Billabong just announced that Tom Curren will face Mark Occhilupo in a "Clash of the Icons" heat at J-Bay.
I have nothing bad to say about this.
It's interesting to note the for this specialty match-up. Curren and Occy last faced each other in 1988, ending their rivalry with an 8-8 record. But all of Curren's 8 heat wins came in semis or finals, while most of Occy's were in early rounds.
It's also interesting to note the overall wins for these two icons: 33 event wins and a 70% heat win ration for Curren, compared to 12 event wins and a 55% win ratio for Occy.
No one in ASP history has a better event-win ratio than Tom Curren. Slater surpassed Curren a few years back in terms of overall wins (40 now for Slater, 33 for Curren) but it actually took Slater more events to win 33. Curren reached his 33rd win in 127 events, while Slater reached his 34th win in 163 events … leaving Curren with a 1:4 hit ratio to Slater’s 1:5.
I coincidentally re-discovered the trailer for "Beyond Blazing Boards" today - the first surf movie I ever saw. Check out Occ's air and Curren's vert hit. (The song is "Wild Child" by the Untouchables -I bought the vinyl back in '87 so I could psyche up for my grom sessions.)
In other ASP news, the Brazil event is on this morning, and speeding to a merciful death.
Everything is going according to script, except for Dustin Barca's advancement to the quarters at the expense of Bobby Martinez and Jordy Smith. The muscle milk is working!
This one’s for Cote’… Did you “coincidentally re-discover” the BBB trailer last week when TWS had it up? While I agree it’s perhaps the best video ever, let’s keep with giving props to sources (right Rott?). Thank you. Oh, and where’s your messiah now, Mark? Jordy out.
What are they going to ride? Currens’ fish… Machado’s woody. My vote is for Bethany Hamilton’s stand up paddle in a circle board.
p.s. somebody gong those Euro trash mofo’s out of the booth
The 909 is coming to the police state (Newps)…. be safe Stu.
Curren and Occy forced the entire Free Ride generation into retirement, can they save pro surfing once again?
this contest is a disaster
fuck you booger! portugal rules
As the New ASP President, I demand this camera man be arrested and tortured gratuitously.
A robbot could film better.
Wow! What an amazing surf flick! As a relatively new member of the “surf scene” I could never shake the obvious fact that most surf films are rudimentarily taking video clips and combining them with shit music.
Look at Taylor Steels new movie ’stranger than fiction’. Besides the level of surfing…. As innovative as coal fired power plants.
When will the surf media benchmark the innovativeness of skateboard media?
Skateboarders and their companies earn a REPUTATION from the video evidence of their abilities and nothing else. Videos of evidence take precedence over competition (which plays a miniscule role in skateboarding). I’ve personally seen and experienced skaters losing their credibility over running photos of tricks they did not land yet surfers have no problem running tow-at throwaway airs “as long as the shot looks cool.”
The ASP perpetuates the mis-truth of competition singularly determining the greatness of many surfers within their world of rules and regulations when surfer need to realize the cold hard truth about surfing.. it is art. There are no winners and losers, only those who ascribe to those rules they create that unfortunate jail in their mind.
Of course watching Occy vs. Curren is going to be amazing to see and I do enjoy watching ASP competition but scoring surfers performances is comparable to scoring works of art… personal interpretations and subjectivity play too large a role to be taken seriously.
Skaters have accepted their role as artists which is why I think their sport is flourishing with creative and truthful messages via their media outlets. Sorry Cote, but TW Skate has more content than your magazine at this moment in time. Doesn’t mean it can’t change for the better.
In the world of big business (from where I come from and gain many allegorical references in life) you must benchmark those who are on the cutting edge or die.
Surfing is not me vs. him, it is art.
Like the truth Jamie O twitted and inspired me, “Surfing ain’t binary” and “Surfing is art” leads me to think that brash outspoken spoiled north shore brat is on the cusp of the surfing revolution.
Why does the professional athletes of surfing deal with the all the bullshit? They are the driving force of the industry. Their minds will ultimately decide the future of surfing if they figure out that future for themselves above the confines of capitalist endeavors (which kills all art).
Curren’s first wave at J-Bay — remember that? My son is going d-o-w-n.
JSPN Surfing’s for surfers, stay away from trying to understand it until you can do it, no offence but opinion isn’t a substitute.
Adriano’s surfing is just kinda ugly…he goes vertical, but he’s just not smooth.
These announcers are brutal…
Refresh. I do surf. Have tackled waves from 18 ft. playa domes in PR to 2ft mushy FL. I sailed the carib island chain hunting down waves by myself away from the masses of idiot surfers here in the EC of the USA. I am a surfer, and am entitled to speak my mind about the general mindlessness of popular surfing culture.
