Subtlety is so overrated in this new era of absolute Brazilian dominance. Give us weeping, passionate commentators!
Brazil. Choose one single adjective to describe that joint and the people of it. Go on…you’re relatively safe here, we don’t judge (all the time). It’s passionate, isn’t it? For better or worse, Brasilians are the most openly passionate people on earth.
But why?
How can a country riddled by crime and overpopulation spring forth a populace completely unafraid to hug, kiss, dance, sing and as evidenced by the reaction to Gabriel Medina’s world title win, absolutely rejoice in the victories of its sportsmen and women?
“They just need it, the whole country runs on a spirit that is fuelled by passion,” says former resident, the twice married to a Brasilian, Ross Clarke-Jones. “You spend time there and you can just feel it, in the way they talk and interact with each other. And there’s…so…many of them I think they all feed of each other and it’s such a special thing.”
Ross points to the country’s humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of Germany at the 2014 World Cup as an absolute low point in the country’s psyche, second only to 1994 the death of F1 driver Ayrton Senna. “I was there for Senna’s funeral and the whole country was crying, and so was I and I’m not even from that country,” he says. “I just got caught up in the emotion. You couldn’t help but not.”
So, that said, are surfing’s commentators up to the task of fuelling the beachside passion displayed by Charles Medina and the hordes of Brazlians now attracted to the sport following Gabby’s win?
Wouldn’t it be nice to hear Joe Turpel just fucking… lose it? Pat Parnell move away from phrases such as “And he’ll kick out,” or “That’s a massive hack,”? And who didn’t enjoy Martin Potter’s little homoerotic groan at the completion of Tom Carroll’s Heritage Heat Pipeline pit?
Click on the play button, close your eyes and imagine it now. Surf commentary, fuelled by passion.