January 16, 2023 News and Notes

• An outbreak of COVID has been tied to the Golden Globe Awards held last week.  Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and at least two other prominent celebs are now positive with the virus.
• Just past the halfway point of the January 2023 sumo tournament.  Some results of note...
• Formerly suspended Ozeki Asanoyama is 9-0 in Juryo at rank 12.  Only one other is 8-1, Rank 5, with four other 7-2s.
• At the top end:  Yokozuna Terunofuji is nursing an injury which will have him out this tournament and March.  We'll see if those knees hold up to the standard of the grand champion in May or so.
• Takakeisho is 8-1 as the only Ozeki.  He went 12-3 last tournament, but did not win.  The general theory for consideration of promotion to Yokozuna is two consecutive tournament wins at the bare minimum or what is considered "equivalent" (but that might be highly strict -- Terunofuji's "equivalent" was a 14-1 with a loss to Hakuho in a zensho-yusho (perfect record championship) vs. zensho-yusho match.
• Shodai is 3-6 at Sekiwake, so he's probably headed down again.
• Hoshoryu is 6-3 at Sekiwake, after 11 wins in the last tournament.  He probably needs 16 more wins between this tournament and the next one to be considered for Ozeki.
• Sean Payton now has three teams ready to interview him -- any hire at any of them will require compensation to the Saints.
• There is now debate as to whether individual wagers should be continued to be publicized by sportsbooks and the media.
• This after what I must admit gives me significant schadenfreude...  At 7:31 PM Vegas time, a bettor placed a $1,400,000 bet on DraftKings.
• His return was going to be $11,400.  He was betting at -12,500 (You have to bet $12,500 to win $100) that the Chargers would win.  Someone might legit want to check the obituaries.   
• The largest pregame bet of the week, ESPN Chalk has reported, was when someone dropped $880,000 on Baltimore +6.5, the bookie believing he was betting on Lamar Jackson playing.
• Baltimore lost...  BY SEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!