ASP Brazil

There are some terrible claims going on this evening.

Agreed. Still love watching pros grovel too.

Is Taj now a mathematical chance at top spot on the tour?

Do Carmo claiming against Kelly yesterday mid wave after a mediocre barrel was terrible. He concentrated so much on his claim that he bogged his turn.

Parko speaking his mind in the post heat interview, any penalties of you're deemed to get too close to openly sledging the event?

"It's not a wave that you'd come to surf"

I think Parko summed it up beautifully!!! Seriously rio is a fecking disgrace of a contest.

Kelly's 1st wave... A fluke? or not considering his track record?

mitchvg wrote:

Kelly's 1st wave... A fluke? or not considering his track record?

From arguably the best surfer ever to live its safe to say its skill and not a fluke...no hands too.

Soooo, does it follow that the conditions aren't as shit as Parko was saying?

I don't really think I'm gonna get any mileage out of this. Just at least 1 point though, that it ain't that bad. What's so bad about watching pros trying to surf in conditions that are familiar once in a while, rather than seeing perfect fiji, etc. That get's boring pretty quick too.

Conditions were utterly atrocious when I was watching, and that included during Kelly's first heat. His 10 proved that Kelly can turn shit into sugar (as if we needed any further proof).

mitchvg wrote:

rather than seeing perfect fiji, etc. That get's boring pretty quick too.

Does it?? Not for me...

Fuck we see those sorta clips pop up day in day out. Perfect indo, etc. Same shit, totally predictable, never gonna happen to me...

Alright to watch and dream about perfect waves sometimes, but watching those rio conditions is way better. Snapped a board on Sat, in similar conditions to rio last night. Now I can see that I'm (and 2 mates) aren't the only one getting fucked up. And I can see how the pros get good waves in those conditions too, cos I won't be flying to Fiji next week instead. Vortex Bandits is another example, they could've just shown epic Lennox for 20min, but they showed lefts in the bay, onshore beachies, etc. good stuff.

Maximum wave scores of 3 (and that's with the judges being generous). 1 turn waves (if they're lucky). It can hardly be considered professional surfing if the waves are too short & too shit to put on an exhibition of what good surfing is all about.

If I wanted to watch shit surfing in shitty waves I'll go down to Jan Juc.

Would any other sporting codes consider sending their athletes( or teams) out into or onto, such constantly terrible appalling conditions?
Other sporting codes such as rugby union have in the past made the mistake of playing on rubbish surfaces for the possible financial reward or appealing to 'the masses' , such as Hong Kong in 2010, but I'm guessing they won't be back to showcase the game , as the fixture (in my opinion) was completely unrewarding and lacklustre to watch due to a myriad of foreseeable mistakes made such as the pitch preparation.
There would be most likely countlessly more (and better) examples of these historical oversights recorded in other sporting codes, to which the 'sporting governing body' of said code would have then made the appropriate adjustments.
They send out rugby union, rugby league , soccer, afl teams to play in rain, hail and sun because it doesn't consistently change the viewing enjoyment, in-fact it may even add to the excitement.
In my onion even dangerously constructed Half pipe at the winter olympics offered some viewing pleasures, (at the expense of the riders likely resulting injuries), but the IOC wouldn't consider sending the contestants out into a kids rail park designed for the learners :
Ive got heaps of good ideas Lets send the worlds best Tennis players out onto a half court in the rain mid winter for The Australian Open , or the football world cup instead of brazil, play twice the sized pitch in the middle of the desert, a formula one race with cheep secondhand shitboxes drink driving round a Woolworth's car park. I reckon all these ideas are better than sending the worlds best out to surf in Rio.
The point that id like to make is that why does 'surfing' offer the viewers such shit vision to watch? and how the hell will they ever entice more interest with an event such as 'Rio'?

Which leads on to the primary question . Which elite , high performance waves in the world appealing to the current viewing audience, do we need and want to see?
How long will we have to endure the pain of watching the demise of the ASP, and the best surfers suffer on the beaches of 'Rio'

After a slow start I thought rio turned out alright, it wasn't the prettiest event but I didn't mind seeing how the pros tackle stuff most surfers would take one look at and go nah. For me it was more entertaining than the aus leg, snapper was ok, margs was shit apart from the day at the box, and bells was pretty boring particularly the final at 3ft winki which was just a joke, although described on fuel as one of the most exciting bells finals ever hmm. You can see these fellas in pristine barrels all over the net, good to see them earn their keep.

for those people who like to see the pros surf shit.....

what about that is entertaining? I saw loads of really low scoring heats where even the best in the world couldn't put lipstick on the pig.

Spent heats and heats waiting for a good ride in amongst closeouts. What was entertaining about that?
Kelly's wave was insane but DeSouza couldn't get a single ride back on him. That's hardly a fair contest of surfing skills.

This has been the most mediocre start to a year I can remember. On every level.
Still, I'll be glued to the screen come Fiji.

As I said above, it's an ego boost seeing pros grovel and you can see how it's done well (at times) in conditions which are pretty familiar.

Anyway, just sussed the table. Bourez has won 2/4 CT events this year!? And has won 200 large