And John's perpetual understudy Kolohe Andino steals the yellow jersey!
Gotta love a player who don’t weep like a baby when the inevitable hammer comes down.
The two-time world champ, John John Florence, who blew his knee out in Brazil a week ago, announced earlier (to the surprise of no one, least of all BeachGrit commenters) that his ACL was ruptured, that he’ll be going under the knife, probs won’t be coming back anytime soon and that he’s excited for the “new adventure and everything I will learn along the way.”
John John, who’ll turn twenty-seven in October and who has been on the tour since his mid-year debut in 2011, dazzles with an optimism that might be a legacy of his hard-scrabble childhood, a fifteen-year exercise in character building.
What will John John learn during his year-long convalescence? That the tour forms an insignificant part of the greater world and that he would be better served spending the last few years of his twenties exploring the world on his $1.7 million yacht?
Kolohe Andino, John John’s perpetual tour understudy, meanwhile, moves into the number one position in the ratings, slightly ahead of Rio Pro winner Filipe Toledo.
Love it !!!
Two months late and a buck short -beach grit delivers up the news we already new.
Quality .
I for one welcome elo control over chas and Derek
Everyone keeps jamming on about the Olympics…. but has it ever really been qualified that anyone except Kanoa Igarashi actually cares about going to the damn thing?
Oops etc.
If the kid would just focus now and train hard it could happen for him. He’s got them right where he wants them eyes on the prize John John you could be the worlds greatest bee keeper yet.
Ugh. This blows hard. He was well on his way to another title and such a joy to watch even when he wasn’t on fire. I have just lost interest in watching the rest of the year. I think it might be Felipe’s year now.
Imagine that though. Whoever wins the title now, will only do so because John John is out injured. Ouch to the ego.
Yup.
Like Occy winning in 99 while Kelly was on Annual leave.
Oh… a little gossip here:
Edition:
According to the sources that warned about the JJF’s injury…
Do you know who was responsible for the change of the event on Saturday in Saqurema, from Itauna’s left corner to Barrinha?
Kelly…
He took Pat O’Connell by the neck and took him to see Barrinha…
Oh tell more…
Kelly knew that Barrinha had waves since Friday afternoon (but in the morning already had waves…) …
He saw it early Saturday morning, and took PO’C to see.
His interference saved Saturday’s day, directly, and the championship…
Here the program… Unfortunately, in Portuguese… But you can put the subtitles, translate them…
The guys hit hard and strong WSL, prays for KP, squirts even in the Medina, criticize Italo and Yago (but in a good way, for the good in both, to grow),… and so the program was banned, till youtube…
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Never heard of an ACL (3\4 torn ACL) just healing with time. Whatever doc advised this course of (non) action is mostly at fault here. Shame.
I don’t have any inside info but would guess he went ot a couple of orthopeadic (knee) surgeons who advised surgery and then found a sports physician and /or physiotherapist (someone who does not actually do surgery) who advised to go the non-operative route. This is what he/his team wanted to hear so it’s what they did. Partial ACL tears are difficult to diagnose, the MRI images are oblique to the course of the ligament in the knee, so it is impossible to quantify the degree of damage. A normal ACL looks normal, a complete rupture is exactly that- completely ruptured and then there is something in between. 3/4 torn is a pretty meaningless description. But there is no way an experianced knee surgeon would have advised a professional athlete, particularly as young as JJF (long career ahead) to go back to the extreme pivot/load activity that is competitive surfing without surgically restoring the ACL. Everyone has an opinion and unfortunately sometimes the Dunning-Kruger effect comes into play.
Disclaimer: I am an orthopeadic surgeon.
I read online about a new option “ACL bridge-enhanced reconstruction” which supposedly repairs quicker and with less pain killers. Could this be a possibility? Have you read about this new therapy or is it not a good option?
In short – no. The BEAR (stupid actronym) procedure is an augmented primary repair of an ACL. Primary repair (stitching the thing back together) generally fails because the ACL is inside the knee joint and the joint fluid does not help the healing process at all. Compared to the MCL which will heal itself if protected in a brace (Tyler Wright / Adriano Desouza) Instead of reconstructing the ligament with tissue taken from somewhere else the 2 ends of the tied together with stitches, onto a piece of foam, which is filled with blood. The blood clot becomes fibrous tissue and strengthens into a ‘new’ ligament. The science here is bordering on fanciful thinking and it is definitely not standard treatment. How many pain killers a patient takes in the post operative period is the such a poor marker of surgical success but is an easy statistic to use as bullshit data to show how much
‘better’ something is. Its like saying softops are “80%more fun’ than standard shortboards. The fact that $6mil research money has been directed to this means that somebody is expecting to make a profit. Would I have it in me? Never
bbbb
Talked to a certain Hawaiian ortho doc last year in Fiji. He said JJF needed to go under the knife then. Clear as day.
Docs do like to wield the knife.
talking ain’t going to pay no bills
John John “Jeff” Florence is confined to a wheelchair and spends his days spying on his neighbours. Suspects a neighbour of committing murder….
