The morning's headlines scream: Give us more Savages of the East!
Yesterday there were two surf competitions being broadcast at the same exact time. One featured the world’s best surfers in pleasant, crystalline waves. The other, mostly insane children of children of children of convicts throwing themselves onto the rocks of Botany Bay.
Did you know that Botany Bay, just south of Sydney’s CBD, was the site of James Cook’s first landing in Australia? There he saw wild plants and, to his European eyes, strange people. He called the aboriginals “Savages of the East.”
And maybe Red Bull should rename the Cape Fear event Savages of the East. It has a ring, no?
Whatever the case, it was wild. The unsinkable Derek Rielly was there in person and the attention spans of the world were upon it across all seas and continents.
This morning’s headlines scream:
Australian Storm Sees Daredevil Surfers Risk Lives! –Huff Post
Des vagues mutantes en Australie! –L’Equipe
Cape Fear smashes big wave riders after Sydney storms! –Australian Times
There’s an insane surfing competition on right now! –Business Insider
Etc.
The morning’s headlines for the Fiji Pro?
Fanning stumbles on return to tour –Gold Coast Bulletin
But Mick won his heat didn’t he? Maybe the writers at the Gold Coast Bulletin don’t know because they switched over to Savages of the East and stopped watching. Like everyone else.
And of course it is very unfair to compare a one day specialty event with a day of round 2/3 action. Apples to oranges. Except is it? Both featured surfing. One just featured the sort that is easy to understand. Man vs. man. Big waves. Consequences.
The problem for the WSL is that the apparent broad appeal of Savages of the East is exactly the type of audience it is trying to capture. CEO Paul Speaker needs non-surfers, like himself, to watch, buy jerseys, cheer on favorites.
But just look at yesterday’s Fiji judging. It was almost impossible, even for seasoned and crusty vets, to understand the scores being posted. Ross Williams said at some point, “At the end of the day they (the judges) just try and get the result right (for the entire heat).”
i.e. it is all nonsense.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love wild outliers like The Eddie, Savages of the East, etc. but, at heart, I’m a WSL man. I enjoy the slog, the arbitrary weirdness, Tweeting with Matt Warshaw about the arbitrary weirdness. I also love test cricket and extra innings’ baseball.
And that’s the thing. Professional surfing will only ever be for a tiny few. To pretend otherwise is to be an asshole.
CEO Paul Speaker is an asshole.
lets see you do better on the commentary, honestly everyone loves to talk shit on ALL commentators but i reckon you wouldnt even get a look for the job
Do you really like test cricket mate?
Why not a story on our brothers from other mothers over at the shark island challenge ? Break the mold, kind of,(Coastal Watch throw some boogie love). The waves were cranking, a lot of waves were ridden, and it was really fun to watch.
(cue the Sarge-esque love, no not that kind, the kind he didn’t hide)
You think WSL is gonna crawl back to redbull and beg for forgiveness? Maybe Redbull will make all these demands so WSL can have cape fear on their tour. I think redbulls first demand should be to force all competitors to have a gopro on as they compete. Also, a new redbull corner where they talk shit about the WSL.
Vaughan Dead and Wassel, what a commentary combo.
Well to be fair, most pro sports are only ever for a tiny few. NFL, Olympics, World Cup soccer…I wonder how the rest of ’em would really rate if pushed on to their own cable channel outside group sports buy-ins? Sport generally as entertainment may actually be on the verge of being found out as a bit of a con job. In which case pro surfing will be in excellent company.
On what are you basing this argument? Feeling?
Well there’ve been a number of interesting books about pro sport published lately, among them a book called “Players” by a guy called Matthew Futterman — it’s a really good analysis of how pro sports and the superstar athlete came into being through the 60s and 70s and beyond. The book continues its analysis into the modern day and the likely future for pro sports and it’s well worth reading for its clear breakdown of sports’s real pulling power and in many cases, its gross over-valuing as entertainment. Pro sports are often accused of being bubble cultures but this may be true in more ways than one.
Have you been to a football game in uk? The money ain’t going nowhere. And pro darts! The audience for that is 1000x WSL. And Pro snooker. Lordy. Lordy. Lordy. It’s all about the ability to invest emotionally in it and an ability to provide a betting regime that is easily understood. Average punter cannot and will not understand surfing. Why attach any worth to anyone or anything in it (competition not just surfing)?
sports’ main draw, as a medium, is that people will actually watch it live and sit through commercials where nearly all other content is consumed at the viewer’s leisure, and commercial free since they’re watching on DVR
cool point, can anyone on here who is a sport fan tell me what actual worth they have received from spectating a sport, im not talking about being kept engaged and entertained – has it actually provided you with a meaningful moment that has inspired you to change or is it just to keep us occupied? I reckon spectating in sport is literally a distraction from real events going on around us
Yep. How much longer can they just piss massive amounts of cash away doing the tour? Not long. I just don’t see it being around in 10 years time, maybe sooner. And they have the worst luck with scoring good waves. Such a bummer.
Did anyone watch it? I didn’t.
A-fucken-men. What they really should have done was air the Bra Boys’ pub brawl last night, followed by Savages of the East, and then finish it up with some sort of “first person to die loses” drinking game. That’d get the punters in.
what’s a punter?
A guy who pushes tourists down the river in a boat in Cambridge using a big pole.
Ha!
Count me among the tiny few. The WSL is the best/worst hobby league in the world. Organizers/executives are delusional, events are rarely not a shit show, and the prima donna “athletes” competing are easy to loathe and/or make fun of.
PS. I don’t get cricket.
It truly is a “dream tour!”
And re. cricket….I was in India, once, and it was crazy hot. Inside air-conditioned salons though it felt great and cricket was played on television around the clock. It was the perfect distraction.
I can see that. I’ve tried watching but I don’t understand how it’s played. I want to be so cultured as to, but, being American, and raised on baseball, I just can’t be bothered (too lazy) to learn something so seemingly foreign.
..was forced to play cricket as a grommet. Bored me to distraction, spectating was worse – everytime I drifted away to concentrate on the clouds or something interesting, a seemingly important stumping or other triviality happened. Now those Red Bull cads, cut of their jib reminds me of the words below an old hawaiin surf poster I had above my bunk bed – “He who trembles is not bored”. Perhaps Mick was stumped by a silly leg or something, dunno, spit clouds were holding my gaze.
Beautiful.
agreed that shit was music to my ears, the clouds at the end… poetry
check it out, its not bad. foul balls aren’t foul, and you just go back and forth instead of running around the four base “diamond” we got
Yep agree and the biggest problem is they lose all momentum when goes into 6 consecutive lay days or more!!!
oh cricket is not as bad as AFL – try and understand what goes on there!!!!
AFL understands you, you don’t understand AFL!
oh I agree I tried so hard – played it at uni games coming from rugby background. was sent off for aggressive play within 5 mins every game I played. cant hit properly etc etc. I like too watch but still don’t totally get it.
I feel you, AFL understood me at an early age. It understood that I was shit at AFL.
hahaha yeah spent too many days wasted playing cricket football soccer – at least surfing stayed in the veins!!
all these pros are complete women. is there anyone on tour that can at least scrap a little? anyone?
I tried with Medina, but the light was so poor, because his head was blocking the sun, that I couldn’t see where to land one…