I can be absolutely wrong. I never said I was right. Think for yourself.
I think I am going to go masterbate with a cheese grader instead of watching remainder of Brazil contest. I owe a big thank you for whoever invented the mute button!
@Bitter Bob
There’s something to be said for masturbating with a cheesegrater.
Yea you get em people from the east coast really know what theyr’e talking about(sticking finger down throat)I am aflorida native and the references you gave prove how far you’ve gone going to PR once and claiming domes, has got to be the weakest Claim of surfing experince I’ve heard even from an east coster,It’s tiddly winks man compared to half the waves in other oceans,Thats not to say that tres dosn’t blow up,but you didn’t say tres palmes yous said domes
Jamie O’s twittering is so profound….
Like a ten pound bag of idiot to the face (JOB’s twitters)
I hereby nominate Jason Ellis for the post of tour announcer. In between waves he could school everyone on what’s gay and what’s not which, while probably not super attractive to the largely gay surf industry, would be funny for the rest of us. Give him Mailman as a straight-man sidekick and the webcams would be golden.
“I have nothing bad to say about this.”
Why the fuck don’t they pick Hawaiians?!?!?!?!
We invented the sport! The ASP and Billabong is so RACIST!
Why do you think Dale Richards is on Quiksilver?
The Pre final webshow is the best part of the brazilian contest!
the asp should ban brazilian dudes and have only brazilian chicks on the tour
i hope the occy v. curren thing is formatted as an hour or longer freesurf thing….
Kelly wins! Joel’s nervous.
slates killed it again
This is very cool…yea man…
They should totally invite MR, Kong, Carrol, and crew out there to join them to help kick start a silver surfer tour. BTW, whatever happened to all the talk about a Senior ASP tour? The Senior tour could coincide with the ASP tour, an early riser affair. they could could run a couple loose ‘heats’ at dawn and help the contest organizers make the call for the day as to whether or not to run the contest and then some more senior clinics after the ASP is off for the day. I know that they have various legends specialty events, but whatabout a bonafide Senior ASP tour?
Curren vs Occy at J-Bay? Sure to be a Classic, like arnold palmer verses Chi Chi Rodriguez (incidentally-did you see the pumping swell from the XCEL J-BAY Barrel riding contest?!)
Carrol ripping the creaky doors off of cheyne horan’s lazer moon zap out at Mundaka in the predawn mist? Cool.
Ian “The Bronzed Aussie” Cairns vs. Joey “Jesus Saves” Buran out at Hosseger at 9pm? Maybe not so cool, but whatever.
Whaddaya think?
@JSPN: wow, that’s awesome. sure it wasn’t a 19 footer that you tackled?
SL9TR a SL10TR?
slater slays the comp.
SLATEN….learn to love it…..he’s the best thing goin’ taday! Whoo!
Looks like we have a title race on our hands!!!
who’s manning the ASP brain trust? the guys who brought you the PBA and the PGA Senior’s tour?
the only thing that will make this Ocker/Curren throwback/throwup interesting would be if the ASP dorknob braintrust invited Tom’s drunken dad Pat, Fuzzy Zoeller, and Ocker’s mum.
bil-o im sure the waves were 18ft, I measured them with the official quicksilver tape measure I wear when I paddle out at all surf spots. Just so I can prove in the blogosphere how sick I am at surfing. Yall are silly. But so am I for even posting my ideas in any kind of extreme sport blog. Surfings true intrinsic value supersedes the commercialized whore that you mindless ASP competition freaks have turned the sport into. Think about it, the ASP standardizes the kind of surfing they see as suitable while skaters do whatever they want. What is more conducive to progress?? I said this before, what I say can be wrong and I dont mind that fact. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a website critical of the fruity surf culture created by corporate interests. I’m ecstatic to see what Lewis has accomplished with this blog so crazy mofo’s like me can say what I want. If you think that surfing is all about ascribing to the values of these corporate interests then that is sad.. Occy and Curren should just be allowed to ‘free surf’ their heat rather than… what a good antonym for free?? Imprisioned surfing…Restricted surfing?? Hahaha free surfing is the dumbest thing I ever heard of. Your free everytime you surf!
Curren’s outfit in the first clip sucked!
On a second note, congrats King Kelly.
Damn, as i sit sullen, beer in hand, tormented by Brazzo hotties with microphones in the competitors tent, everyone these days rides my donkey….
when does everyone get off my back?
I might as well get a job carrying sacks of coffee down the mountains of Brazil. Has to be better than everyone else’s sack on my chin.
Why don’t all of you kooks who slam pro surfing go home and watch volleyball on television? This year WILL be the title race of all title races and it WILL come down to Pipe and it WILL be 10 to 12 foot second reef for the entire contest.
