Kelly Slater on Sports Center

Yessir I saw it this morning, I was actually thinking about starting a thread like this haha. The appearance seemed sort of pointless to me, but I don't know I guess it was pretty cool. You have any opinion on it?

 

I watch sportscenter, both east and west coast versions, everyday. I love the sportscasters, and the Slater appearance was nothing short of pointless. They actually portrayed Kelly Slater as a pissed off guy. I know they were kind of joking, but all his responses were like "Uhh, no... Are you kidding me"? The guys dressed up in boardies and it looked like kelly felt like they were mocking him...

One of the guys was standing on a board with no fins doing a gay surf pose, and Kelly was like "That is terrible. Not even close" and stuff.

Kelly just stood there, wearing skinny jeans and looking annoyed. They should have sat him down for 10-15 minutes and given the man some respect.... They didnt even let him narrate the top 10... It was like he was just there for help intorduce commerical breaks and stuff...

I looked forward to it all day, and it was a bust... Its like REALLY>?>

Kelly was like "Well, here is the top 10, and I can guarantee you they didn't include any surfing"... Like kelly was mocking them back.

BOOOO sportscenter... You run 25 minute long emotional sob stories throughout sportcenter half the time... Stories of disabled kids, making grown men cry at 2:00 in the afternoon, yet they can't find one of the most successful ATHELETES EVER TO LIVE a 5 minutes segment about his fu**ing 10th world title...


The only good thing about this sportcenter episode was that when they introduced him, they asked Kelly how many championships he had... He said "Well, for now, I have 10. For now...."

I was like hell yeah Kelly!!!! You got 5 more in you!!! Shut down the Aussies and the Hawaiians for another decade and watch them squirm.... Invade their north shore for 5 more years and own them!!!!! I love it! USA! USA!!! EAST COAST TOO!!! gotta love it.

 

I for one, would rather surfing not get all that attention, people on here cry about the crowds enough.

Why are you so angry about surfing not getting recognition? If you want to see surfing alls you have to do is go on the internet.

 

As an avid sports fan....i'm really starting to hate ESPN. Now a days an athletes "twitter" the night before becomes headline news or they're covering some bs pop culture garbage. ESPN and Sports Center specifically is becoming a Entertainment Tonight on steroids.

just my 2 cents.....oh and, Stuart Scott with his annoying lazy eye is the worst. He tries to be all ghetto and talk in ebonics slang....click click boom!

 

You will probably never be able to locate a post of mine in 3 years on this site, where I am complaining about crowds. Crowds don't bother me too much. Like many of us have said before on here, if you can surf, you will get waves. If you rip, crowds are like having an audience.

What DOES piss me off, is that sportcenter (LA) which is the primary broadcast here, has like 3 video clips of random surfing IN THEIR INTRODUCTION that is played before EVERY AIRING of SPORTCENTER. A guy doing an ugly top turn, a floater later on etc... So sportcenter "west coast" tries to cater to X-sports etc... and it is just lame... You use our atheletes in your intro, but you show now legitimate respect to them in reality?

I have heard numerous sportcasters speak VERY HIGHLY of surfing. talking about kelly and talking about how incredible all these atheletes

But then.... after ESPN FINALLY has something Legit to talk about in surfing, they air the entire episode as a novelty. They did NOT give the guy credit... They DID NOT showcase his journey throughout the whole thing... They never showed him in TOH barrels in Africa... NOTHING... NOTHING...

My point is: If the general public in the sports world would ACTUALLY get exposed to PRO surfing, on a high level, they would start to get it... I dont want more people surfing, but I want Atheletes to be recognized, and most surfers are superior atheletes to main stream sports players... They should get treated as such... Thats all im saying...

The only thing sportcenter every plays is some "Big Wave Challenge"... Mavericks or something that makes everyone go "WOW, LOOK AT THAT WAVE"...

Well, we also know that big wave surfing is UGLY... Mostly turnless, trickless, boring boring boring surfing...

So rather than showing elite guys boosting airs at one of the ASP contests, they show some guy with a ridiculous stance riding down the face of a 40 footer... People are like wow, that big... but so what... Looks like the same thing snowboarders do... Hold on an decsend.

Im just saying that if ESPN wants to showcase surfing, then do it... But dont be fake about it...

You could tell that every guy who was talknig to Kelly had ZERO clue what they were talking about... Teir lackies didn't even put in an hour of research to feed these guys with good material...

I love sportcenter. I think it is getting more and more entertaining. I just hate when they disregard legitimate accomplishments like what kelly did... it will NEVER be done again..

No one in the history of sports has dominated ANY individual sports in the way that kelly has, nor will they ever... Kelly is one and only and deserves to be treated as such.

