"Is the hopeful financial hysteria of the WSL and its breathless broadcast and its branding ambitions really us?"
(Editor’s note: Earlier today, the writer Matt George, younger brother of Sam who wrote yesterday’s opinion piece about surf commentary, sent me a story with a brief note. “Please post this in response to Sam’s opinion feature.” I like Matt, alway have. Worked with him at a surf mag for a year in the early twos. He’s inflated. He’s boyish. And very macho. The sort of man who’ll shake your hand so hard you can feel the wires. I think this story is a rebuttal to yesterday’s comments. I could be wrong etc.)
Surfers,
Read this editorial again carefully.
And slowly.
And twice.
And out loud to yourself.
There is a great deal of love in there.
And unquestioned credibility.
And heaven knows…we need this if it is ever going to work: The convincing of our credibility to the unbelievers. The one thing our sport has always fought for and never achieved. All the way back to the IPS.
Do we really need to convince strangers that our sport is spectacular? Is our goal a mediocre slot in the corrupt world of the modern Olympics? Broadcast at 9:45pm EST after the Curling?
Do we really need the money it provides Soccer players? Or NFL stars? Or Golfers? Money? Branding? Billboards on a freeway?
Beer and Cigarette companies have been doing that since the 60’s. Is that what we need?
The enemy is at the gates, Surfers.
Is the hopeful financial hysteria of the WSL and its breathless broadcast and its branding ambitions really us?
Are we really more interested in insulting each other with forgettable pithy remarks online instead of listening to informed opinions and meditating on our own?
Instead of controlling the destiny of our own unique and remarkable surfing passion? Is this our forum? Posting like trolls under the bridge with anonymous, impotent remarks online instead making the changes that we want as our forefathers did, handing it to us on a silver platter?
We, the surfers, still own the spirit of our sport.
We, the surfers, still own the vision.
With every wave we ride.
I say do not react, but re-instruct. Online. Instagram. Facebook. Twitter. Whatever. The brave new world. Ok…So be brave.
Let us form our own place in this world as we always have, but now with these new platforms of power to reach out. Tell them. Tell them all. That which we all want the people to really know.
From our doubting parents to the billionaire halls of global media. Our sport is a wild Mustang. In each of our hearts. You know it and I know it.
My name is Matt George, and I do not need some silly nickname online to hide behind.
My name is Matt George and I am right here.
Let’s hear it.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Right. Because all this is so important. Do either of you actually even surf?
That entire sentence is life goals
Surfing doesn’t need the Olympics, or mass sport enthusiast appeal. Surfers shouldnt pander to the whims of the public enmasse. But we do need public respect for oceanic environmental issues, and beach access. So having a tight surf industry, and media is vital. Just keep it on our own terms.
BG and STAB are carrying the torch that SURFER / SURFING / and especially SW Australia and Tracks raised earlier, and I am lit by the open ended comments as much, or more than editorial, as long as their are videos, and photos. The WSL needs to read these rants and adjust, because if they veer corporate any further, IE: commentator crews in matching suits with straightass haircuts, or ignore what pisses surfers off, people will bail.
The reality is that Surfing will never be like soccer (outside of Rio)… So I dont mind if big companies like Jeep etc. pay in to sell their goods (that sexy whispering babe Corona ad is one of the best ads in advertising history — it makes time stop — so good for them). With these ads the WSL has brought me amazing experiences, and I respect them for doing it.
The biggest problem with the WSL is their looney judging staff, and lack of equal national judging representation for every event. If they dont fix it, and if they dont get better surf locations dialed in, that will be their achilles heal.
the contests are not meant for us.
the WSL does not care what we think.
pro surfing is meant to sell the idea that capitalism = freedom.
it was the military that sent Severson on a mission to the north shore to record what was going on.
nothing is what it seems
I really think he’s on to something here. I was so lucky to have an older brother that surfed, so my first bellyboard was at 3 years old. Had a skateboard waiting for me before I was born. Literally. Obviously couldn’t ride it for a few years, but played with it like a Tonka Truck, I’m told. Point being, surfing was important. Outsiders would never get it. There was always a difference between Surfers and People Who Surf. To me, it looks like there’s enough money in it, for guys at least. Got some extra talent, and a fuck-ton of drive and ambition? Try to hack it on the QT. Crazy ability, but not a jersey guy? That’s what V-logs are for. We don’t need to sell this idea inbetween the gymnastics and curling. Kids wanna go for it? More power to them. But real surfing is always gonna be something that exists outside of some attempt at “Branding.” Guys charging Mullaghmore or whatever remote slab could probably care fuck all about that stuff.
