Went to the US Sumo Open
I went to the US Sumo Open for the second year in a row last Saturday.
If you live near Long Beach, this event is a hell of a show, and I strongly recommend it - it's a bunch of amateur sumo wrestlers from around the world, of every skill level, doing practically non-stop sumo for five or more solid hours inside a gigantic blue pyramid. You cannot ask for anything better than that.
Sumo is, in my opinion, the most entertaining combat sport - each match is extremely short, the rules are extremely easy to learn, and this particular event just runs match after match with very little downtime practically all day long. It has the same effect on you that many people have joked watching the Olympics does - by the end of the day, you will have all sorts of extremely confident Sumo Opinions you didn't previously have.
There are some folks who came back two years in a row, so I got the entertainment of remembering their Sports Legend. A smaller guy who got brutally lifted and slammed last year during the all-weight-classes "open" tournament was competing again this year. What a hero!
We stayed only for the main tournament this year, and missed the "open" category where everyone gets matched, single elimination style, against everyone else in the entire field. Of course only the "heavyweight" contenders are going to make it to the end, but you do get to see some thrilling matchups when everyone fights everyone.
The final match of the tournament was particularly impressive. It was Mendsaikhan Tsogterdene, a Mongolian sumo wrestler who comes to the US Open regularly, versus Zura Tsikoradze, a competitor from (the country of) Georgia. Zura slapped Mende during the final gold medal match in a way that was disallowed, which led to a 15 minute rules discussion between the judges (both English-speaking and Japanese-speaking, with many translators present). They decided to call for a rematch instead of an instant disqualification, and in the rematch Mende defeated Zura so quickly that the entire stadium lost its mind and started jumping up and down. Crazy sports moments!!! I had a great time and it was awesome to go out on such a dramatic moment.
Fundamentally the audience at this event has very low knowledge of sumo techniques (me included) and it is pretty easy to find English-speaking sumo fans online calling this event shamefully amateur or unprofessional. The reason I like it, however, is that it has an incredibly simple ruleset that is extremely easy to understand, the crowd is super fucking enthusiastic, and both years I've gone, it's generated some incredible drama. Live amateur sports are fuckin fantastic. And this is one of the more unusual and dramatic live amateur sports you can see in the LA area.
And the beer at the Pyramid is very affordable!! :)
You can see the entire event here on Youtube: