The NBA game is fast and fun. The playoff format is sensible and does not end at Lower Trestles. And its rumors sizzle like bacon!
The surf world is small but it does have tentacles everywhere. Like, someone knows someone knows someone who knows a surfer. And, thus, we find ourselves on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. But before we dig in, are you a fan of professional basketball at its highest level? The World Surf League of that sport, called the National Basketball Association, is, by my account, the finest there is.
The NBA game is fast and fun. Its stars shine brightly, dating and marrying starlets. The playoff format is sensible and does not end at Lower Trestles. There have been whole wonderful and different basketball eras. Showtime, Bird and the Parish, Dead Ball, the reign of His Airness, twenty years of Bron, and more.
Winning Time
But back to Oahu where we find our hero, Joey Cabell. Now, you must recall the “finest all-around surfer in the world,” circa the 1960s. He was one of the first thread the tube, re-engaged with surfing as boards got shorter and, most importantly, co-founded the Chart House restaurant.
Have you ever eaten at a Chart House? It is one of the greatest pleasures of mid-40s life. I recommend going early, at 5:00 pm or such and ordering a Grey Goose dirty martini with blue cheese olives and a dozen oysters with your better half. Next, share a prime rib with jus and extra fresh horseradish. Add one side salad et voila.
The first Chart House was in… I can’t remember. The second, Honolulu, I think, where Cabell lived. At the time, he was married to Los Angeles Laker star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s ex-wife.
Well, The Captain allegedly told her, when they were coupled, that other Laker star Magic Johnston and Piston’s dynamo Isiah Thomas had some sort of “special relationship.”
Spicy.
Even if you cannot believe, that is why the NBA is > than the WSL.
Zest.
If two professional surfers were to carry on, secretly, which two would you most wish for?
Nice choice.
David Lee Scales and I, anyhow, discussed this bombshell alongside… you know, I can’t remember that either. Take some headphones down to your local Chart House on a journey of discovery and enjoy.
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worked the SB Chart as a dishdog in ’78. the only romance i had was with The Hobart and leftovers. waiter’s had parcels at The Ranch. waitress’s wouldn’t look at me. checked jalama 11 times and surfed it twice. once alone with a surf pro at 3X o’rhead. most memorable surf day of me life. #scallops##artichoke#coke!
Fooled myself into the Jalama drive twice only to have tent stakes ripped out of the ground by the nonstop wind. I could see potential in the messy swell but damn did it look spooky. Especially tarantulas. But maybe that’s just because I spent too much time butt to nuts around el porto and wasn’t used to seeing empty waves.
haven’t surfed in 25 years and prior to S-line the only indicator of a south swell was checking Porto (lived in MB in my formidal years). the deal then was find someone with a van, have gas & grass money then head south to Oceanside and/or Trestles. thru those years, travelled beyond…and ultimately have surfed the best lefts in Cali: Blacks, Breakwall, Tarantulas, Fuller’s…all extreme venues. But spotting up to check the Jalama surf near The Ranch gate for the first time, K, it was so big that the vibrations of the close-outs could be felt on the cliff, what 300-400 feet high? very damn humbling…but like Mav’s and Jay Moriarty, i promised myself to surf it some big day…and DID. STONED! then…a cheeseburger and a beer. best day ever.
Giant T’s followed by a Jalama Burger is one of surfing’s sweetest things
Michael Jordan sells majority stake in NBA team Charlotte Hornets for $4.37 billion
Ziff reduced WSL to 20 million plus you own Kelly Slater and can make him surf when ever wherever you want, but wait!
Free steak knifes- no buyer
Some would argue that pro surfing is boring and has too much down time and they wouldn’t be wrong, but calling the NBA fast and fun is a terrible exaggeration. Average NBA game takes about 3 hours to wrap and that includes about 2.5 hours of shots from the charity stripe. I picture Kobe Bryant rolling in his grave over “20 years of Bron” and mostly about Brons stint with the Lakers. Dude is a specimen, but has no mid range or long range game. I will take short, skinny white boys sending it at Pipe any day over the NBA.
Who wore it better?
Len Bias or AI? Or Lamar Odom vs Padang AI?
AI was probably partying again two days later. Others not so much.
Mustang Ranch’s Sally’s’? the best lil oarhouse in Nevada. Lamar was a ‘resident’…and must have wored ’em out…
Has anyone here ever surfed Chart House in LA/Malibu? I’d very rarely see it surfable, actually surfed less than that, and never seemed to live up to the lore that it occasionally fired.
Redondo’s Breakwall. It’s on when its on. Chart it!
https://wwcdn.weddingwire.c…
I took a girl there one winter’s night when I was house-sitting a place way, way up Corral Canyon Road and the Santa Ana’s were sounding like banshees, just ripping down thru the canyons. We were sat at a table on the windows, hanging over the water. We ate, she ordered a mud pie for dessert, and I just stared out and down at these Namibia like 1 ft., offshore-kissed rights rifling their way on down the mini point. The house burned down in the Woolsey fire.
Did a bunch of traveling past 10 days and as the miles rolled (or flew past), I found myself being sucked into a few Grit episodes. DLS has a very soothing voice that goes down well with travel. And while I could care less whether someone wears reef booties or helmets in the water, the advice to own the helmet look was pretty good. As for Magic and Zeke, who knows, but they did kiss on national TV at midcourt before an NBA Finals game.
Must be better places to eat down there, than the Chart House.
MoonShadows…north
Bill’s Bean Burrito Factory…south
A dirty martini Chas? Really?
A proper gentlemen orders a vodka
martini drier than the Gobi Desert. Coat the glass with vermouth, then pour it all out. Put only vodka in the shaker. I recommend Kettle One. It’ll taste better and you will look far more distinguished.
I don’t like super dirty, just a splash of olive and ooooeee!
“cocktail onions and a napkin, please. I just hurled”~senior weezee/
bourbon, bourbon, and more bourbon.
Surfing still holds the greatest “special relationship”……. Medina and Neymar
Surfing can’t be better than anything else coz of exceptionally high levels of retard.
Retard ain’t going nowhere.
Nat Young and Nat Young.
comp up next!
NBA finals at Lower Trestles, played on the cobbled stones, would result in a lot of unforced turnovers. And a low scoring affair. Sounds about as exciting as a surfing finals day held there.
As long as Magic and Isiah don’t get bit by a rattlesnake while frolicking in the bushes it will be a great sporting event