Despite their laid-back demeanor, surfers love a little drama.
On a rainy day in France last fall, CJ Hobgood and I discussed how dramatic surfing helped him get his competitive career back on track. And on track it has remained - yesterday in Tasmania, CJ put up 18.57 points. Now, it looks like Parko may have caught the drama bug.
CJ gets dramatic yesterday in Tasmania. Photo: Robertson / ASP / Oneill
CJ Hobgood Interview
LS: Did you change your technique in '08?
CJ: It's hard when you're doing bad and things are frustrating to stick with a plan. But if you stick with a plan, don't give up, you gain some insights. I started trying to work on technique, become a better technical surfer. And I got better at technique.
But then Gally and I sat down, and I was kinda like, "OK, we're getting better at technique, but that's not what the judges are into right now. The judges are into flipping out, just, they wanted you to freak out, spazz out, throw confetti, hands everywhere, layback, grunt reverses, drop the wallet for a while, stand back up, big airs, and all that stuff. That was good, that was great, so I had to find a balance. I'd worked on technique, worked on one thing, gotten better in one area, but then you might not get any results. You have to balance it with other things.
Me and Gally were like, "the technique we were working on, great, but it didn't work. Let's try to find a balance. I don't care how gross you look, I don't care how bad the form is, I don't care where your hands are, just go out there and freak out and fly around."
So... whether it works or not, it is a struggle. I mean, what do you do? When Kelly surfs, he's such a great surfer, but he's so over-dramatic. You see photos and he looks like a wizard half the time. (CJ strikes the Slater Wizard Cutback pose)
But he's the best surfer in the world.
Shazam! Slater strikes his Wizard Pose. Photo: Robertson/ASP/CI
LS: How would you compare that to Parko?
CJ: Parko's the exact opposite, he's so beautiful to watch it almost lulls the judges to sleep. Fortunate for him, fortunate for the judges, they know what a great technical surfer he is, so they have 8's on stand-by for him the majority of the time, which I agree with much of the time.
LS: I've talked before about Benny B being too smooth.
His technique is so perfect, that there never looks like there's fire, there never looks like there's flash. So someone needs to go out there and help him find that balance. He should go out there and do twirly-birds, I want to see spinner-kicks, I want to see Clay Marzo, I want to see this, that... don't frickin' worry about the technique. That's what happens. That's surfing.
Visit the Sweet Sixteen feature on Surfline. There is a comment by “Do you know now?”
Read that comment, but only the capitalized letters.
A message to C.J. , HOWZIT , Insane surfing at the Quik. Loved your comments above and wanted to affirm your thinking a bit with a history you know very well. Tabling vs Codgen , Crawford vs Munson ; Kech vs Romahnnn! Billy Jack vs Spier and of course,Slater vs Hobgood , it’s age old . Have a great year , God Bless…Rw
Ceej must have some of that churchie hand waiving in his bag of tricks. If it’s good enough for God it’s got to be good enough for the judges.
What ever happened to surfing the way you want? these guys are all so good, should they really be worried about jazz hands for an extra half point? i mean, i understand the brazo claim getting some extra .10s, but didn’t the top contenders get there based on their own style and ability?
I had the same discussion with Rob Machado a few years back. At one of the Trestles contest he got a high 7 on a wave he felt he surfed really, really well so on the next wave he threw his hands around a bit more and got a 9+.
This is nothing new, look back to the Op Pros of the 1980’s. All those contest were won on over dramatic pretending-to-fall-but-then-”recover”-at-the-last-second surfing.
head-snaps. bring ‘em back.
It’s all about pizza tossing.
Chris Gallagher is the best coach since Paul “Bear” Bryant roamed the sidelines for The University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Joe Namath, Ken stabler and Bart Starr would have been used car salesmen down in Panama City chasing babes and getting loose during spring break living off of their ” I was ALMOST really famous” pick-up lines and swilling lukewarm Budweisers if it wasnt for the blood, sweat and tears of the Bear. Likewise the Goods would be chasing wqs points with Cory Lopez and gabe Kling ( yes Gabe you will return to the slog ) if not for the whip cracking, iron fisted, results driven supervision of coach Gally.
