There’s still work to be done, but Dick sees a ton of potential in him. Dick was impressed with how Hanada moved on the field, especially given that his football experience has consisted of practising with a team in Japan’s X League. He was his chest is just so big that the bar didn’t have that far to travel. At one point he got closer to him to make sure he was lowering the bar all the way. He’s like a round piece of muscle.”Īt the Japanese combine, Dick watched Hanada reel off 36 reps on the bench press. In my head I thought, ‘OK, is he going to be really big?’ Because you see some of the sumo wrestlers. Greg Dick, the CFL’s chief football operations officer, got his first look at Hanada at the Japanese Global Combine earlier this year. » Ferguson: Many questions set to be answered at CombineĪfter becoming an amateur sumo champion (yokozuna), Hidetora Hanada arrives at the CFL Combine with a mindset of domination (Christian Bender/CFL.ca) » View The Roster: 2023 CFL Combine participants » O’Leary: Combine format opens evaluation window Looking for a new challenge before the window for him to go pro as a sumo closes when he turns 25, he’s turned to football. He’s an amateur sumo wrestling champion three years running. The 21-year-old isn’t leading yoga classes in his spare time in Wakayama, Japan. On the groin test, where an athlete spreads their legs and leans forward, Hanada was able to touch his head to the ground. On the hamstring test, which is measured in terms of either how far an athlete’s hands can get from their toes (resulting in a negative score) with each inch equalling a point, or how far they can go past their toes (for a positive score), Hanada scored a positive 9.5. Flexibility isn’t measured at Global combines or the Invitational Combine, but Hanada’s numbers were in the record-setting range. A league official marvelled at what they’d just seen.Īll six-foot-one and 280 pounds of Hanada shifted into yogi mode, twisting and turning his body in a way that most of us lost touch with as toddlers. That happened on Wednesday, after Japan’s Hidetora Hanada had exited the flexibility measurement station at the CFL Combine presented by New Era. Sometimes even in a world where optimism can be the currency, you see something that’s especially eyebrow raising. It’s where they can take the numbers that are landing on screens in front of them and try to project their future. It’s where teams can allow themselves to fall at least a little bit in love with a player’s upside. to 3 a.m.EDMONTON - A combine environment is by design a place of optimism. Big Japan's bar is open every day from 5 p.m. So you might have to hop over to the restaurant and its quirky diner vibe to calm bigger appetites.īig in Japan's restaurant stays open late until 3 a.m. There's not much in the way of food at Big in Japan Bar, save orders of kimchi, tuna takaki, pecans and kimchi salsa with chips. The only problem here is the bar even further removed from an authentic izakaya than Big in Japan's restaurant. The ambiance is bewitching, candles flickering from multiple angles against a ceiling peppered with suspended whiskey bottles. And the drinks are elegant, from the joint's list of premium Manhattans to my favorite, nigori sake, a cloudy, almost creamy variety of the typically translucent rice beverage. However Big in Japan's bar, the one up the street neighboring greasy spoon extraordinaire Patati Patata, gets a steady stream of high praise. Yet Big in Japan didn't claim it was an izakaya, suggesting it was at best inspired by the Japanese pub concept when it first opened in 2010, serving edamame, chicken wings, ramen soups, and assorted crispy fried meats, tofu and fish.Īnd ever since Big in Japan made it into an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover," it's become a household name on the Montreal foodie map, this in spite of wildly inconsistent reviews. Big in Japan's restaurant on the Main, not to be confused with its tealight-diffused bar by the same name also on the Main but four blocks north, is one of the first izakayas to pop up in Montreal.
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