Microsoft’s Social Computing Symposium is one of my favorite conferences of the year. It’s small, invitation only, curated by some of the smartest people in my field, and attracts a wonderful combination of smart folks I hadn’t previously known about and friends I’ve known long enough that they are becoming family.
Because it’s a small conference of people who know each other well, it can get pretty silly. People are encouraged to give talks not just on their current research, but on anything they’re interested in. When we introduced ourselves at the beginning of Thursday, I proposed a talk on sumo and globalization, which was one of the dozen chosen as the pre-dinner entertainment.
The talk went over well, and a few folks asked for the slides or more information, so I’ve posted it on SlideShare along with my notes. It was supposed to be a five minute talk, but it’s probably more like a 10 minute talk that could stretch to 15.
Here’s the talk:
The third slide features a great bout between Harumafuji and Okinoumi, but I couldn’t upload the video to SlideShare. The YouTube video features below.
Nothing here will be news for sumo fans, but this was an attempt to share the sport, and some of the controversies and debates that surrounds it with an audience used to thinking about the globalization of culture, but perhaps not about this specific instance.
My friends at MSR have now posted the talk, so if you’d like to watch me give it, here it is.
I enjoy Sumo, however, one has to also appreciate that there’s a significant corruption in the sport. This isn’t about doping (as in many Western sports), but arranging matches (yaocho). Hints of this surfaced from Duggan and Levitt’s (2000) excellent paper that showed “wrestlers win a disproportionate share of the matches when they are on the margin” (of a division). Since then, there’s been out-and-out corruption scandals. However, the entrance of foreign sumÅtori is probably despite the corruption rather than part of it. That is, I think it’s good for the sport.
There’s no doubt that some match-fixing takes place. What the Duggan and Levitt paper makes clear is that it happens at a very particular point in tournaments – matches between rikishi who are 7-7 and in need of a final win, and rikishi who have no strong incentives to fight hard in their final matches. It’s been an issue in sumo for a very long time… but it’s a bit like watching a late season NFL game between teams heading into the playoffs – you might not get their best play. I think the scandals around training conditions and the absence of strong Japanese rikishi has been a much more significant factor in reducing interest in sumo.
Ethan, the video from all of the SCS talks should be available online by next week; I’ll send email out to participants when it is. Your talk was absolutely one of the highlights of the event for me. So very glad you could participate this year!
I’ve watched the slides but not listened to your talk, so please pardon me if I haven’t quite gotten your point. A few things…
Re athletes getting kicked out of a sport for pot, remember Ricky Williams in the NFL. Not kicked out, but harassed to the point that a fine career was basically destroyed. It’s not only in Sumo.
MMA has a culture. It may be crass and simplistic, but it’s a culture.
Re Joseph’s comment and your response, an unmotivated team/wrestler not giving their/his all does not amount to fixing. In the NFL it’s accepted that a playoff-bound team that cannot change its ranking in the last game or two may rest its starting quarterback or other key players. I have no idea what goes on in Sumo, but they’re just not the same, as you seem to imply.
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