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A D V E R T I S E M E N T Details
| Bobby Article in OC Weekly You have not heard the last of Bobby Martinez.Yesterday OC and LA Weekly, a free newspaper publication distributed rather widely throughout Orange County and Los Angeles, published a piece on Bob titled "Bobby Martinez' Rebel Cry". It paints an interesting picture of the recently retired Goofyfoot who has more than his share, anyone's share, of battles with the Association of Surfing Professionals. He goes into clashes with former sponsors Reef and Oakley, and his rant on the live webcast during the Quik NY event as well. Read the thing here. Channels: Surf Bye Bye Brodie The Association of Surfing Professionals has just issued a press release reporting that their CEO Brodie Carr has resigned. Im going to go ahead and assume that your attention span won't allow you to actually read it, but if you wanna prove me wrong, knock yourself out right here.In Brodie's words: "It is my duty to accept responsibility for the recent calculation error that resulted in the premature crowning of Kelly Slater's 11th ASP World Title. The determination of the ASP World Title is the most important moment in professional surfing. Ultimately, the responsibility for every activity with ASP lies with me. Therefore, I have elected to resign my postition as CEO." The ASP, and Brodie, have received a lot of criticism over the last 12 months. From Bobby Martinez, mostly. While Bobby was the only one who posted video rants about his ASP-hatred, he is not the only one with gripes about the system and how it has handled it's own navigation. Twitter has become littered with anti-ASP twats (sp?) by many loud voices within the surfing community, like Jamie O'brien and Sunny Garcia, even Kelly himself shares his mind on the subject from time to time. The biggest thorn in their side has been the implementation of their One World Ranking System, which has combined the WCT and WQS tours into one unit. And with this change also meaning 32 elite touring pros, not 44, causing the unexpected shortening of a couple careers has ruffled a few feathers. The other topic of outrage of late has been the new judging criteria, which is aimed at rewarding difficulty, and more specifically, aerials. While this is a step in the right direction for the progression of surfing and from a fan's standpoint, it has led to some wacky scoring moments, and lots of controversy. Perhaps you recall 'Floater-gate' after the Rio comp, where Adriano de Souza took out Owen Wright with a backside floater after Owen got underscored on a series of fin-wafts and an air. The backlash was so great that it prompted the ASP to release an official explanation for the scenario, which did little to quiet the outcry. And now the ke11y blunder. One of those moments in surfing history that I think we can all agree to never speak of again. It was embarrassing on so many levels. For Kelly, for Quiksilver ( who immediately launched Ke11y ads worldwide), for the ASP (obviously), and for surfers everywhere. It made us all look pretty dumb. Whether or not Brodie is taking the fall for his comrades, or was forced out via mutiny is unclear. Who knows, maybe he really did just feel bad about the mistake and he thinks this would be the best solution. Obviously there is a lot more to this story that we will likely never hear. The big question now is who will take the wheel? I heard about this 40 year old bald guy that should be retiring from competition soon, and he knows a bit about surfing? Whats his name again? Kelly? Slater? He might be up to it. Channels: Surf Bobby retortsBobby Martinez' post-heat interview heard-round-the-world this past weekend in New York got him kicked out of the contest, and effectively retired him from ASP-sanctioned professional surfing as far as the eye can see. What will he do next? No idea. But here is his official response to the situation. Via vimeo. _ Bobby Martinez- Speaking His Mind from FTW on Vimeo. Channels: Surf Tuesday WeirdnessWhat day is it? Tuesday? Somebody bring me tacos..What? No tacos? Ok fine i'll settle for weird random interweb videos that we stumbled across this week... First up we'd like to give a shout out to to Sterling Spencer and pinchmysalt.tv for creeping everyone out for 2 years running. 