"But my heart wants Filipe..."
I woke up long before the sun this morning to watch live professional surfing. Oh I can get so grumpy about it all, like a father who has grand expectations for a talented but spastic daughter. I see what is possible and want to pull, tug, push, prod toward the ideal. My efforts often read as pure criticism but it is a criticism born of love and there I sat, bathed in the warm glow from my computer screen, watching live professional surfing, listening to Pete Mel and Kaipo then to Joe Turpel and the ’89 World Champion Martin Potter.
I’m not about to even try to give a day one recap here. As revealed, I am a talentless man and it is difficult for me to riff on what I see remotely. I need to be there, loafers in the sand, with The People, in order to feel it. In order to breathe it. Plus, we have Longtom and no surf journalist is performing at a higher level than he right now. To rob even one jot, one tittle, from his potential arsenal would be an absolute crime but there were two points impressed upon me this early morning.
For all the pulling, tugging, pushing, prodding, for all the constructive criticism (too long, too boring, too etc.), The WSL is doing much right. The highlight packages between heats, for example, absolutely sparkle. It is a good show which teeters on possibly being great.
And Martin Potter, who happened to win a World Title in ’89, weighed in on the 2018 World Title Race making the call that Julian Wilson is going to win the Pipe Masters but Gabriel Medina is going to win the whole thing.
You know, of course, that there are three potentials left. Filipe Toledo, Julian Wilson and Gabriel Medina.
Filipe lost his round 1 heat to I-can’t-remember and Longtom-will-fill-us-in and was relegated to the dreaded Round 2. A loss there would have spelled the official end to his campaign and Martin Potter, who coincidentally won his own World Title in ’89, threw down his prediction. Julian for Pipe, Gabe for the whole shooting match, Filipe for Mr. Congeniality though he did add, “My heart wants Filipe…but once Gabriel has the taste of blood in his mouth he’s just too good.”
Do you agree? Is ’18 over? Filipe, for the record, went out and destroyed Sammy Pupo in the dangerous Round 2. Barrels and airs.
Barrels and airs.
I’ve got Filipe for both Pipe and the title.
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Well, this one has aged poorly.
I love the positivity, Chas – good take. I also love Europe because the waves suck relatively to the other tour stops and thus all the bails and closeouts are way more relatable to me as a San Diego surfer.
With all due respect to Longtom’s critique of Keanu’s win ratio, he, Keanu, is well deserving of his place on the Jeep Loserboard.
There’s aways a a chance a spoiler can come out of nowhere, have a good heat and knock Medina out of the race, or Filipi or wilson
Idk.. Callinan has been going berserk, his next heat with Gabby is going to be mental. I think how Gabs handles/runs it will tell if he the guy this year or no
2019 WSL COMMENTARY TEAM –1990s matt hoy, and 1980s Occy, Bruce”its gold, gold, gold for Wilson” McAvaney, Ray” Not a good place to be huh John ” Warren, Kenny “every fucking surfer with an S in his name” Calander , ROY and HG doing the post show wrap and Lee Li Chin taking care of post heat interviews
As awestruck as i am to see Chaz tip his hat to the production value of the WSL’s webcast, i cannot for the life of me forgive the lack of oversight in the category of its paid advertisement and its brutal redundancy.
Both Jeep and that fucking cell phone case have not only thrust themselves into my live stream, i am forced to watch the same fucking commercial time and time again complete with a shit whistling soundtrack that makes my earsbleed just enough to not drowned out the beyond tone deaf “surf the world” campaign put together by those at Jeep. I mean, fuck me if you cant require them to at least package two edits per if you’re going to play them 3 times in a given heat!! Shit people! its called marketing, use some creativity. Dress up Striders little jet ski like a jeep wrangler and have him hanging out the top like the 16 year old orange county girls that purchase them. If the NHL can make a Zamboni look like a Toyota Tundra, why not a Ski Wrangler? Throw his putrid water color commentary courtesy of the Life proof phone case from a fucking cell phone.
Let’s get back to the good old days of blatant product placement to at least let us know theyre trying.
*these ideas are the intellectual property of capt planet and therefore subject to copyright where applicable
Fair enough but to me surfing is catching waves not just sitting there waiting for the wave to help you win
What a load
If there were no scores and the judges just said after the heat “we reckon he surfed best” gabby would have 3 world titled
So this is the “10th Edition”?
