Shouldn't the World Surf League give us the champion we deserve?
I woke last night in the witching hours to make a bottle for my baby and Portugal was on. I saw, through bleary eyes, a post of Filipe Toldedo on BeachGrit’s Instagram account (@thebitchycrab! Follow today!) and he was spinning like dervish, hands free, full rote, nailed landing. I scrolled through the comments only to discover that the move netted him an 8.17. In my tired state it seemed not right. It seemed low.
Then I went back to sleep and had a dream.
I had a dream that one day this surfing community rose up and lived out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all surfers are judged equally.”
I had a dream that one day on the beaches of South Africa, the sons of Jeremy Flores and the sons of Ritchie Porta would be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I had a dream that one day even in Brazil, a country sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, would be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I had a dream that my one little baby would live in a world where she would not be judged by the intention of her air but if she somehow, even minutes later, ended up on her feet.
I had a dream!
And it was to crowdsource the judging!
Everyone is crowdsourcing everything these days from driving directions to which rides have the shortest lines at Disneyland. Why not crowdsource the World Surf League’s judging? Wouldn’t it be deliriously fun to wake up and be able to lock in your scores for Adriano de Souza’s power stance’d approach? Or Aritz Aranburu’s gravity defying slow spin? It would suit surfing’s democratic nature so much better than the totalitarianism of today!
The judges do a wonderful job, don’t get me wrong, and they would be given an even larger role in my dream. They would act as Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. Their expert opinions would be a guidepost and they would each become characters, jabbering back and forth for the camera, discussing the quality of what he have just seen but the power, the final power, would rest with us the people! The Internet can handle it these days. Scores could be locked in from around the globe in the time it takes Ronnie Blakey to roll the marbles from one side of his mouth to the other.
What could possibly go wrong? Nothing that Waze and American Idol have not fixed. It is the perfect solution. The perfect future. Alexis de Tocqueville, famous Frenchman, classical liberal once wrote, “In Democracy the people get the government they deserve.” In surfing shouldn’t we have the champion we deserve?