Rear Window ……
His neighbors are all either Airbnb hoaloes or the corporate surf houses.
My fear is that he ends up as the new “Poopies.”
I’d shoot MYSELF if that happens.
what if “poopies” suddenly gained immense natural talent and became the new jjf? then retires to spend his days filming himself torturing j.o.b.?
The episode where Poopies gets towed into waves on water skis showcased some pretty impressive natural talent. Funny as all hell!
And you see Poops at Desert Point? He’s……from his otherwise cruel master.
What?! No. Oh do share oh Great One of Video Posts. I can’t imagine Poopies not actually dying at Desert Point. I think Fenster would best describe Desert Point unleashing it’s fury upon Poopies.
https://youtu.be/Qn3GkWgAa1A
That would be amazing but “poppies,” while seemingly a happy go lucky young man, doesn’t seem to have any actual talent. For anything.
yeah, it would have to be some kind of shark attack super surfer scenario. they could at least make a film about it. in the end he wakes up in a hospital bed with one leg and one arm missing. it was all just a dream …
After all the Poo Pies JOB threw at JJF and his brothers while they were little kids, JJF likely won’t veer in that direction.
God I hope not. Especially since Nate seems to have carved out a career as a surfer.
backdoor window (?)
Delightfully played
Poor Hurley handsomely paying a wheelchair patient to spy on his neighbors and eat dinner by 4 PM.
And you must continue your story…and?
A plot involving JOB, Momma John, Kaiborg and a stella cast of North Shore tourists. Waiting for Hitchcock to get back to me.
And congratulations to the three Brazilian commentators, two linked to the professional surfing that gave this news two weeks ago.
Professionally, without invading the privacy of JJF, but do it cleanly and informing the public, who prestige the WLS circuit, JJF fans (at least, in Brazil) and the world of surfing in general.
They were forbidden to exhibit their program at Waves (local site Here Brazil surfing in general), because they spoke badly of WSL… Then they ended up going back, published via YouTube, and said WSL had banned the program at Waves.
A good job that no other communication media in the world of surfing had the guts and the will to do!
I won’t say the names, but congratulations!
And congratulations to JJF, the person and athlete, and his staff, by the best decision!
Stay strong, a full recovery, best wishes in all, an a good return in 2020 for another titles
Elo’ Machiavellian brain: JJF’s demise will provide all the cover I need when all my shiny new marketing and strategic initiatives fail to move the needle.
At least we don’t have to see that fucking stupid haircut for a while.
Maybe the surgeons can take a little off the back while JJF is under.
Don’t disrespect the mullet. Kenny Powers is a great man.
https://i.imgflip.com/z4ygo…
That is what 90% of my high school yearbook looked like.
neither the pube beard…
and boom goes the dynamite!
He’s going sailing………
Bummer, all for a stupid flyaway kickout. I still get the feeling he doesn’t really want to be there anyway.
John John’s gonna have a lot of time on his hands, gonna be sitting around a lot resting his knee, so I think what he needs is an epistolary relationship with me.
—
Dear John John,
Sorry to hear you got hurt man, hope the pain’s not too bad. You were doing great up until that one turn. Why’d you even go for that air man, what were you thinking? Or do you sometimes get those momentary blackouts? I get them a lot man, I’m with you. Anyway, what are you gonna do.
Hey you were great at Margaret River, really. Your semi with Caio was close, I was scared for you for a second there but you came through and then you killed it in the final. Some of your turns oh wow you carved the hell out of those waves. Me and the guys we were all going over and over talking about it. We can’t even remember who you were in the final with – you dominated John John. We love you man.
But now you’re out. What are you gonna do? Work on your knee and exercise I guess. Eat well man. Meditation’s good. You know what to do. But are you coming back? Some of the guys are saying you don’t even want to be there, that you wanted this. I don’t know. Guys talk shit.
Do you need any book recommendations? I read a lot. I can recommend some movies too. Just me let me know man.
Get better soon John John – we want you back!
Lucky Al
—
Dear Lucky Al,
Thank you for your letter.
In appreciation of your words of support I enclose some stickers.
Best wishes,
John John Florence
P.S. Got a little joke for you here John John, ease the pain:
Why did the asterisk cross the road?
To clear the way for all the douchebags and losers to get a world title.
Sorry it’s a bit cruel. Just trying to make you smile man!
Is this joke yours? It’s sharp.
I don’t know whose it is. Never heard it before. I don’t know about ‘sharp’ – ‘mean and stupid’ I think describe it more accurately.
Well…
It’s the chance for Kai No Ah… he will win the world title in Pipe, in the final… And will win Pipe too, of course!
And the Olympic Games are going to explode, Chiba is going to erupt!
Kolohe and Jordy will finish… tied in second place…
This is why Kolohe doesn’t have a Target on his back. 2nd Place is no place for top of the Leaderboard.
He used to have a Target on his Board ?
And now when it makes the most sense to have, nothing. They could have got some miles out of such an ad campaign with Kolohe in everyone’s sights. Oh well.