 

Yeah I understand your point about attracting attention to surfing which will inevitably get more people involved in it (which in VB, seems like the opposite thing we need during the summer!)... but I also think that if ESPN was going to go through the trouble of having a legendary athlete like Kelly Slater on, they should have made it seems a little more legit and less just like they pulled him out of bed and he was pissed off.

 

surfing isn't a sport to be exploited and commercialized (which I know I know it already is) but instead I still like to romanticize the ideal that it's a subculture not for the masses...I truly enjoy the fact that I have fun surfing, and I go alone most of the time. I'm not trying to impress anyone, it's something I truly fell in love with.

just my two cents. I know someone/ multiple people will probably disagree with me

 

Yup... the big wave events they show do come off as lame. As a surfer I can at least identify on some small scale the accomplishments riding of a 40 footer more than the general public.. but even with that...I find big wave surfing (mavericks, wiammea, Jaws)pretty fricking boring to watch. I'd rather see lip tricks on a four foot wave. If your gonna show some surfing on mainstream broadcast tv at least show some tech tricks rather than dudes in a stink bug stance.

 

Very good point. And I like that aspect of surfing as well. But on the other hand, I know that everyone on here has had to try and explain to friends, family, co-workers etc how important surfing is to you. And you probably get this blank look like, yeah whatever "dude"... In SoCal, people are much more accepting of surfing as a lifestyle, but it would just be nice if people recognized how difficult surfing is. It's like, we are high performance atheletes. We push our body and minds to the limits. We defy gravity, we defy logic, we go against every instinct that the human body has to offer, and people group us with sports like skating, snowboarding and motorcross...

Surfing is BY FAR more difficult than all those sports combined... We have all snowboarded. ITS EASY!!! You can spend one day on a mountain for the first time, and by the end of the day, charge down a black diamond... Yeah, snowboarding at the high level is super tough, but any as$ clown can buy a snowboard and look good doing it after a year or so... I can buy a dirt bike, take it to the same dirt course EVERYDAY, ALL YEAR and get good at it pretty quick. I can buy a skateboard, and after a few months, I will be kick flipping and doing tricks...

In surfing, you can dedicate years of your life to it, and not accomplish any of those things. I just feel like surfers have to work 10x harder to get to where we are today. What a good surfer does is just filled with more talent than most of these other sports...


Tony Hawk: Favorite Sports: Surfing Tony's Hawk's Only Fear (and I quote): SURFING BIG WAVES!

Sean White: Favorite Sport: Surfing.... When asked what he was going to do after the olympics, he said "Take a long surf trip with my friends and enjoy that. Surfing is what I love"...

Funny how the most talented of atheletes in these other "extreme sports" still have more passion for surfing than anything else... Cause its a life long challenge and dedication, and any guy who masters surfing, has pretty much mastered life and the world around him... Congrats Kelly.

Sorry for the Xtreme sports rant... dont know where that came from.

 

X2.... Makes you wonder if some of those guys can even do a cutback.

 

this is sorta off topic of the thread but big wave surfers (the cream of the crop ones) are getting better at maneuvering than the used to be able to, but i agree with everything else you said

 

Big wave surfing has it's appeal to me because I have an idea what those guys have to put up with in those conditions. To an ordinary person, they may be impressed with the wave size, but they have no idea whatsoever about the paddle outs, rips, long hold-downs, taking a set on a head, etc.

I believe most of the big wave riders rip on regular surf though, and get into the big wave thing just for the challenge. That one big wave rider chick, Maya Gabeira (sp?) can't really surf that well though, but she has a hot body so it's ok

 

Yeah, I mean, a TON of those guys are super legit... But I was taking aim more at the Mavericks Crew and the NorCal "Boys" who claim to be kings of the hill, but most of those guys have wack as$ styles on those big waves...

I completely agree with the respect factor of big wave surfing... That makes those guys INCREDIBLE watermen. The only big wave rider I know personally is an ex-navy seal... He surfs pretty wack on a head high day at blacks, but I have seen him charge 40ft Todos before without blinking... But again, he is an amazing WATERMEN, his surfing style leaves a ton to be desired....

Big wave riders put their lives at risk Every Session. That is the credit I give them... But think about it... You never see Greg Long and all those other guys competing in any normal contest... But to your point, there are very few "pros" who would take on Mavericks on its heaviest day...

Two different beasts, two different sports almost... But again, Ive seen way too many big wave riders who can barely turn, but they have the stamina and balls to charge big waves... Big waev riding is all about the drop.... But then what are you gonna do? ya know?

Its just funny that "THE BILLABONG XXL CHALLENGE" is the only thing that gets annual play on the mainstream.. And that is simply because Joe The Plumber can sit in his house in Indiana, and say, WOW MAN, THATS A BIG AS$ WAVE!!!! THOSE GUYS ARE NUTS! Any normal person can see a giant 50 foot wall of water and be impressed, but 2 seconds later, the guy pops off the shoulder, gets picked up by the Ski, and already Joe the Plumber has changed the channel....