This bodes well for Instituto Gabriel Medina. Enrollment at Brazil’s premiere trade school had dropped significuntly since Toledo’N Time™(TNT) dominance.
Ghost written article. If it was by Chas, a Rip Curl article would have reference to North Korea!
Anyone else get the email for the PPV survey from WSL?
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
let me check my junk mail
The questions are a great snapshot into thier direction/cluelessness
Can you screenshot?
Sorry, was too eager to get my 50% off on shit I was never gonna buy
I hope they had that ‘yewwww’ cleared by Loges, it’s not very on brand.
50% off what? if its 50% less turpel then sign me up
Wondering when the Grit was gonna have a go with that one. I did however get a 50% off code for the WSL store…… i still would need to take out a second mortgage to buy a shirt so i can walk around saying “no…I’m Gabriel Medina”
If it goes PPV I guess I’ll be more productive in life.
Pottz can’t string together two factually correct sentences in a coherent manner while commenting.How the fuck is he going to predict anything?
Why do they say, “Male” Ripcurl Pro Portugal?
Seems like they used to say, “Mens”. Fucking politics
MEO is the sponsor, but i keep hearing mayo and it’s making me hungry
I keep interpreting meo as the Spanish word for piss and it’s making me think of Michelob brewed with organic brains
Miche-lobe brewed with organic brains
grammar. It is one contest with female and male divisions. Instead of two contests, one for men and one for women.
Same as when Rosy, Jordy or Kneeboarder always insist on using the word ‘year’ multiple times per breath but the best they can manage is to say ‘your’.
your having a really good your Jordy, what are you doing differently to last your?
RIP Tony Greig.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Sponsored by the Portuguese Mail Service. It’s a homophone.
Round 2’s are starting to look like QS1000s.
Owen, ADS, Colapinto, Toledo, Zietz, Andino, Flores?
Sorry but Pete and Kaipo are just incredibly unprepared. So many mistakes and bad calls and unease with each other. Painful to watch.
true. Chas, any chance of some BG alternative commentary for finals day?
I’ve been trying to figure out the tech for something like this for 5 whole years now!
hmm, damn. anyone here know?
Vid/Podcast in Mystery Science Theater style?
oh yes, excellent idea. but live. more like additional commentary, not alternative commentary.
brilliant!! We can make a robot out of Zeke Lau’s head and Kalohe’s pre programmed post heat interviews!!
Ain’t that Jazzy P’s forte?
Problem was less technical and more or a belief that the existing commentators ain’t that bad and whomever we cast wouldn’t be nearly as coherent.
WPS teamed with chazz Micheal Michaels. ( I suspect Chazz is easier to understand in print but I reckon it would be entertaining)
Ben M could do the whole thing solo. not much about the surfing but plenty of name dropping. (probably best calling the early ladies rounds)
Fuck you Kerrby Wan-Kenobi. I can talk about myself for days. That’s why my only friends comment remotely on surf gossip webpages.
Could you do a Roy and HG style commentary like they used to – turn sound down and up on a couple funny pricks – pod or similar vid??
True, listening to commentary on a QS1000 makes you appreciate these guys a bit more. There not perfect but they’re the best show in town.
ugh… you should have responded to my email way back when they were doing it via youtube. it was very very doable before it went behind the evil empire’s walled garden.
chas is bad at email, generally
Have you read Phil jarrets autobio?
Its great and another sweet love story. Xxx
podcast live while your watching, after a toot and a bloody mary
The answer is in the thread. BG comments section ‘Live’ on a poddy for each comp. Much like the comments section cunts like Mr Marcus would be weeded out and the strong would prevail. Team pairs of prolific’s like Wigs and Audit for example and let em have a dig. I think it’d be funny and I’d listen, and what I want matters in this world of feels. Better still if they’re on the sand at any given CT.
Too right, I think we all get enough pointless bickering at home without a double down on the webcasts.
kypo couldn’t buy his way into an announcing booth for any other sport. mel has his moments.
Ronnie and Ross were a good combo.
Well, Ross can’t be busy at the moment. He might need a few shekels as the winning bonuses, (bonusi?), have dried up.
smart money is on kirk flintoff