Perhaps no question gets asked with more regularity in online sumo spaces than “Could a rikishi succeed in the NFL?” or “Would NFL players dominate if they switched to sumo?”
Those questions popped up again this week after several participants in Super Bowl LX discussed their Japanese heritage, and former amateur yokozuna Hidetora Hanada revealed he was considering a switch back to sumo after several years of playing college football in the United States.
Despite how often those lines of inquiry arise, the discussion rarely if ever evolves beyond tribalistic defense of which sport is better (or tougher) by the respective fanbases.