One pungent and musty mid-April afternoon at Augusta National, Lewis Samuels leapt out from behind a willow tree at Amen Corner and titty-frigged an unsuspecting Phil Mickelson in front of a frightened gallery of spectators. A horrified and flabbergasted Brent Musburger cracked an anal thundergust into his wooden chair so loud it killed a meandering boll weevil in the Kalahari Desert.
True story.
I tell you all this, because you never know what’s going to happen next in professional sports. And that’s why I’ll be glued to the Rip Curl Bells WCT event in a few weeks; riding my main man, Marlon “Nips” Lipke, bareback, all the way home to the ’09 title.
P.S. I will never forget watching The Bear and Joe Willie play hackeysack before the Auburn-Alabama game back in 65′. Talk about FOCUS.
CJ’s a good Christian. Good Christians never get divorced, they’re too pure to have anything bad like a divorce happen to them. CJ voted for John McCain like any good Christian would.
Bland post. Come on Lewis, two really boring posts in a row post-surfline? Get radical, make you minions froth on the message board.
I said post two many times in that last post, i mean message.
divorce is right up there with homosexuality in the Bible. In fact, I think CJ is setting himself up for a good stoning (or is that his wife?). In any event, God certainly isn’t on his side anymore, hence the need for his fancy hand-jive.
That comment by Marks uncle is not from me. My uncle was a good man.
I am similar to the Hobgoods and their political ideologies because they are against abortion in cases of rape or incest. The only difference is, I am ONLY against abortion in cases of rape or incest.
All other babies should die.
Good call. Agree 100% about the flailing scoring, the underrating of Joel Parkinson and the overrating of Slater. Kelly fails because we know he doesn’t go for broke on every turn, he just acts like it. His whole act is so calculated and of course, the judges will take their cues from Slater, he’s the best in the world - 9 ASP World Titles. If he’s flailing and acting like something is really difficult, it sure as shit must be…or is it? Still though…C.J. Hobgood, the human, bores me to tears. You can wear your clown wetsuits and have your yellow rails and start flailing around, but you’re still an uneducated, misguided, dull human from Florida. You can surf though.
yes I agree with cote. Lewis is a monkey here to dance for our amusement. Say something hateful, monkey!! Now dance Monkey dance!!!!
Did you guys see the newest Donkeyline (Surfline) article? It’s all about HSS and how cool Pai the owner is. Just when Lewis calls them out for licking their advertisers balls they post an entire special about the store directly below their office! Haha. That’s classic. They also say that all the guys that work there are hard core surfers when most are jocks. They seemed to of forgot to mention how Pai has Japanese businessman show up once a year to buy loads of surf apparel from the backdoor in cash. The IRS would love to know that. You think kids from HB buy all that Hurley crap?
Sorry it’s off topic but had to vent, I can’t stand these guys anymore…
John Titor is right…I heard a rumor that John Titor is actually Lewis Samuels’ alter ego. Lewis, can you confirm?
parko is so good it hurts. if he starts flailing to get scores then i will shit.
and if gay hand shit gets you nines how the hell hasnt taj won a title yet? smooth as silk in everything, except his frontside power carve/wrap looks like hes trying to do a stand up crunch while simultaneously trying to touch his elbows or imitate a goose mating ritual, depending on how hard hes pushing the turn.
an cj forgot to mention that if your not getting the scores, all you gotta do is reach down and grab both those rails at once. 9s in no time
michel bourez surfs like an epileptic mongoose.
