Surf without its journalist is like music without its soul.
Ex-Yankee baseball player, and Hall of Fame lock, Derek Jeter has recently launched a website called “The Players Tribune” and its sole aim is to make athletes horribly boring just like he. You can read a wonderful story about it on esquire.com right here.
In a nutshell, Jeter considers journalists “filters.” Cumbersome little things that get lodged between the fascinating athlete and his adoring fan. And is he ever wrong!
If our surf world is a microcosm of sport, and I believe it is, then eight out of ten “athletes” are dull to the max. It takes the journalist, and his swift pen, to breathe life into otherwise very feeble material.
“Athletes” don’t tell stories. They are stories. And without the Sean Dohertys, Matt Warshaws, Travis Ferres, Nick Carrolls of the world the whole thing would be as bland as a Joel Parkinson cutback. Pretty? Yes. Interesting? Fuck no.
Go out and hug your favorite sport journalist today and thank him for a job well done. And for telling you that Kolohe means “li’l rascal” in Hawaiian.