Surfing competitions!!!

[kdropin]

really i feel like jordy totally fell off this year..

[FW - Fan]

I don't think he was doing the best surfing on tour this year and the best surfer is the one winning multiple events not making quarters, semis and runner up in multiple events in my opinion.
Happy to see someone else win for a change though!

You were watching the ASP WCT Tour werent you? Cause it sounds like you werent.

[FW - Fan]

Interesting to hear Shane Dorian..arguably one of Kelly's best mates in that event.... say that he thoroughly thought Parko deserved to win the event AND the world tour. If anyone was going to be biased it was him....

[Slowman]

Parko wins the world title and Pipe Masters. Go Parko! Not FireWire I know but there couldn't be a more deserving world title winner.

Thank God #goParko! I'm glad Josh Kerr took out Kelly in the semis to avoid a Parko v Kelly final. Glad to see finally make the crown his after injuries and the like and now no longer to be known as one of the best not to win a Tour...that just leaves Taj!!

i think he just about earned it by winning pipe. if he hadn't won the comp i don't think it would have been that deserved. he was consistent this year but before pipe he hadn't won an event. good on him though, he's had enough close calls in the past!

I get that point of view but it's about winning with panache as opposed to just winning. The same arguments float around in the Grand tours in cycling, the Italians claim it's boring if the general classification winner (total time) doesn't at least take 1 stage win in the Giro d'Italia. Everyone claims the same thing about the Tour de France and the Spaniards just think it's boring if a Spaniad doesn't win the Vuelta a Espana.

However in the end winning is winning, looking at it any other way is illogical. You can try to add excitement by adding incentives for "best this or best that" but you just end up with specialists taking the prize and creating another comp within the comp and making the overall winner look perhaps less interesting and not really appreciating just how good they are in all conditions.

[prjwebb]

Sounds like I've pissed of the Aussies haha

[FW - Fan]

Sounds like I've pissed of the Aussies haha

No Phil...takes more that that rev us up. By the way how does it feel being a citizen of country that has never really had..and never will have, a pro surfer on the WCT? let alone one that has any hope of being in the running for a title? I cant imagine that as an Aussie....Now if you are going down the Martin Potter route..lets just be clear he left the UK just before he turned 2.

[aurfalien]

*** removed ***

[prjwebb]

Russel Winter? Not a runner up, but he did make the CT, briefly...

I'd rather live in a country that wasn't surf obsessed like Australia though, too many in the water as it is! Crowds around the Goldy are a joke. I wouldn't mind the quality of waves you get there though, then we might produce some more CT level talent...!

[buzzy]

I see Slater has become much more generous in his comments, saying words to the effect that Parko is a freak of a surfer and this title might open the floodgates for more.

I did notice that even well before this year Slater seemed to single out Parko for more trash talk than any other competitor, presumably because he saw him as his main (present) competitor. Medina, Owen, Julian and JJF will the next gen and who knows, maybe Jordy will develop consistency and Dane will rejoin the tour.

Since 2002 the scoreboard reads 6 titles to "not Kelly" and 5 to Kelly. AI gets three, Mick 2, Parko 1 and Slater 5. In my eyes they have been the dominant surfers of this generation and deserve the recognition. AI should have had more but he lost inspiration and we all know what happened. Parko should have had at least one more. More to come?

Here's my tip based solely on watching the Triple Crown; Sea Bass will match JJF's ranking within a couple of years, if not exceed it. I personally prefer to watch Sea Bass surf over JJF.

[prjwebb]

Yeah I'm excited to watch Seabass next year!