Because Brazil is financing the World Surf League?
There is a particular strain of conspiracy bubbling in various surf website comment boards and it is that Brazil is the future of the World Surf League and, therefore, gifted a world champion to keep the country glued to its screens. That Gab Medina’s air, in the dying minutes of his semifinal over Mick Fanning was purposely overscored as to dash Mick’s title run and put Adriano de Souza in the driver’s seat.
I generally loathe conspiracy theory but this one is particularly egregious because it is flies in the face of logic in so so so so many ways.
A) Just imagine had Mick won. With his year he would have been invited onto every television talk show, big powerful monied holiday party, etc. It would have been free advertising for an entity that is in financial trouble. It would have put the WSL’s product in front of people that, otherwise, do not care. He was the story of the year but not really anymore because that story doesn’t have an easily digestible ending now.
B) Brazil is in even deeper financial trouble than the WSL. Its economy is crumbling under a variety of weights and the upcoming summer Olympics will steal any extra potential dollars/limelight. As a country, it is in absolutely no position to float professional surfing even with a Brazilian storm blowing at gale force.
C) The commentators’ faces when Adriano was being chaired up the beach.
And that, conspiracy theorists, is really all you need. A) and B) were just for kicks! C) is the proof! Now there is a picture worth 10000000 words!
Adriano de Souza, no matter what you feel, won the crown fair and absolutely square. What is more, the fact that he won also suggest that the judges went against the league’s best interest to be fair and absolutely square.
So I doff my gargantuan white Purps chapeau toward Santa Monica, home of the World Surf League. They got it right.
honesty is dangerous to some people. keep on keeping on.
How much they (weasel world) payin’ you Smith? Seriously? The moment the 6.5 dropped only two scenarios are possible. One: the fix was in, or two: the judges are grossly incompetent.
The entire judging panel decided to change the scoring criteria mid heat? Did the beach marshall inform Mick and Medina, prior to them paddling out, “hey guys, the barrels aren’t there so were gonna score this like a beach break.” Or was Mick supposed to know that? Medina was grasping at straws when he did his trick, and he barely rode out of it. The judges knew the moment they locked in their scores they were deciding a world title. And they were fine with that? Porta seems to have a lot of explaining to do.
Conspiracy? no, but certainly there are confluences of interests. Smith lays out two important facts, Fanning would have been a huge world celebrity with a world title. But even without a world title, with his wins, the shark and persevering through family tragedy, he still gets a lot of media buzz for WSL world. He will tour the Aussie and American talk show circuit anyway and be a media darling..
It is very true that Brazil is a basket case right now, economically and politically. Yet, the Globosat deal may become the biggest revenue stream weasel world has and the sugar it needs to sweeten American TV deals. The rag traders are broke, or going broke. GoPro is not contributing much. That leaves Samsung and Target. Their interests are striclty pecuniary. Their commitment is iffy. So why not tip the scales to Brazil. The American market is indifferent to competitive surfing. the Aussie market will remain stable for a while.
Hawaii does not have the support from any deep pocket entity to sieze control (although they have the waves.)
So what gives? Brazil, in spite of of their present situation, has the surfers and the fans and the potential tv revenue.
Do your job Smith. Dig. Ask questions. follow the money.
Porta struggled to explain why he gave Mick at 9.5 at Pipe in 2013 (for a 7.5 wave) to gift Mick the title and deny Kelly a chance of 12 titles. Medina’s air was the most exciting thing done all day in the terrible waves.
god this refreshing to read. you will be accused of racism now.
D) Market size for the WSL is way larger in the USA, if they wanted to expand anywhere it would be the States, massive disposable income ready to be spent on their product. California alone has a GPD and population 1.5 times higher than the entire country of Australia and a GDP of equal strength to the entire country of Brazil, no way in hell ADS winning this year benefits the WSL in any meaningful way, he’s almost unmarketable, if they needed a Brazilian world champ it would of been Gaby. As far as the best champ for their business? This year, Mick, hands down.
you seem to be a smart guy
we had MEDINA… and they had JoshKerr!!! what a joke for us 🙂
I’m from Brazil and i have to agree with you. I don’t take it to personal level. its a reality. Unfortunately, there are a few brazilian surfers who doesn’t know how to behave in the water. And those who are not like that, suffers because of the others kooks. Of course there is no conspiracy, is just a fact that we do have some amazing talented brazilian surfers doing an amazing job on WSL tour. We just have 2 world Titles. This is just the beginning. And if US and AUS don’t feel comfortable with this situation, i suggest to find a psychologist and try to solve your problem! Just remember, we might be from different countries but we do have a passion in common: the ocean! Peace and have a great 2016!
The judging needs an overhaul!
Does anyone (I speak for the commentators above 30) remember how they felt when Damian Hardman won his world titles? We all felt bummed and digressed on how poor and boring his style was. Yet he owned his crowns, no questions about that. I feel Adriano’s the Damian Hardman of our current time…
Adriano Dooma Souza!
Watch it Chris, I sense a chokehold coming your way…
You have lumped BeachGrit and its commentators with the past sins of mainstream surf media with your “You Guys” pointed finger accusations.
In fact, the writer’s here are actively gushing praise on the tours Brazilian surfers, this website takes a very Swiss like neutral stance. Everyone has a target on their backs here regardless of race, colour or creed.
The only strong anti- Brazilian sentiment I have read on this website has been in the last few days and only after one of your flag waving patriotic posts. You probably haven’t seen them as I hit the delete button.
But hey, I loved the 3 videos you posted above… more of that please…
What we are trying to avoid here is the us vs them vibe of certain other websites… We like to think of Beachgrit as the us, and the rest of the surfworld as them.
