonofuji "The Wolf".

Ah.. I say him fight over 2 weeks ago when i went to sumo in tokyo, but i was very tired that day but that match was very exciting. Even the Japanese where chanting for him.

[cstaylor]

??? Chiyonofuji retired over 10 years ago. He's now an Oyakata.