Not because they're bad people but because they're just bad!
Is there any way? Any chance that our beloved surfing could get rid of judges and award victories based on something other than a ten point scale decided upon by faceless men in an ivory tower? (just kidding! They’re not faceless but beautiful!)
Nothing against the judges, of course. They have a herculean task and there is no way for them to please everyone, to get the score right 100% of the time. More importantly, though, judged sports are like totally UGH. They are little bastards. Dumb. Figure skating, gymnastics, synchronized swimming.
Is there any judged sport that rises to the heights like football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf etc.? Each of those have thick rule books, sometimes referees, but points. A man or woman beats another man or woman by scoring more, or less, points.
Judged sports will always be arbitrary.
So how can surfing be judged? Could there be a system of speed, torque, amount of time in the air, number of spins in the air, amount of time in the barrel? Some way that would guarantee not only a good show but a true, undeniable winner?
Let’s be part of the revolution!
how to judge & score surfing… way to clickbait, congrats bg…
Yeah. No downtime, less rules, and more true to the everyday experience of the sport.
all they need to do is show each judge’s accuracy rating, how close his score is to what ends up being the consensus. if your score is the one getting dropped constantly, you’re out. and they need to separate these barneys, give em each the straight angle replay, even slo-mo if they want it, but that’s it, no channel view.
Trouble with that… Its promotes safe scoring… No one wants their head on the chopping block so judges stick as close to average as possible. You need judges to pushing the envelope as much as the surfers.
yeah, but i don’t think we can ask judges to stake their livelihood on progressing the sport. if you want to see more progressive surfing we need to go single best ride. most judges don’t understand technical airs and will continue to struggle there. we need to decide whether more risky turns on a small one should outscore safer surfing on a set-wave.
upvote for fruitboots and seeing that the WSL is pretty much WWE, and Dyrdek is a kook but we’ll take Curren Caples, he can do sick backside airs already
The judges are ok. Just fire Richie Porta, hire a brazilian head judge and we´ll be fine.
Step one: go back to the old style of judging: longest nose ride wins.
Game Over
Since these guys have surfed under the same judging system since they were groms, it seems safe to assume they know the game. Why do fans care anyway? I’m not seeing any of Kelly’s paycheck.
to hear Pottz talk you would think the competitors are trying to solve a new riddle every event; “what the judges are looking for, Joe”
Breaking News – Surfstitch has been Saved! Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat Surfstitch has come up with a genius idea which will save their company and generate billions of dollars – see it here – http://stabmag.com/style/st…
Added to my OpShop list of goodies to buy in 5 years time
That’s how I gauge my self worth
Boxing and MMA are judged sports, and are very engaging, much more so than Darts and Golf!
I have a new issue with scoring which may ave been pointed out by others before – How can people get a ten point ride when only 4 of the judges give a wave a perfect score? Surely for a ten point ride you ought to have all five judges award it maximum points!
Darts is surprisingly addictive entertainment, I remember I was in a hotel and the Darts World Champs were on TV and I started planning my holiday around the tv coverage, best holiday.
Peer-based judging. Let them judge each other.
only if you’re forced to multiply your own scores by your judging accuracy, otherwise i’m not sure I’d trust ADS to give out anything over a four
isxscoring just looks more expensive. How does it work?
This.
I’ve always wondered – why do it any other way? Works in snow, skate, etc, nobody is bummed and there’s no controversy at the end of the day
must be how gabby got the score at pipe
Have the WSL ever given reason for not separating the judges and letting them know the ‘situation’?
Partly the judges know each other’s scores so that all the judges are using the same scale in each heat. Otherwise, unknowingly, one judge might be consistently scoring a point lower than other judges and therefore have every score not counted because the lowest score gets dropped. That would create a bias towards some judges’ scores. If they know the general judging panel scale, then all 5 judges are more likely to be represented in heat scores.
so what if one judge’s score keeps getting dropped, as long as its happening just as often when its an aussie as a brazzo? the reason high and low are dropped is because it makes it seem like you’d need more than one bad apple to affect the results
if style was rewarded the past two world champs wouldn’t have made the top 22… Judge style
And Slater’s world titles? He’s a brilliant surfer, but style? Squatting and hands/arms all over the place like a mad woman’s shit. I’m no fan of Adriano’s windmilling right arm, but can easily live with Medina’s stance as he’s otherwise pretty clean.
false
No, quite true. And what would you have done with Shane Dorian?
Yeah. mr. Ahab, this guy has a point.
How could you quantify it though?
I think either devise a much better judging system … or, make it so bad it’s more entertaining and will self-destruct in time. So yeah, scores public vote American Idol style. Additional points given for claims (already in place). Judges in the surf throwing red cards in faces for an interference. Points deducted for (a) safety surfing (b) bad style (c) ripping the same 4 identical moves to the beach (d) floaters unless their functional and on …
red card for claims
Yellow or Red card depending on the offence committed
If only there was a place where every wave was absolutely identical, and each surfer’s wave could be rated against easily defined, measurable criteria.
you try watching a whole contest like that, it’ll look like gymnasts on a trampoline within 10 waves
Sounds like it could work, but only weight the audience vote lightly. Almost like that singing show, American idol. Have the judges score count more, obviously, but factor in the crowd vote as well. Seems like it would draw more people to watch, but what to do about those Brazilian guys? You know good and well that they would have more support. It is a pickle and I’m not sure there is any fix, maybe it’s good the way it is??
I’d like to see a gymnastics style judging where in the said competitor pre-surf could turn in a “run”. Have the run laid out for the judges to judge based on degree of difficulty for a perfect run and judge based on how well the competitors complete the run.
that’s so parkour