Billabong Pro Teahupoo 2014

Agree about Owen's wave. But Medina was not in a heat with Owen. He got better waves than his opponent in every heat. Including the final.
Had he been in a heat where he needed to go on the biggest set he probably would have... Even Strider said it after the final. He was dogging Medina all event and kept saying he wanted to see him on a bomb. After the final he said Medina proved he could do it on bombs too.

 

think about it. if you're using the same criteria to judge MAXING chopes against gutless rio we'd all have a bad time.

 

"Strider, he won tell them he's good in big waves" - Your ZoSea Overlords

 

if you don't think ASP has control over its commentators go talk to dooma and paul patterson.

 

Yeah, Owen's wave was insane. His reaction was priceless.

 

So they were cool with him trashing Medina all event. Then when he says something positive it's because they told him to... Sounds like Archy

 

well, they aren't going to say 'our judges f#cked up' so of course they have to save face. Their whole product is based on subjective judging and if that becomes suspect, they have nothing.

 

If you watched the final and thought the judges fu*ked up you need to watch again. You think Kelly should win because he almost got the best wave of the heat?

 

I should really start watching these events with the sound on more often. I find it much more peaceful to just watch the surf in silence, but i probably miss a lot of gold in the commentary. In years past, surfing commentary has been by far some of the worst in the industry.

Only audio I really listened to was CJ talking about his wipeout that first day. That was epic hearing him talk about that.

 

It's a shame there are no points given for Cajones when the wave doesn't work out. Because if the tables were turned, and Kelly had the lead, do you think Medina would have gone on that wave that ate Kelly alive? The wipeout wasn't bad, but that wave was impossible to make from the get go. I know that you can't give points to a situation like that, but man, there should be like an "extra credit" category, reserved for the few hellman that just go harder than the rest, with reckless abandon

 

My point is that medina should have never reached he final if the judges rewarded more critical waves or penalized his tamer wave selection throughout the entire event.

 

I missed the past two days of the comp... Was up in north jersey for the funeral of my gf's gmom. Going to be watching the highlight clips tonight to fuel the stoke for thursday

 

this!!!! everyone was trying to up their level and medina was putting around the west bowl like "nahh i'm good with these lil guys"

SIMPO WAS TAKING OFF ON BOMB SET WAVES!!! FRICKIN SIMPO!!

 

I agree with you guys too. I have personally been hard on the kid in the past, and some guys on this site are big fans and really amped on this kid. I am just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and not judge him on his reaction after every wave, which leaves a LOT to be desired.

I mean, I was watching the final with a buddy last night. And I am not going to lie. We both thought slater won. We were amped, but when the put the score up, we were like, whatever. The kid earned it. One way or another, the kid earned it. And sometimes "fandom" gets in the way of reality.

So, basically, I thought the same things you guys are saying, but I thought I was thinking them just because I am a Slater fan and felt like hating on the kid. But these are professional surfers, professional judges, so you gotta trust them, or the whole thing means nothing. They saw something out of this kid, heat after heat, that they really liked, and they scored him based on that. Who knows. All I know, is that Medina just won Chopes, and I would imagine that this contest will be talked about for a long time to come. Like, remember 2014 Chopes. That contest was insane!

 

Definitely a fun comp to watch

 

But he got better waves than his opponents in every heat. Why wouldn't he make the final.
Since Owen went on a bomb in round 4 Medina should get the win over Bede and Kolohe even though he got way better waves than them?
I understand what you're saying, but he got the best waves in all of his heats. It doesn't matter if Simpo goes on a bomb against Owen or that Bourez ate sh!t against Aritz.

 

And for the record I can't stand Medina.

 

He got the best waves based on the judging criteria. Had it been weighted more on size, it may have been much different. It is what it is. Don't think he deserved it but with any judged event there is usually room for argument.

 

I agree. I think surfing still has a way to go before they get the judging worked out.

Maybe they weren't the thickest waves, but some of the drops medina made in the final were pretty sketchy...I was sure he was going to eat sh!t at the bottom several times.

 

he had maybe one truly "sketchy" wave in the final. people that are taking off and pushing the envelope need to be rewarded for that not sitting back and letting it come to you.

i get it's "heat strategy" but when you have guys like JJF/Kelly/Kai/Kolohe pushing it to other levels that needs to be the focus.

remember the 2000 Laird "OH MY GOD" wave? they were paddling into bigger sets than that yesterday. surfing is about progression.


ultimately, the ASP is a brand and a business and if you think otherwise you're being ignorant to reality.