i think a fine amalgamation between spastic and smooth is necessary. You obviously can’t be a 7 second member of the jihad rodeo and expect points, but too much fluidity ala parko can also be a handicap. my suggestion- if you surf like a mamot on crank (bourez, jihad, aritz, et al) talk to the lovely BLUE lady before your heats. (reference madame H in extreme, gay rodeo bout of arm flipflopperry, i.e. bourez at snapper. Parko, whits, emslie, etc. will be required to intake triple the appropriate dose of either A) a stimulant in the vein of crack, ice or a lost energy drink iv or B) quardruple the dose of the myriad anti phychotics/antispastics/antidepressants of the above said competitors. Cocaine shall not be considered for this program, as all potential participants are too acclimated to both its positive and deleterious affects.
In this comment, I intend to express my views about Surfline with gentleness and respect.
Before I begin, let me point out that Sean Collins’ premise (that it’s okay to leave the educational and emotional needs of fellow surfers in the clumsy hands of psuedo-intellectual goof-offs) is its morality disguised as pretended neutrality. Surfline uses this disguised morality to support its deeds, thereby making its argument self-refuting. If Surfline’s indiscretions get any more incorrigible, I expect they’ll grow legs and attack me in my sleep. There’s a very real chance, based on the recent events with our own Lewis Samuels, that Sean Collins will transform fear and its inculcation into the preeminent force ruling human existence any day now. I know that’s extremely speculative, but it is clear today that Surfline has repeatedly been spotted turning their lunkheads loose against us good citizens of Postsurf.com. When questioned about that, Sean either denies any knowledge of it or offers unbelievable and ludicrous explanations that only an unenlightened lie-virtuoso could believe. As you may have seen already, on a television program last night, I heard one of this country’s top scientists conclude that, “There are savage witlings in our midst.” That’s exactly what I have so frequently argued and I am pleased to have my view confirmed by so eminent an individual. Sean Collins.
Surfline once said that it possesses infinite wisdom about the weather and swell cycles. Slang word for African American, please. I’m just glad my cracker-ass hadn’t eaten dinner right before I heard it say that. Otherwise, I’d probably still be vomiting too hard to tell you that there is something grievously wrong with those obtrusive braggadocios who force us to bow down low before choleric dope-heads. Shame on the lot of them! My argument is that comments like that don’t sit well with arrogant malcontents. Ridiculous? Not so. I have one final message for you before ending this drunken thought: Surfline’s slurs are anti-pluralism cloaked in the rhetoric of venom-spouting, flippant Fabianism.
You heard it here first. So saith I.
(Fabio Gouveia fist-claim held high)
Beer-Fueled-Mayhem gets it. Bravo!
As per David Henry’s comment at the top,
“Do you know now?”’s comment on Surfline has a capital letters only message on that reads: FIRE LEWIS SURFLINE SUCKS!
Sean “Captain Beatty” Collins’ mechanical hounds missed the moderation on that one.
it actually says “WHY FIRE LEWIS? SURFLINE SUCKS!”
Slater is to surfing what Zizou is for futbol
Anybody from Alabama shouldnt be able to post his incessant ramblings on a SURF topic. Enjoy your 4 miles of coastline, dickwad.
beer fueled mayhem owned it.
Tahitians are so gross when it comes to style. anyone seen tamaroa mccomb surf? his style is soooo terrible, yet they hype the shit out of him! i mean realistically its gotta be hard trying to throw airs while trying to lick your elbows at the same time
like most others, the guy from Alabama probably jumped to San Diego after school so he could be a real surfer. Lots of churches in PB filled with just that type.
Actually mister OldestMojo I was enjoying a certain 7 miles of coastline all morning. It was practically miraculous. Sometimes those who have to travel the furthest and work the hardest to get what they want seem to enjoy it more. Roll Tide Dickwad!
How was Tourmaline today Stu? The west peak at Sunset was killer this morning with under 10 guys out. 5 to 7 with some 8 foot sets. Afterwards my daughter and I grabbed some shave ice and now I am relaxing watching whales jump out of the water from my oceanview lanai. I hope you are having fun in P.B. Be careful now. Those sneaker sets at Tourmaline can really catch you off guard. I heard a guy had a 2 wave hold down there on the last swell.