Be proud, but don’t be a dick because like Longtom said you are punching at shadows…
Also worth noting. we dont want Beachgrit to become dumb, This will be avoided at all costs!
Personally I really cant be bothered deleting peoples dumb posts and the silly responses that can follow. So If you find yourself on the blacklist and unable to post here you will know its not part of the AUS/USA conspiracy against Brazil (Im not from either country} Its just me sick of having to remind people to be cool.
Peace!
Negatron, the world is safe in your hands. Thanks boo.
I get your point Negatron,
I am not here to insult anybody, or to promote fight, im sorry if i have done that.
but you know what ? Im just pissed at this atitude, the “surf world” atitude, and if you, Beachgrit is neutral, swiss,,, so Why dont you state the real facts ????
I mean, you guys did an article few weeks ago about Slater and Skindog fighting over on instagram, but you did not even STATE THE FACTS SO EVERYBODY CAN UNDESTAND. . the real “news” of the article was an instagram fight.
DAnilo COUTO LAST YEAR SURFED THE BIGGEST WAVE OF THE YEAR, AND WAS NOT EVEN A FINALIST OF THE XXL.. HOW DO YOU explain THAT ? ( he is NOT EVEN invited to Jaws, a palce where HE was a pioneer paddling big days )
When facts like this happen over and over, we can get a little crazy , dumb and patriotic, but we just want things to be Fair.
Ive been seeing this happen for a long time, XXL, WCT, WQS, it just sucks for me that when the tables turn, it suddenly becomes NEws, ( even if its joking, like beachgrit ) And when it happened to us ( brazil, france, whatever ) it was NOT NEWS.
here are the “REAL” finalists.
While you maintain order and decency, sir, is there any chance of some appropriate use of apostrophes?
I failed every subject my last year in high school and I unblock toilets for a living so cut me some slack. But feel free to post edits below my posts if you’re looking for something meaningful to do in your life.
So does this mean BG doesn’t pay you for your work here? If that’s the case and you’re arm-deep in dunny water, then I can excuse your lack of spell-checking!
ok I will tell you more, here it is: you’re a fucken waste of space.
well said. fair and honest.
I totally get what you are saying. you are 100% right.
But thats not my point.
My point is : When mick fanning loses the title, all US and Australian websites talk about conspiracy, robbed heats….. bla bla bla….
But the past 10 years, where brazilian TOP SURFERS on the world tour, ( Not amateur surfers traveling around the world ) were being robbed in a lot of heats, the bIG SURF MEDIA did not say anything. So stop whining about or WORLD TOUR SURFERS, they are right, they deserve to win.
But about brazilian surfers around the world. you can say whatever you want, brother, i might even agree with you. I live in brazil, i know how we are, and how our way of living is.. can be a bitch sometimes.
aloha
I think there’s a guy called Nick Dee that you can talk to.
Satire my friend….
I say we get rid of the announcers and just keep the portugese announcers… I don’t speak portugese, but I find it less grating to listen to.
Why the long face?
Man, Bruno Lemos for the Pulitzer. What a great shot.
We are also awarding the 2015 Donald J Trump Award to Strider for his unapologetic public display of prejudice. Way to go Waz!
Unapologetic display of prejudice? This from a shit stain who ridicules Clay, calling him a retard, dissing the brother of Andy Irons for having personal demons and chiding Fanning when he lost his brother. Shit stain – you are not on the high moral ground here. You get the Hilary Clinton award for moral posturing.
Yes, that’s right.
Strider the Klansman is broadcasting to a global live audience. His reach is wide and he must measure and filter his prejudice towards brazilians while he is broacasting. Privately he can say whatever the hell he wants.
Bruce Irons and Peter Fanning: sorry but you’re the hyprocrit. I dont care much about junkies. Dont believe it’s a disease. Think it’s a bad call. I stand by it.
On Clay, I could’ve made my point with a better use of words.
And regarding Hillary, I’ll take the award. I think she has more brains and balls than all the republican party crusaders blended together.
The clay comment alone dq’s you.Can’t have it both ways shit stain. Your vomitous volume of vulgar verbosity reveals the odious person that you really are. Your shelf life has expired. Give us relief from your drivel.
Sorry you feel this way. Your personal attack is just a proof for me that I have struck the right nerve. I know the rules at Beach Grit. See me at Stab.
Featured comment Negs?!
you dont know the restraint I had to use not to take this target to town
Personally, It stuck a nerve. Old school hate but moved to the appropriate hate-region to continue the battle… but no flat-back cap will be given out! Speaking of hats I was in a store doing my pre-xmas shopping and a hip young retail assistant asked where I got my RVCA hat from {you know where I got it} It warmed my heart for a moment.
Hate, Heart and a Hat. There’s a book in that. A memoir. Hate, a Hat and 7.6 Metres Of Head.
See a REAL conspiracy would have had Mick winning the title — then turning him into an American!
Superb return to form Chas by the way! what a champion.
Even though I have said before that it was gifted to ADS, I and most sane people I’ve spoken to don’t actually think its a big conspiracy. Toledo is more popular in Brazil, the US and Straya than ADS… plus he’s sponsored by )(. If the WSL is really chasing money… they would have pushed him through that heat with Mason. However, I do think that the judging at Pipe (when it wasn’t pumping) and especially on that last day was abhorrently shitty! And, at the end of the day, that does more damage to the WSL brand than if Paul Speaker announced that the WSL handed the world title to ADS on a silver platter.
As I posted elsewhere, just the ‘incestuous’ WSL commentary team. Isn’t Blakey Mick’s manager? As Barton Lynch (who is a top bloke & great commentator) once said: “Surfers are the most self-righteous, cocky and judgmental group of people you’ll find anywhere in the world.”
Aside from you?