Of course all of you will still be bitching about something. Does ANYONE have a positive attitude about ANYTHING on this site?
I am going out on a limb and claiming this win, all things considered, to be one of Slaters most memorable. Obviously not for the epic waves but for the intestinal fortitude it took to head down to Brazzoville and beat Adrianno in his backyard after being written off by most everyone.
Way to go champ!!! And GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And one more thing.
Jordy will win J-Bay.
You heard it here first.
And Sarah Palin owes me some copyright infringement fees.
She just quit as governor of Alaska.
I hope they don’t put comp jerseys on the icons and downgrade them to dancing bears!
she also just qui yayayayaya,Dr. Jspn your rederic may be more appretiated ,Were just a bunch of simpletons who enjoy living through our favorite surfers,vicariously,rather than being a scabbed up dirty smelly sweaty drug addict cig smoking skater bag,and calling ourselves innovative seriously jspn take sarah palins lead,in the words of a great new jersian “this ain’t fucken skatbooooardin”
I know I can’t spell it’s because I was at the skate park during high school english,ur 18ft. ain’t my 18 ft. buddy,curren is the man BTW,especially when he was on ,I mean in sydney
@SARSkillz Floridiots
Dude, reading your writing is like being stroked off with a cheese grater. Please take some classes at your local community college.
PS hopefully there will be a SARS pandemic soon.
Hey Mark! I would have preferred to see Adriano take the Champ, but epic show. They both killed it. ASP and Brazilian fans couldn’t have asked for a better final! Hang Loose and Teco Padaratz have some good karma going! And yes indeed, we have a race on our hands! Bring on J-Bay!!!!
Wow…Looks like someone took an extra big dose of stupid today.
my favorite part: “Known as Sarah Barricuda when she played basketball in high school, Ms. Palin used point guard analogy in explaining her decision, saying she knows “exactly when to pass the ball so the team can win.””
Drill Baby, Drill!!!
Sweet. And we don’t even have to wait 5 weeks for the next contest and the title race to resume.
Using a tapemeasure would give you wave face not the size of the surf. Perhaps by 18 foot you mean TOH, and if you were experienced enough to handle TOH, you wouldn’t miss call it, be new to surfing culture or think that by dissecting the ASP’s faults we were anything other than free. I DO believe though you are from the world of big business cos I smell BS. Apologies though if you meant something with at least a 35 foot face, do you even know what a fuckin foot is? And stop talking about skating, you are so an inline skate man. Goodbye BIG industry man
parko won’t sleep in the next weeks
slater is going to win j-bay.
“parko won’t sleep in the next weeks”.
really? that’s not what he told my burro.
he told her he’s sleeping “in” for the next month.
all the way to S.A!
Parko is my favorite surfer to watch, but my money is with KS…SL9TR’s got it in the bag.
I bet he’s bored with shaping now and focusing on his surfing again.
@mailman… what are you gushing about, the contest was a complete mess. Quarters and semi’s without waves, waves that couldn’t offer a score and a comprehensive failure of a broadcast. Top to bottom, the ASP should be mortified.
Taj got robbed and Kelly pulled another houdini with that one right. Magic out of a hat, hardly a “epic final”. The dream tour needs to wake up and stop dreaming.
Although I though Tiago was occassionally funny, the cameraman missed takeoffs while filming the same 3 chicks and spiderman with drunk guitar guy.
Foam rebounds, forced recoveries, milking an inside slop to an anticlimatic “hit” and nary a tube to be found…..
And JSPN who took his first surf trip with a ruler….. 18 inches maybe, feet no way J. Let’s recap… “artistic skating”, inspired by JOB’s twiiter and “in the world of big business…” Qualified Moron.
@ Mark, you better have Kelly in SA. He’s back on Merrick’s and the field is fucking shaken… again. Too much riding on your fantasy championship for you to get mushy over Jordy.
@Mike
Not to be an apologist for the ASP, but really, what can they do about the surf? Round one and two was very contestable unfortunately it didn’t hold up.
Horrible broadcasting ditto for the camera work. Some of the worst camera work from the ASP which has always been spotty. My question to whoever directs these webcasts: “why do you think we the audience is more interested in a guy wearing a spiderman costume on the beach or an average chick walking a dog, than an approaching set or the first two seconds of a surfers wave??” Until your production has the ability to quickly cut from one scene to another, how ’bout just keeping the camera focused on the surfers in the water.
My bias is always for Slater, but honestly Joel was underscored and was the best surfer today. If criteria rewarded flow and style, then Joel would have won with Mick placing.