Actually Alabama has 13 miles of coastline.
from ‘bama to Hawaii…classic. I’m sure you’re killing it.
Parko is technically perfect in the the same way as Kelly but the problem with parko is his moves are limited. Kelly is 3x better than him backside. Both are good at FS barrels but overall KS is by far better.
“but that’s not what the judges are into right now”
how did surfing “conversation” get to a place where this thought is considered in ANY seriousness? Is this the gayest thing in surfing? Or is it ‘ct boys doing bumps in a kitchen whilst puffing their chests out at one another ’til 4 in the morning?
anyone, in anyway, considering style over substance does not belong at the beach. You’re worried about the wrong things in life and taking up space you don’t deserve. By the sounds of it, that’s you, samuels, and your “mates” on the tour that feel entitled to surf some of the best waves on earth with just one other guy out. Who signed over the keys to the kingdom of surf to these posers, pretenders and wannabes? Time for a rebellion.
That guy OldestMojo sounds like an idiot and is a disgrace to the state of Florida. There are some awesome people from Alabama even if they dont have the best surf. I was on vacation in Hawaii this year after we won the national championship and I met this really cool guy named Mark at this place called Alii beach park in Haleiwa. He had just come in from surfing these fricken huge, current riddled waves and was drinking a Bud Light in the parking lot wearing a Crimson Tide hat. I smiled as I walked by and Mark looked at me and said” thanks for crushing my hopes and dreams in the 4th quarter of the s.e.c. championship Tebow. Gators suck manatee peters dickwad.” I laughed to myself and realized that, deep down inside, I wish that i had spent the last four years in Tuscaloosa instead of Gainesville. REAL people up in THAT neck of the woods.
Frick you Tebow! Go spend your last year up in T-Town you maggot! OldestMojo is NOT an idiot and is in fact the hardest charger in all of St. Augustine. Dude I saw him duck dive a 2 footer at Blow Hole the other day and i seriously was afraid for his life. All the groms gathered around when he came in but of course he acted like it was no big deal. ” Back in the fall of 04′ I actually had to bail my board when a freak 4 foot set came in. I dont really like to talk about it.I still get nightmares.,”he said with the faraway stare of someone who has experienced things that most havent. OldestMojo is a legend!
you fuckers have lost the plot.
Parko is the surfer we all wish we could be. Smooth, polished, understated, clean and refined and effortless almost to a fault. But he is not the future. Not even if he wins this year. It would just be a mercy fuck tribute title for the old school. Parko is Stevie Ray Vaughn. He has the chops, he has the licks, he drips soul. When he plays, we feel it in our souls but this is partly because it is already familiar. Parko is no Hendrix.
Kelly has a nasty habit of being able to reinvent himself to suit the times regardless of his current revival of cory lopez in 5′5″ X 19 1/4″ and his feeble effort to brand it “visionary”. Please. But no one else in the old crew has the staying power mentally or competitively nor do they have the flexibility and depth of technique to match the new crew coming on.
Whether Dane truly doesn’t give a shit or whether he has taken a cue from the KS school of ultimate sandbaggery doesn’t matter. His surfing, like that of Jordy (mercurial and often done in by his own head like a modern day AI) or Julian (confidence not there yet but building) or Clay (fatally flawed by genetics for competition purposes but a true virtuoso none the less), is the future. And the future is coming on fast.
Average wankers (like all of us who post here) always take a while to get comfortable with the new sound. That’s why we aren’t the next Jordys and or Danes (well, that and the fact that we are old and we just were never good enough)
It’s a vision thing.
Like the Hobgoods etc, Parko never had the vision to move the sport forward. Taj oddly enough had the vision and commitment but maybe not quite the natural ability needed.
Strange world.
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