Has Martin Potter been disappeared like the once-everywhere Chelsea Cannell?
The commentariat hit beautiful notes during this year’s Jeffrey’s Bay contest. This is, I believe, an opinion that is difficult, perhaps, impossible to argue against.
Ross Williams looks as if something otherworldly is feeding his vitality. Like an octopus he throws out a first, a second, a third tentacle, fastening it onto every technical aspect of a surfer’s game.
Is it because he once surfed a J-Bay final (against a teenage Joel Parkinson) that made him convulse with information? Or is all that practice in the shower paying off?
“I’m absolutely in love with what I do,” says Ross. “It’s a total privilege to be a retired pro surfer and, then, suddenly, be gifted the chance to relay all the information I have logged in my head. I love it. I love it.”
The big-wave champion Peter Mel, who let’s be frank is the provocative Aaron’s Blakey’s less attractive twin, has become so prolific with opinion, sound bites of board design and passing quips, that the viewer looks forward to gazing at him dreamily.
Strider Wasilewski? Even if it looks as if some evil spell has transformed his famous attack dog tits into something that would make even a seasoned whore shudder, his work is candid.
Rosie, of course, is a voluptuous pleasure.
But where was Martin Potter, the former world champion whose stern countenance harnesses entire events? Whose elegnant, and non-specific accent, marks his refinement among a group, who let’s be frank again, are marked by their very provincial tones.
Was he sacked for his frankness? For his ability to cut through the haze and deliver simple, yet cutting, commentary?
Had he disappeared into the same secret garden as the once-everywhere Chelsea Cannell?
According to the WSL, Pottz is “still very much on the A-team. Mr. Potter shall return for Tahiti. The team take some events off to recharge and hang with family.”
The deal is, commentators take one or two events off per year, which is arranged with the head of programming. Ms Cannell, says the WSL, is “still part of the WSL Broadcast Team. She took some time off of traveling to spend with the family, but has been contributing to the studio side of things.”
I’ve never seen her in the flesh. I look like a sexier version of Frankenstein. Not a dwarf by any stretch. I’ve done so much worse than Rosie but here in disqus land let me be me.
Na mate. I just don’t wanna root a bird with bigger feet than me.
i just wish the guys would talk about Kelly some more. talking about Kelly only took up around 70% of the webcast for the entire event at JBay, that simply is not enough air time.
Pottz is training for a rematch with Gerr.
I’ve got my fully articulated licence so I can drive semis and tractors but I still wouldn’t be game to take Rosie for a spin.
As long as you double de-clutch on the downshifts, you’ll be apples mate.
Puttz, the only comentator in the entire roster of vocabulary deprived idiots that actually sounds like he hates every second of his task maybe decided for himself that enough is enough? As for Condor, I have a sneaky suspicion he’s back on the crank.
They look like a fkn barber shop quartet mid swoon with Condor and Ron Dog supplying the baritone and Ross n Raspberry blending in the harmonies and doo wops
I’ve technically got nothing against Peter Mel, except whenever I see him, I think he’s Lance Mountain and get excited for a few seconds.
I’d like to hope Pottz has been at the International College for Surf Commentary, widening his vocabulary, and learning how to react to good surfing other then just saying “Wow” every time
i thought Shmoo was doing well. He’s the only one to commentate from within the tube at snapper and he got the cut. Lets have some variation of ranting as even the commentators must get sick of their own voices. BTW Pottz is on a silent retreat with Rasta in India.
I have yet to notice Turpel take as much as one event off the last few years. Maybe even the WSL knows that toying with people’s dreams to that extent would be too cruel.
just as a passing aside, did anyone on the commentary team say the word “shark” even once during the broadcast?
Not that I heard. Think they didn’t want to jinx it or something
While Mick versus Julian was the dream semi, I knew something was missing but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It was, of course, the absence of Turpel and Potter; the duo who called the infamous shark attack. Could it be that the two were so emotionally scarred by the incident that they feared returning to the scene where a savage death almost played out before them?
Thats my thinking – also because Pottz reaction to the attack was “Oh Shit” on air, the WSL couldn’t risk kids not being allowed to watch all the advertising because it was rated PG
Good call, Pete Mel is Ronnie’s Johnny Drama.
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Pete Smell has a head like a chicken nugget.
It was such a pleasure not to hear “that’s what you’ve gotta do” “pizazz” “bang” “speed power and flow” “when I was on tour” “best on the planet” “…that bottom turn” “wow”…sadly the respite was short lived…
“and why?!….because that’s what it takes……….”
And “You’re absolutely right Joey!”
“Well and truly (insert whatever)…”
Take 2 events off a year? Please! Give me a job on the WSL commentary team. They work, what, 20 to 30 days a year?
They do a morning show every day of the waiting period regardless if the comp is on or not. On the lay days they still have to film filler content. So if they’re lucky the least days they could work a year is 4 x 9 (2 events off) or 36 days a year. If a contest was to take all the way til the last day of the waiting period to complete they would work 12 days per event. No. Not the most difficult job in the world, but I’m pretty sure they have something WSL related to do every day. For me personally, it doesn’t seem like a very glamorous job at all. Don’t know if you’ve ever seen the commentary booth but the irony is that they’re not even watching the event “live” but in a segregated booth watching a bunch of monitors. Many time with their back facing the actual waves. Imagine flying all the way to Chopes or Fiji and commentating from land while the waves are going off in real life a quarter mile to a mile away?!? That bombing year at Chopes – the JJF/Slater semi?? I’d want to be watching and commentating from a boat, taking in all the raw emotion. Having to be there but yet having to witness the same thing we see on tv thousands of miles away would suck in my opinion.
They film a 20 minute spot EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE EVENT? Whoa!
As I sit in my non descript office cubicle in an industrial estate near the port getting the odd glimpse of a heat between budget spreadsheets; I often think of the plight of these poor surf commentators who are forced to have their back to the heats.