Lounge chair critics can go to hell, says the world champion and noted commentator…
Filipe won. Who cares? Not me. Another luck of the draw garbage wave catching contest, though I’m sure the wildcards are pretty jazzed, as they should be. A quarter or semi result against the “world’s best” is damn impressive, regardless of wave quality.
The highlight of my night was a candid lapse from the hairiest back in surfing, Mr Martin Potter. Prompted by a remark from Turpel regarding the difficulty some surfers have adjusting to life in the public eye, Pottz took the ball and ran with it. (At around 50min, if video doesn’t autoplay at the correct spot)
“First of all, Joe, I think, who are those critics, number one? Where are they? They’re probably sitting on their lounge, right now, not… These guys are some of the world’s best, being put in challenging conditions. Keanu’s here for a reason. He’s fought his way onto the tour and he belongs, you know? Obviously there’s those guys out there that’ll sit back and go ‘Oh, he doesn’t belong to be on tour,’ but, I mean, who are these people, anyway? Does it even matter what they say? I think you’ve gotta put all that stuff aside.”
Good advice, for the surfers. It’s true, people love to hate.If you put yourself out there you’re gonna get ripped to shreds. Either learn to deal, or retreat from the public eye. Go to college, become an accountant.
For competitive surfing as a whole… maybe might not be the best tack to take.
Surfing is relatively unique in that it improves when removed from a competitive context. Fitting your surfing into the neat little package necessary to consistently grab the scores you need means dialing it down. Trying your hardest doesn’t win heats, linking together a series of sevens does. Which is why guys like ADS and Fanning do so well. They’re not trying to surf their best, they’re just trying to win. Which they do, albeit in a repetitively uninspiring fashion.
The rich bastards who own surfing, the former drug smugglers who ran the industry for decades, the wannabe yuppie fucks slinging trash from the Orange County ghetto, or the big money Johnny-come-latelies trying to cash in ten years too late, would love nothing more than to control the discourse. Tell us what, or who, is cool. Sell those shorts, offshore production and watch the money roll in. And that can work, if you’re fine with a perpetual feast then famine cycle, and stay positioned to dump your stake the moment things starting heading south again.
But that only works for the guys on top. Their golden parachutes will settle them safely in their beachfront mansions. Lay everyone off, watch the company burn, emerge from the ashes when the trend cycles back around. But the work-a-day chumps, the guys drawing a paycheck, they get left in the lurch. Without the fans, the haters, the internet experts, they’ve got nothing. If the dialogue stops the talking heads are left spewing nonsense into the void.
Once you remove the criticism, whether it takes the form of just condemnation of the current judging criteria, racist anti-Brazilian diatribe, or web based click bait pseudo-journalism, there’s not much left.
Because the WSL is selling a bland, boring, bullshit product. Without the spice supplied by outside sources it all just tastes like crap.
spot on. lots more people can identify with hard work than freakish talent, but its not what i want to watch
test
if i had a dollar for everytime the webcast mentioned “former world champ Martin Potter” i could probably buy the WSL
the difference is that the Brazo’s are young and learning to win comps and world titles , while the Americans /Australians languish in their shadows with their passion and will to win…used to be an Australian trait …..which is now a beaten down memory , diluted and repertoired to producing older journeymen…..
yeah but how many world junior titles do the brazzos win when they’re already on tour instead of concentrating on junior world titles like the aussie “groms” in their early 20s??
they don’t , they win world WSL titles while our surfers are still being baby sat!
i’m with you 100%. being touted for several years as the next big thing / next aussie world champ would be great but i definitely prefer the brazzo model of just getting in there and doing it. its taken way longer than the hype would have suggested for Julian and Owen to sort their shit out, i wonder if the same will come of the Bantings and Freestones
ah the ol hype/ con…..amazing when ya think that Jack will be 23 years old as a rookie next year , has all the talent , but will be coming up against 3-5 year tour veterans , that are younger…the aussie system is very broken
I’d rather listen to the broadcast in brazillian than hear Turpel and Pottz talk shit
Pottz should be happy he is still making money from surfing, lets not forget his heritage heat against Gerr
dont talk down on micks surfing as if he is as bad as ads. he surfs perfectly. ads just amps his ass off.
Pottz should be thankful anyone is talking about Keanu Asing at all. Like Warshaw with Banting, it’s a struggle just to conjure up a visual, about all I can come up with is the wipeout show he put on at the Box and a pleasant, self aware bloke who surfs about as good as the local plumber. If I was his manager, just the fact that Keanu was on someone’s radar enough to have a whine about him would be just cause to bust out the Bollinger.
I wanted to write a para about Simpos fairytale in POrtugal but couldn’t find the proper tone. He squeaked through by the skin of his tits, claimed a three and, really, by the Grace of God had his dignity saved by not having to surf against either Italo or Filipe in the Final.
Otherwise, agree totally with Maurice Coles take. Speaker and the WSL zigged and ran hard with a model already thoroughly rejected time and time again, not just by the market now, not just by recreational surfers but even by the hot surfers who where supposed to be the main attraction.
No one is talking about the elephant in the room. Simpo’s world title bid at pipe. Has anyone crunched the numbers?
Pottz is to the WSL what Theon Greyjoy is to Ramsay Snow. The least they could do is pay for him to get his teeth done.
