Tainted?
The departed but never forgotten disgraced former World Surf League CEO Erik Logan ushered in two important changes to the Championship Tour season during his time and, like him, both are funny to look at. In the middle of the year, we have the mid-season cull wherein hard-working dreamers are sent to unemployment lines. While I imagine the lack of fairness haunts those in the salt mines, a few lousy wave-starved CT heats ending years upon years of surfing lousy wave-starved QS contests, the surf fan rejoices at the spilling of blood.
At the end of the year, we have Finals Day wherein those who survived “The Chop” and have clawed into the top five get a chance to win it all at a playful cobblestoned chest-higher in Southern California.
Yes, Logan’s brainchildren have made for entertainment, certainly, but have also undermined the long-established faith in professional surfing as an honest and true sport. The new Finals Day format, for example, has robbed Carissa Moore of a title and hung an asterisks on the bigger wave averse Brazilian champ Filipe Toledo.
Karma, as they say, is my boyfriend.
And this year, we have John John Florence rounding into as fine a form as we have ever seen, competitively, as he heads into retirement. He is currently in the Great Wall Motors Yellow Jersey and looking to stack points upon points with a first round victory in El Salvador over LOB and Rosie Perez, vaulting him past the elimination round.
Florence will, very likely, head to Trestles number one, which means any challenger will have to beat him twice. A tall order. A tall order, that is, for anyone other than small wave wizard Filipe Toledo. If the Brazilian champion had not vacated the year, opting for a well-deserved mental health break, and entered the top five, he would be odds on favorite no matter where he ended.
Which begs the question. Will Florence’s almost inevitable third championship be festooned with a many pointed star?
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What’s good for the goose is good for the goner, as they also say, and if Toledo’s championship is questioned due his terror of big, shouldn’t Florence’s also be questioned due his not beating the best small wave surfer at a small wave?
David Lee Scales and I discussed during our weekly chat and you should listen, mostly for the segment where it is revealed that the Grateful Dead was an evil CIA psy-op, but also weigh in below.
Does double J deserve an asterisks?
