Big if true.
The wildest, and most unexpected, of rumors floated across my astral plane today. So, there I was, early-ish morning, knowing that the World Surf League season kick-off, the Lexus Pipe Pro, was going to be called off because Kelly Slater told me it would but addiction gonna addict so there I was.
Watching Yeti commercials.
And that’s when it happened. My phone sparked to life with a message from an almost wholly reliable source declaring, “Heard some hints that Box to Box is back filming Make or Break but not for Apple TV.
Wow and whoa.
But you certainly recall the behind-the-scenes streaming program, from the geniuses behind Drive to Survive, that showcased what happened when professional surfers stopped being polite and started being real. Surfing’s best, and only, historian Matt Warshaw declared it a “near-absolute triumph,” writing:
Zero chance the show will match Drive to Survive for viewer share. But with Make or Break we nonetheless have something that feels true to the sport (the tiny sliver of the sport that is competitive surfing, anyway), while also having the potential to be a modest hit in the general marketplace.
We have Tyler Wright and Gabe Medina, both of whom, to my admittedly biased eye, are more compelling personalities than any of the Drive to Survive gasoline alley hotshots.
We have women in general. Survive is a high-bred sausage party.
We have sharks, and while I appreciate the drama an apex predator brings to the table, I was both grateful and impressed that the producers chose not to overplay the shark fatality just prior to finals day at the 2020 Honolua Bay Maui Pro. The death was instead presented, correctly, as a trigger for the WSL’s quick and bold decision to move the event to Pipeline, where the women competed for the first time.
The show went dark before the Kelly Slater culling at Margaret River, but and again, rumors suggest it is back. The question is where? The World Surf League certainly has neither the money nor sense to air…
…oh, wait.
Days ago we learned that ESPN+, lovingly called “The Ocho,” was set to air a behind-the-scenes offering and might this be it?
If yes, a real fall from grace for Box to Box, which could not lose just a few short years ago, now doing something that ocho and a half people will see.
I want to direct a streaming series about that.
Erik Logan’s ghost reaching from beyond the grave and cursing with hepatitis fingers.
More as the story develops.
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Dystopian “swarmed by camera and mic” vibes at WSL events is a must if we’re gonna save competitive surfing. I wonder if they need to hire a boom mic guy to really get in the competitors space during those ecstatic highs and vulnerable dream crushing moments? Regardless, I’m down for another season. Never understood the Apple TV thing. It might do better on a service people actually use.
Why can’t she do gouges like jj? She’s got the thighs for it.
Be good to see Morgs post CT career ep, back collecting glasses at that pub, still driving that shitty corolla wagon… yew!
A whole show on post CT careers would be way more entertaining.
non[discloser barfs.#>_rotten tamotillos
Hangover barf/slight upchuck from last nights rowdy debauchery while I’m eating nachos and drinking a Negra Modelo with lime to kill the pain.
lunada bay minus rocks…and waves. https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx….
https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx….
Mr Sushi, Salsa, Sauza photographed by Dana Edmunds. Blue haze, all around. I remember reading numerous articles with Dana’s photo credits in Hawaiian Airlines magazines and other publications. My Haze has lifted from my big night couple days ago. A rare 2 day hangover. Until next time.
heineken outta a keg! also a 2-day hanova. as you note, this haze was the result of dozens of attempts o’er 52 years to bring a single 35mm black&white into infinity. we all liked the first (or any) surf pic anyone took. call me a klepto…Dana was part of a diligent group of waterboys in the HB/MB area. a tight group that grew up surfing all weird ass conditions with all eyes pointing towards the islands, where Dana eventually settled. BTW, he was a kneeboarder. aloha, G! (I fwd his pic to him decades ago for clearance. no reply.)
It was a lot of vodka and seltzer water with citrus. All day long. Numerous local Hazy microbrews from the Kauai Island Brewing Company. Out of a keg. Some canned Sapporo beer, then more vodka sodas.Some meow beer. Restless sleep after getting some heat from the wife following my drunken midnight feast that left crumbs and food all over the kitchen. I cleaned it up after her scoldings. Followed by having to get up early to have some meetings with a roofer and a cable tv repair guy. Not a healthy feeling the next day. Had to hair of the dog. Early. Then the Negra Modelos later on. could still feel it the second day. Polluted. Now I’m back. ready again.
Kneeboarder, where have they all gone? Always liked watching them at Sunset Cliffs and La Jolla when I was young.
did wifee cut you off at your knees? make you wear a leash? viva steep cliffs and volcanic rock shores…”He jumped. Or he was pushed?”
She didn’t cut me at the knees. I just didn’t want to hear her scolding about stuff I was going to clean up myself a little later anyways. She wears the leash. And collars. I have a few different collars (patent leather, velvet) and leashes, (chain, leather) for her to display for me like the show pony she is. And various riding crops and whips to tickle or discipline her firm, round haunches. She definitely is a thoroughbred.
send and edit then resend-it off as hallmart card…return the leash/
i’m ur sponsor…code words/ beers on me…rubbersoul/
“Make or Break” WSL Transformers Div. Behind the Scenes! would definitely Get da Views Brah
An episode exposing/showing/revealing Elo’s transgressions en route to getting tossed would be the only reason to watch this instead of a Nathan Florence you-tube episode.
how can this be worth watching when you know that in the end the true womens champion gets ripped off at trestles?
just seeing that image of Tyler standing tall, arms outstretched, makes me say No.
Can’t. Wait.
You’re late to the story Chas, I mentioned this when it was first announced that ESPN is getting the deal.
“ESPN2 will also air 11 episodes of WSL: Inside Pro Surfing”
Rachel Axon (possibly AI) broke the news a week ago.
https://www.sportsbusinessj…
I take that back it was in the original presser.
https://espnpressroom.com/u…
Maybe there’s more to the story about why Oprah jettisoned Erik Logan.
If I remember correctly Oprah is no fan of Ziff.
Hmmm, well Matt, let’s not forget how the wooz illegally fenced off the access track to Honolua forcing locals to risk a paddle across the bay. RIP Robin Warren …. Soon after the shark hit and locals began to voice displeasure – down came the fences and off they did scuttle, tails betweeen their legs only to genderwash a brave new beginning for Wimmen at Pipe.
Good one my Kiwi braddah
Right there, was when Elos head should have rolled. Fucken scumbags.
Which newbie will do the most damage this year? Houshmand looks dangerous.
he rips!!!
Jacob Wilcox!!
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Hopefully there will be an episode devoted to the rise and fall of ELo, omitting none of the sordid details.
Elo – WSL – Chief Executive Orifice violator
Insane that none of that has publicly leaked yet.
Who did he publicly leak on?
He sure pissed all over surfing and his own super, spic and span loafers …
Golden showers beget golden parachcutes
did Don get a soviet chute?
my apologies for not going through every comment before writing a comment on the same theme…
Hawaii Surf Girls, the box + hepatitis fingers, there ya go Chas direct that…
It pretty much writes itself!
gofundme…69/11…got a 1090 clear feed…FM/