Semi-Naked Sweaty Men

If I had asked my husband, 'Hey Honey, do you want to celebrate your birthday by having sweat tossed onto you while watching two almost naked men wrestle around?' 

I assume the answer would have been 'no, not really.'

I had stumbled upon a LivingSocial deal about a month ago which advertised a package including a sumo competition, sushi dinner and sake tasting. 

If those three things don't spell out, 'Hooray, I'm turning 30!' then .... I'm confused. 

Sunday morning after a month of secrecry, I spill the beans to my husband that we are going to go watch a sumo competition. After a lot of confused laughter, the excitement set in. Then like the true pupil he is...he began studying and read all morning about sumo culture, rules and fun facts. 

 

The event took place at the Opera house in downtown Atlanta. Nothing spells sumo competition like opera house. 

 

When we got to our seats, we were greeted with edamane and sake.  

My personal favorite was the Bonzai Bunny Blueberry Sake.

 We also got a pamphlet on sumo wrestling with all the US Sumo association sumo wrestlers and their stats. No trading cards though :(

 (sidenote: Did you know that there are female sumo wrestlers?? And I weigh more than a lot of them?????)

 Oh did I mention that I paid extra so we were VIP. That meant we got sit front row, center. Only feet away from the ring. 

The two men that we got to watch were Byamba and Kelly Gneiting. 

Byamba is from Mongolia and has been the World Sumo Champion three times and Kelly is from Idaho and has been the US Sumo Champion four times. 

Their stats - Byamba is 27 years old, 6'1" and 365 lbs. Kelly is 42 years old, 6'0" and 420 lbs. 

(Byamba left, Kelly right)

While they sumo wrestled, we ate sushi, drank sake and I was delighted to be a handed a cupcake when I had consumed my daily quota of raw fish.

Here's a video I took of their last match of the evening...

And lastly, afterwards we got to do a meet and greet with them.

Note to self: next time you get your picture taken with a sumo wrestler, do a thumbs up.

Colorado friends, I just looked at the LivingSocial website and the tour is heading to Denver April 27th and 28th. 

Jump on it!