Does Curren in his prime beat slater in his prime? Ask Derek Hynd. Occy got a wildcard world title because he came back from coke and couch surfing after a cycle of roids. Same with Sunny. With today’s ASP format Christian Fletcher in his prime would beat em all. At trestles or pipe. Curren smokes ole’ Occy in a few weeks no matter the conditions….on a fish on cid or a merrick stoned.
Just stopping by and wanted to wish you all a pleasant, safe and happy Independence Day. Go Slater.
Cheers, Barry-O, first Hawaiian President.
A Good Independence Day to you and your “burro” as well.
@ Ross
Panning back to the second turn of a scoring wave of a semi final is unacceptable. Does the camera man suffer from ADD? Have a least one camera fixed to the lineup with the ability to change feeds BEFORE any wave breaks. Can you imagine an NFL broadcast missing the first three seconds of any play? To film drunk dude talking to average chick or giant blow up beer can?
As for the surf Ross, you can’t tell me that slopey wave is the best Brazil has to offer…. Too many talented guys have emerged from that nation and they couldn’t have prepared themselves in that slop. Somewhere was going off…. and the day with the hard offshores should’ve been contest on if the Surflie pictures told the story. Looked damn contestable…. but the “beach presence” would’ve been lacking…. Once again, pro surfing forgets it’s premise.
I have a hot date with a cheese grater..gotta go
Taj is trademarked too? I have a special penis..it really needs no trademark, but still….
@Ross
@Mike
I work in the production industry,and can tell you it really was not the camera man/woman fault. In a live broadcast you do not think as a camera person you follow the direction of the director. You can try to set up a shot to go to, but the director has a monitor to preview every shot he/she is going to. There should be, no matter what, a mid wide shot ready to go to on the water at all times, this is standard, sometimes it’s even an unmanned camera locked down. Also the sound was horrible, once again the director should be listening to what is going out on air, switching between. Just loved the loud music over the interviews. I’m not even going into the “WCT ANGELS”. As a viewer I could not have been more disappointed with the WHOLE webcast. As a person in the production industry I could not be more embarrassed for them and feel the ASP should make sure that there is some kind of continuity from location to location. Excuse my language but I do not know who’s dick the director sucked to score that job but, my freshman class in college could have done a better job, what a DREAM gig and they give it to some idiot.
BTW@JSPN every time I watch the Xgames and watched Sheckler shoot a AXE commercial a few weeks a go I think…this is complete art thanks for sharing it with the world.
Ok, Lewis. I’ll try again.
How bout you. four, five, sixth, seventh, post
Mike, I was only talking about the final, and the fact that there is now a title race on… I agree about the rest…
I hope this becomes a masters tour. I have no interest in watching Adriano de Souza or Jeremy Flores surf, or most of the other robots in the 44.
come now, kids, there’s no title race yet. 17, 17, 17, 1 doesn’t make for a great showing. Check back if Kelly wins J-Bay and Parko falls out in Round 3. With Mark’s boy Jordy a sure-thing though, I’m not holding my breath.
The latest issue of Surfer is pretty damn epic. With the exception of Bruce, I think the “voters” nailed it. But fuck, Bruce rips.
Happy Fourth. Time to go blow some shit up.
And Lewis, you know the mag Severson began 60 odd years ago has their eyes on you. Tune down the bullshit, and damn. Would be cool to have that stage if you ask me. I can be a reference.
About the web coverage and the more-than-often lame quality, i really think ASP, as “surfing’s only governing body” should really try to put an end to this whole masquerade crap that live webcasting is. I mean, i honnestly wouldn’t mind paying a 100 bucks every year for a pay-per-view subscription for the whole season of WT and major QS events, as long as i’m sure the quality WILL BE THERE. Getting 5mn of Brazilian round asses, filmed by wasted-hydrocephalous-priapic mofos is SO not what i want to see when i logg onto the event websites. It just reminds me of Shawn Thompson’s briliant article about hiring “Pros instead of Bros”. We need quality videos, comments, stats, replays, scores, all the shit we get when watching NFL, NHL or NBA.
The lamest thing is that ASP was one of the first sports to go on the live webcasting thing and now even watching curling gets more interesting, regarding the huge gaps in quality from one event to another. SURFING NEEDS TO TURN PRO, AT LAST.
And BTW, Curren rules, he’ll kick Occy’s low ass, piece of cake.
Vico
The big question: Will Dane win a heat?
didnt read the previous 68 comments, but anyone else noticed the first clash between occy and curren at the marui pro 1983 was won by occy according to the billabong site BUT check the draw in the asp site curren won the contest, actualy his fourth victory on tour.
it doesnt match
the 8×8 score is wrong OR the 33 Curren’s victories on tour are wrong
or maybe quite a few things are wrong on these asp files…?
dude half the time i write I’m so wired on PU fumes and acetone you are lucky I can spell,that is all
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