Maurice Cole. Nailed it.
They are actually giving away the blandness…. who would pay?
Italo isn’t boring, and without the WSL I doubt we could see his act on a global stage. Makes those Patterson’s look golden. As for the webcast, Marty Thomas and Rocky Cannon are far better on the HIC pro than anything going on the CT level.
The WSL talking heads have zero personality.
Please bring in Barton Lynch!
Who are these rich fuckers? Maurice and I would like to be introduced to them.
… writes Nick Carroll from his Newport mansion, clad in a diamond-encrusted G-string sipping banana daiquiris in the pool house while a manservant braids fresh water pearls into his arse hair, pausing occasionally to fire up the hookah with another TC royalty cheque
you sir, are going to Hell.
you have to stop that drone filming Nick behind closed doors/fences…he has an image to uphold!
I think Pottz should be happy that there are a whole bunch of people sitting around on their couches watching, because that’s who pays him , the biggest problem is who’s not watching and why?
there is a much deeper seated problem here that the WSL is mirroring , the lack of interest in mainstream surfing and the rise of “the Hipster” surfer . I think that hipster has a bit of stereotyping to it and prefer the Trippsters , as they are ripping and tripping….but not competing , and blazing a path of smoking ciggies drinking beer , partying , growing their hair , riding all kinda equipment , and re-establishing whats cool in surfing. the alternative to this is compete every weekend from 10 years of age , be regimented into training /coaches , national teams etc , and become part of a very failed system which is EG Australia’s HPC , hasn’t produced anything but well paid bureacrats and trainers , but has stifled creative /innovative surfing. So young kids look up to the Chris Andos/Noah D’s, etc as whats cool …the Brazilians are competeing on the QS when all other “developed” surf cultures have failed systems in place just regimenting their surfers to the Staus Quo . there has been a quantum shift in the last 5 years away from the WSL / competition surfer mind set…..is this a problem? It is for the Countries like Aust/USA where the depth of surfing talent is not following the WSL/Competition script….and the WSL is mirroring the reality of surfing at the moment…..a bit boring to watch live surfing , and the up and coming stars …well they’re still out there …but don’t buy into the current antiquated system……maybe WSL should write something about Surfing Australia /HPC and see if the KPI’s support their current existence?
You weren’t saying that when Kelly won Fiji two years ago (on his ‘tow-in’ board) and when the boys like Owen, Otto, Medina, Bede, Dion, Hedge, Kelly & John John were charging at Tahiti last year. It was spectacular. The athletes are well-paid professionals yet they behave as though turning up to competitions for 40% of their working year is a chore. They call lay-days as though the surfers must have a whole day off. They need to have better surf venues and have the competition period “on-call”, When they know a good swell is arriving at G-Land then arrive pronto (technology permitting). I recall Tahiti 2014 clocked over 1 million viewers. This year at Snapper, there was swell prior to & after the waiting period. They need to catch that swell.
Just end it all. The surfers who have real talent will get paid with the ads, or whatever. The others can just work construction, do MMA, or become high school janitors. Enough with the retarded surf lingo and made-up descriptions of the same stupid turns and moves. Don’t even get me started on the asinine “post-heat interviews” or fake stuffy-nose accents. Please WSL…put us all out of our misery. Cancel all tours and events.
but what would Adriano do? I legitimately think he might stop surfing if the world tour came to halt
on facebook TV Tahiti posted 120K for the final , what was I saying about Kelly etc ?? live surfing is so hard to watch as there is 25 mins per heat of dialogue , and 5 mins of surfing ……..too hard to do having a comp on hold for the surf as there are permits and the current logistics of satellite feeds , positioning of all the cameras etc….we just have to inderstand that mother nature isn’t always there ….pools might be the answer if you could rebuild a pipeline/J-bay etc…..
How many “trippsters” drinking beers at the Single Fin when not paddling for nothing on 6 feet waves at Ulu with a nice “Life magazine” tee shirt and a clear cut beard (with no excuse when failing twice in a row to take off on set wave) are really ripping waves ? Apart of the real mediatic rippers surfing the rail and doing air on classic shapes how many trippers are buying this life style because of their lack of knowledge about technique and how to use their boards ? These impreddictable arch bottoms… If I had to choose on what surf culture is I would rather give a chance to “waste” 30 minutes of my life watching Italo Disco and Combo Toledo fighting in a low tide Supertubo onshore waves than a bunch of total look trippsters in glassy Ulu conditions.
ah but what would you rather do , spend your days and nites training and lusting after competitive self gratification , or not? Or just surfing , looking cool acting cool, travelling the planet searching for …ah ..trippster self gratification…there’s more women tripsters than contest groupies , ah we now come to the crux of cool…..??
Now I’m absolutely sure you’re not Maurice, but I wish you’re his ghost writer translating ramblings amidst hallucinogenic clouds filled with vitriol and nostalgia.
Get Italo to coach the up and coming stars of the commonwealth colonies, I’m sure despite his broken-up, almost non-existing, english he’ll be able to convey more of what they should look for with his contagious smile.
therein lies the problem , ya can’t coach surfing!
nostalgiac hallucinogenic clouds with vitriolic ramblings from a ghost , now that’s something I can work on!