Fiji is his last event.......always super fun to watch. Seemed like a good guy. Used to read his book of hot surfing at my friends house every day. Crazy to think hes retiring.
Is it really that crazy? I mean retiring is a pretty normal thing. Not like he's retiring at the age of 20. Thad be crazy. I'm pretty sure the only guy whos retirement would be crazy is Kelly. And that's only because we've been asking ourselves when the guys finally going to call it quits for a long as$ time. Freddy P's retirement was kinda crazy. Unexpected and random. Taj was/is fun to watch. Sucks to be losing a "big" name, but he's not getting any younger. I forget how old he is, in my mind he's still the young guy he was when he first started blowing up. Then I remember oh yeah, that was in 1998
Yeah....its not that crazy that hes retiring.....its just crazy all that time has gone by..... Good career Taj...super fun to watch still at 37.
He totally blew it - - claimed it after his superb barrel, then didn't finish the subsequent turn because he fell on his face trying that turn & lost by miniscule amount to JJF. As he should have, lost that is. Reminded me of that chica snowboarder in the Olympics who claimed it on the final jump, fell as a result & lost the gold medal. Taj is a great surfer. Just never had the killer finishing instinct that AI, Kelly, Mick, Occy, MP, TCarroll & others have. And that's what it takes if you're a comp surfer. As we saw again today. In a way, Taj is like the perennial bridesmaid of surfing. Took him off the fantasy team long ago.
Became a fan of Taj the first time I saw a video of him out in west Oz just tearing it up. Just him and his dog. Soul surfer to the core, IMHO.
It's on again and pumping! On the wave JJ got that 9.4 (I don't remember the exact score but his highest) he just got barreled with no turn and got a higher score than that wave you're talking about. That last barrel of Taj's was the best of the heat and got a lower score, fall off claim or not. I did have Taj, fantasy wise, in this contest but JJ also. Friendly fire sucks.
the newjacks/groms are really starting to take over.the only original guys from my time when surfing was cool lol that's still there is Kelly,mick,and idk where parko is but...... freddy p retired,bobby Martinez said ftw,dingo Morrison went on his own adventure,taj just retired..surfing was a lot cooler back then,raw power surfing,deep tubes..now everything is airs and theres only a few ppl that impress me and that's jjf,slater,and albee layer and matt meola.everyone else needs to just stop.
and taj retired because he surfed the ct for 17 years or something and they claimed he was going to win a world title his first year.smart move,now he can relax and be at peace
Taj's heat was AWESOME! Loved it that he wiped out celebrating his incredible ride! He bowed out the right way and kept the spirit of surfing alive.
my god that almost-10-point wave JJ just got was redic! That judge who gave him the lone 9.8 has to be Barry.
Taj is so rad... Definitely a dude that got me psyched to surf. Fair Bits was so sick.... Now he gets to surf where he wants, when he wants.