2 years!? respect, playah. PMS'ing for 2 years from pinchmysalt.tv on Vimeo. Next up we have some dating tips with Eddie Rothman, founder of Da Hui, father of Makua and Koa Rothman, and all around smooth cat. And finally we have an interview with Bobby Martinez, by South African Warwick Wright. I'm not sure about the audio or whatnot, but Bobby seems a little... different..? Channels: Surf Dear Bobby,Just wanted to say thanks for the entertainment today. Good stuff. I've always loved your colorful post-heat interviews. They make for some incredibly fun fodder during the webcasts, and did you see? For about 74 minutes today you were quite the trender on twitter. So awesome. ![]() Still, I must admit, as one of your biggest admirers (who will always see you as a smiling, very grateful little grommet at Rincon) I can't help but be a little saddened by your departure from the world tour ranks. You see, as hard as I'm trying to feel your pain and fully grasp the depths of hell that those evil twisted corporate soul-sucking bastards at the ASP have been putting you through, it's frankly a little difficult to sympathize with anyone who -- at the end of the day -- gets paid to surf for a living. In an environment like this, when real unemployment in the USA is about 15%, and just having a job makes you among the fortunate in this world, selling us all on the idea that your "dream job" is actually a nightmare is pretty tough. To much of the world that's a winning lotto ticket you're ripping up. God knows the ASP is very easy target, but no matter how I try to twist things to get a glimpse of what exactly it is you're seeing, I'm having problems. Maybe my glasses just aren't dark enough, because through these lenses the worst day on tour is still better than the best day hanging dry wall in Oxnard, or blogging in San Clemente (trust me). I'm thrilled to hear you have a new sponsor to support you right now, especially at a crucial time like this, but what happens next year when you're fading from view and they can't collect from struggling retailers in this shitty economy? Don't get me wrong. I'd love to join the chorus of those pleading on your behalf right now, but first I'd have to grasp the actual point you were trying to make today...which for the life of me I can't, because it's got all kinds of holes. Let's examine the crux of your rant: "How the fuck is somebody who's not even competing against our caliber 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 upon [among] them?" Actually they have. To your point, PRIME events were tailor made for expressly that reason. That's where anyone in the Top 96 gets to step in the ring with the big boys of the Top 32 and make them justify their existence. From a fans perspective, that's far superior to the old system where both tours operated in completely separate silos. Fact is, you've been getting beat by those "somebodies" in the very limited amount of Prime events you've bothered to enter, like the Nike Lowers Pro, The US Open and last year's Cold Water Classic. Guys who've defeated you would love nothing more than a crack at the title someday, which apparently you're no longer interested in based on your recent decisions to pass on J-Bay and Tahiti. And despite your rambling about halfway cutoff marks you've had an entire year to justify your Top 32 tour seed. World rankings, after all, are based on your best 8 results over the past 12 months in any ASP rated event, period. You've had a huge advantage over those outside the Top 32 with ten more opportunities to perform in tour events with huge points, and yet you want to cry foul? Unfortunately your results haven't been so good. Then you compound the problem by refusing to show up at J-Bay and Teahupoo? (And you've won Tahiti twice?) Are you implying that after losing, then skipping two world tour events you're still owed a valuable seed just because you rip and what...you're Bobby? You certainly do rip. Of that there's no question. You haven't lost even a half-step from what I can tell. What you have lost, however, is any sense of how the world has changed around you in recent years. I hate to break this to you...but a lot of people rip these days...and the ASP owes you absolutely nothing. Time will tell how much you owe the ASP though. It's never been a perfect system but it's the still the best one pro surfing has. In the meantime, like all your fans, I wish you the best in wherever you take your surfing next: films, reality shows, Rincon. Please keep those beautiful carves and that silky smooth style visible. And for what it's worth, do whatever it takes to find that big grin again. Don't ever fight the fun. Channels: Surf | ||||||||||||||



You have not heard the last of Bobby Martinez.
The Association of Surfing Professionals has just issued a press release reporting that their CEO Brodie Carr has resigned. Im going to go ahead and assume that your attention span won't allow you to actually read it, but if you wanna prove me wrong, knock yourself out right 