 

man... this is so true. I was just thinking this exact same thing the other day. I was in Barbados and had a session where i was finally able to figure out doing top turns. With limited opportunities to surf, I spent years riding whitewater, then years just making drops, then a couple more years of going down the line, and now I'm finally able to do some weakass carves.

With snowboarding, I spent a week in Montana visiting my sister and was riding blacks by the end of the week.

I find the slow progression of surfing to be very rewarding.

 

I'm a lifelong surfer and avid sonwboarder and I'm going to disagree a little bit on what Zach said. It's true that learning to snowboard is easy but there are aspects of it that are very difficult like halfpipe. One of the reasons I only ride pipes is because it's so much like surfing with all kinds of subtleties in the act of riding it. You just can't bomb a pipe,you need to have the basics mastered before you even try tricks.

I agree that it takes years to master surfing ON A SHORTBOARD but many people can hop on a longboard and be up and riding the same day. IMO that is one of the big factors leading to overcrowding.

 

I have to disagree a little too.. me and my friend started surfing together and we were both able to take a line on our shortboards by the second day.. but skateboarding.. I have tried that multiple times now and I can hardly ollie, I have to say personally atleast skateboarding is probably the hardest sport out of it all

 

Yeah, I never skated that much as a kid, but I picked up my friends board after 12 years of never touching one and was able to ollie up onto an ollie box after like 3 tries. So, the basics of skating are not hard. I learned the ollie as a kid in one day. No lie.

The difference between skating and surfing, is that you can skate 365, 24/7 if you want to. You can line up the same stair case, the same rail, the same trick and go after it like 10,000 times until you land it. That is weak sauce.

In surfing, you have to wait for conditions, paddle out, get yourself setup for the barrel etc. You cant go out every day and surf. There are too many variables. One day, it will be barreling all day, then the next 10 session are all mushy faces, different wind, different lines.

I snowboard about once a year. I go to big bear. Ive snowboarded a total of about 20 times in my WHOLE life. And at big bear, I can LAND a 360 over a table top. I hit all the jibs. I take the high lines up on the sidebanks... Im no pro, but the fact that I can do 180 grabs over little jumps and go over all the big table tops and stuff and land simple tricks just makes it seem a little too easy. Im not out doing flips and 720s, but the fact that I can do those things and I only go once a year. Makes me think its much more about coordination and balance and just being an athelete. I mean, you go out and surf 20 times, you probably cant even cut back yet, ya know?>

But you know what im saying. You can surf everday for 2 years, and you probably will not be landing 360 anything...

I totally respect guys at the top level of snowboarding. ITS FUN... Im just saying, and as$ hole with coordination can go out a few times and not look like a kook on a snowboard. On my 3rd of 4th time on the mountains, I was doing 180s, 360s, hitting jumps and stuff... Its pretty easy for anyone who is an athelete. Im not saying I can do much... But skating is the same. I learned the "ollie" in a day, and in general, if you ride around with skaters and can do an ollie anda kick flip and hop all the curbs while you are street skating, you are no longer a kook.

To be able to go from never snowboarding or skating to a non-kook in less than a week in either sport just makes it not that tough to me... thats all im saying...

Its like BMX and sh** too. Are you kidding me? You give me one of those little bikes, a ramp and 2 weeks, and its a pretty simple idea. The motion, the movements, the physics of it all is simple. Ride bike fast at ramp, spin bike in air. Hold on to handle bars, keep feet on peddles. Land.... Not a hard concept...

Try teaching a novice surfer how to punt a front side air... I will give you a year to "teach" them and they still couldnt do it... Surfing has too many variables...

Mountains never change... The pipe never changes. Tabletops dont move when you are about to jump them, Jips arent moving so you have to aim at them... Everything in Skating and snowboarding is stationary, thus making it MUCH easier to attack as an athelete...

Can you imagine, if we just had a wave machine, that had the same barrel, then the same face on it, then the same section. The same wave, OVER AND OVER AND OVER...

We would all be kelly slater by next year. We would be doing insane things if we had the same conditions, over and over and over....

Yout skateboard mini-ramps dont move!! ya feel me!

And yeah, I stood up and road down the line by the end of my first day of surfing on a shortboard, BUT THAT AINT SURFING!

Im talking about cutting back, floating, all those things. That takes months and months of surfing everyday to really dial in.

 

all sports have their shredders. and zach, no offense, but big bear is basically like surfing in va beach in the summer. anyone CAN do it. but to say mountains don't change? you clearly haven't spent any time in the backcountry or even in-bounds after a huge dump at a place like jackson or telluride or taos. it's just different. some guys can rip on a wave and some guys can rip in the snow. some lucky guys can do both...

 

surfing is hard, snowboarding is hard...

espn doesn't give a f*ck, and they made a mockery of the best surfer of all time. f*ck em