Surfpolitik I Told You So Bobby

In: Surfpolitik by Stu Nettle 76 Comments Thu 20th Oct '11

Tags: bobbmartinez , cory lopez , gabriel medina , john florence , dane reynolds , asp , one world ranking , Gabe Kling

click to enlarge

The internet is just great for those with a temper: Wanna feel the immediate, red-in-your-face anger that comes from an emotionally penned diatribe? Welcome aboard, we've got libraries of the stuff. The sun, you see, never sets in the online world so there's always breaking news with an opinionated runt ready to deliver it.

What the internet ain't so hot for is those with a memory: Wanna feel the mellow glow of vindication? Experience the subtle satisfaction of saying 'I told you so'? Well, no-one cares to hear it 'cos by the time your point is proven that train has well and truly left the station - it's old news, buddy.

The internet is here and now, not there and last month - except if you have your own column.

So let me back this train up a bit and revisit a story from last month: Bobby Martinez blowing up at the Quiksiver New York comp and also in a promo interview. Subsequent news from the tour forces an addendum to that story.

One of Bobo's gripes was the One World ranking system. Said Bobo, "How the fuck is somebody who's not even competing against our calibre of surfers ahead of 100 of us on the One World ratings. They've never been here. They've never fucking made the right to surf against us, but now we're ranked [among] them?"

In the three contests since the rotation one of the surfers - Gabriel Medina - has held a trophy aloft, and another - John John Florence - is shaping as the next Dane Reynolds, only with better barrel skills. If another rotation were to happen now all the graduates would survive, some very comfortably. So, Bobo, those surfers not only earned the right to be on the World Tour by winning Prime events and accumulating points, they've since shown they've got the right to 'fucking be there' through comp results against the best.

Following his New York rant Bobo's sponsor, FTW, staged an interview where he could further harangue the ASP over the midyear rotation. Bobby had calmed down but clearly not smartened up. "Five guys come on halfway through the year," Bobo said. "They can't have a shot at winning the world title, what's the point of having them on that year?"

I'll let ASP World Tour Manager, Renato Hickel, pick up the slack here: "This is not the point. The surfers the newcomers are replacing were not contesting for an ASP World Title either. The idea behind the midyear rotation is to have the best surfers in the world updated faster than in previous years – every six months now instead of annually."

Gabe Kling, who was one of the surfers replaced, came dead last in five of the six comps before the rotation. In the sixth comp he came 13th – equal second last. Cory Lopez, another who got booted, placed last in three comps and equal second last in the other three. Suffice to say, neither of them were threatening for the world title.

And then there's Bobby Martinez - yesterday's boy - who entered four World Tour competitions this year yet still accumulated less points than Gabriel Medina who has entered only three.

So we'll depart this station one last time and leave Bobo on the terminal. Don't look back now. Medina, Florence and company are steaming ahead and they've got every right to be on the World Tour – the point is now proven.

Loading Comments