Some advice please, brothers and sisters, regarding using your real name.
By now you all know mine, and I have never felt the need to hide it from you. It wasn’t a conscious decision, however, more a matter of how I managed to log in.
Would it be good housekeeping to change that to an anonymous account, in terms of privacy protection?
I only want to be paranoid if it’s absolutely warranted.
Cheers.
And sorry for the threadjack, Matt G. Oh, and a question for you: If you were to direct In God’s Hands II, what would you change – apart from everything?
Maybe you start looking for a new job and your prospective employer googles your name. Not much of a problem if you have a common name like John Smith, but otherwise all your posts will come up on that google search. Are you sure you want your employer reading all that?
Maybe you start dating again. Do you want your new love interest reading all that?
Maybe something happens and you end up in the news. Do you want journalists reading all that and then publishing it?
All the risks are on the downside.
Pick some witty name and run with it.
Personally, a hoot and a shaka on the paddle back out to the peak was enough for me.
I can just see you out the front of the Cinema in 98 , looking up at the Billboards , trying to decide between The Coen Bros’ The Big Lebowski and In God’s Hands …. ?https://youtu.be/cd-go0oBF4Y
Gotta love the Dude ……
had that same experience (I think we may have rented it) in fact, my wife still makes fun of that movie every once in while! 20 years later!
sometimes when I head out for a surf she’ll say “what if I told you… there’s a wave out there…”
always cracks me up!
This is the blue print of every single surf mag since Jesus was wearing a Cross ?
The surf magazine Algorithm …..
You by Ad Space
We interview your Surfer
We publish photo of him in Interview
Two Ads for the price of one
We happy
You happy
If No Sponsor to pay for Ad space
No interview
No Photo
No matter how good the surfer is
No matter how good the photo .
nailed it JB and it’s exactly this subject that was responsible for the formation of the original blackshorts here on the north shore.
Thanks Huli Oou for sharing and raising the subject . Alternative views of Events ,If left untold , from Surfing’s Past will sadly rest in the dust bin of history ?
With respect, posting in your own name in the age of internet is a fool’s errand. All the risk is on the downside, like sending dick picks to a girl with your face visible.
I don’t quite get the point Matt is trying to make. It’s eerily similar to the sook that Dirk had when he got waterman of the year and warned everyone to stop slagging off the WSL. Though I do agree with the question do we really need the money they pay soccer players?
The surf brands never wanted surfing to get *too* mainstream (won’t someone write about the aborted coke tour?), day to day surfers never wanted it to go mainstream because of the crowds. The only ones who did were the 100 or so gun surfers from Australia and the US (and a few other places) who wanted to get paid to surf. Well with respect to Rabbit et al, it would have been better for everyone if there’d been a simple one off world title event every year and the rest of the year they got paid to make ads for Rip Curl wet suits and Quiksliver board shorts. The tour has always been a farce and who really cares; it makes no difference to the rest of us when we are sitting in the lineup.
Sometimes I wonder if editorship of Surfer magazine makes you go a bit crazy (hello Ben). Hell, it’s not like you’re the Ayatollah of Surfing and your word is law. You get to decide which pretty pictures get run and in theory correct all the typos in the articles (hello Ben). Tracks and ASL were always much more irreverent and took the piss. Compare Lash Clone with Maynard and the Rat (maybe Murphy the Surfie was irreverent, but that was over 50 years ago). Surfer always had this weird air of stewardship about it, and maybe it was back in the day, but that doesn’t put the editor on any kind of pedestal.
It’s telling that Matt remarks “As surfers, we still own the spirit of our Sport”. Maybe it’s just a poor choice of words on Matt’s part, but if not, sorry to be the one to tell you: Surfing is not a sport. It’s more akin to fishing or rock climbing. It’s a pastime. It’s something you do. I defy Matt to convince me otherwise.
And once you realise it’s not a sport, all the other crap falls away. Why are we even having this conversation? WGAF if there are barbarians at the gates? Let ’em in! Won’t change a jot for me. If we went back to 1940s era where there were just a handful of surfers in the water, hell we’d all be more happy. Whether you post under your real name or made up won’t change that fact. Who cares about the brands going broke or the WSL going tits up and the Olympics throwing us a bone? It doesn’t change us looking at the weather map and tide chart and wondering where to surf today.
If Matt has a manifesto, i’m all ears. But right now I don’t see the point he’s trying to make.
Respectfully, LWSS
Perfect
Yes, good catch, Matt actually called it a sport ‘5’ times. (very telling of how he views it). I’ve heard surfing called –the Art Form–a Lifestyle– a Way of Life– as most surfers daily check the weather, the tides and adjust their “lifestyle” around them–as opposed to an organized sport-(Rules– Competition–Winners–Losers.
And if we could just also convince Longtom and Jen of this also as they seem to propagate this mindset of ‘surfing as sport’, talking about who’s best, rankings, winners losers, title races, strategies, points-judging– they take the Soul out of surfing and debase surfing to a sport as opposed to a lifestyle or way of life, a relationship with the ocean………
I think you need to stick to reading the inertia
Maybe Matt will respond to B.G. and enlighten? us further someday……
Hopefully not
The less heard from that clown and his knob-end brother the better
Totally agree, scale the whole operation down starting with the number of surfers and non elimination rounds. Cater for the surfers who like me are interested in state of the art performance surfing, something i dont see at my local beach. I have surfed for 47 years and have spent shitloads on equipment, surf trips etc Watching 2 guys [or gals] bobbing around in the ocean for half an hour is never going to be a must watch experience for non surfers.
Yeah, me too, cept I’m not a big fan of gymnastic(flips and skate tricks) those seem to me to fit better with snowboarding or skating, motocross etc than surfing. (wavepool time) I mean its pretty amazing surfers can even do those tricks, but IMHO they just look forced when done on an ocean wave.
I like the Redbull approach…that Shipsterns event that Nathan Florence won is far more interesting to me at least, than most modern surfing. I dont care who sponsors it or what ads are run, I dont buy things that way, whether its sunglasses, or beer or cars.
I think that what the WSL have done to ‘our sport’ or are trying to do, is package it, brand it, and see if it can be sold in a can, which goes against everything surfing means to us. How would catholics feel if the vatican started bring out pope T shirts, Jebus coffee mugs etc? (some would be stoked)
i love competition surfing and think it is great that kids can choose it as a career, but much prefer power carves on the face.
Events held in heavy waves are where the audience will become fully engaged, the event at Nazare last year was exciting and people will always be drawn to watching impending doom, threat of injury.
The comment above on dressing the commentators in suits made me laugh, conjured up images of the early Beatles, Joe would be Paul of course!
No, not at all, that is beyond ludicrous
Never saw a surfing wild mustang. We do have wild horses at our local though https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Low crowd level since Friday this last swell? If my recognition serves me
I’m in the tropics right now, but yeah, thought someone might recognise it
I absolutely agree. The last thing we want for our sport is for it to turn into F1.
So Sam, will you come to Matt’s defense in say, two days time?
The beginning of non contest weeks are usually slow around here unless Derek exposes a young promiscuous professionals move to any big city to really expose herself.
Perfect time to drop a response in your real name. Undeniably fills a content vacuum too. We’re usually in a better mood during the work weeks beginning. FYI…
Do you think Sam will be getting upset that Matt is getting more comments than him?
For sure.
Now it makes sense everyone…. SSD had to take his wife/family to Italy to make up for that poor decision in 1999 at the Edwards Cinema.
From God’s Hands to the Holy See …..Still beats North Shore to Lemoore ?
Read and leave he meant, Mr. MG
Exactly.
As you will note, I don’t hide behind any fake name. Let me tell you what was the single lamest thing I’ve ever heard out of a surfer’s mouth–I know, huge qualifier–it came from your brother, in an old, probably surfing magazine, Q& A with multiple surfers, asking them where does So Cal turn into Northern Cal. (As an aside, there is no room for debate, the same place, Bank Wright identified it in Surfing California: the Golden Gate Bridge. The question of course had set up a false dichotomy, by eliding Central California, which starts at Point Conception.) Do you know what your brother said in reply? Point North. Thus trying to claim Northern California starts at Port Hueneme. Seriously the most ludicrous statement to ever be uttered by a surfer. Anyways, I hope that was Sam and not you.
Almost forgot, Aloha Matt.
weird