Fiji 2012

[Nick Carroll]

surfers are just cruising the first round, but my god the commentators are killing it.

one of them just called a backside tube pump "the technically most difficult move in surfing".

[Nick Carroll]

...and followed it up by saying, "it's weird to say that someone surfs beautiful".

fcuken hell, oh well maybe they'll get an act by round three.

[crabmeat thompson]

Surf commentary, huh? Bruce Lee set the whole concept back 15 years with his Snapper rocks butchery of the english language.

It got to the point where if I heard, "best of boardriding," come out of his chubby little lady lips one more time, I was going to go on a homicidal rampage, starting by setting fire to the booth.

[bohdidontsurf]

Nothing beats Occys wandering mind...stuttering jibber and constant mispronunciation of peoples names such as Taj Burrow..s and Bede Durb...r...idge. No s in the first and no r in the second Occ...and not like you dont know them either. God Love him.

[gabsouy]

W T F is a chandelier move ???

[Nick Carroll]

actually wassell and alex are kind of saving the day now

[aaronn]

wassell
is core

[ajohnsen]

When they're in the Volcom tower thing, what do they do if they want to do a poo? And if a wee, do they just take a slash over the edge?

[Beanpole]

Surf commentary, huh? Bruce Lee set the whole concept back 15 years with his Snapper rocks butchery of the english language.

It got to the point where if I heard, "best of boardriding," come out of his chubby little lady lips one more time, I was going to go on a homicidal rampage, starting by setting fire to the booth.

Should walk up and tell him, Braithy

[Hollowed out]

nick, having done some stints on the mike, who gets paid what?
Like is it career type $$ for some and just an ego sponsor gig for others?

Who would pay $1 for jake Patterson to kill a live coverage, he has gota be paying them to get that mike in his hand

[Nick Carroll]

I don't think it's career type dollars for anyone, except maybe Joe Turpel.

The commentary is still stuck in the netherworld that results from a fractured media rights situation.

Thus each event franchisee selects its own commentary team without much consideration for overall WT consistency.

Typically the commentary crew will consist of:

- one or two paid anchor-type commentators (ie Turpel, Dave Stanfield, Doherty, (rarely) me, etc)
- three or four ex pro surfers or other employees of the event franchisee (ie Occ, Pottz, Jake Pato, etc)
- a journalist or editor from a partner surf mag (ie Chris Cote, Reggae Ellis, me, etc)
- a wildcardy sort of person, maybe a local hero who knows the spot or someone the event's flown in out of interest (Liam McNamara, Sal Masakela etc)

The anchors and the wildcards are paid varying amounts, the ex pro surfers and journalists are usually doing it as part of their employment agreement with the franchisee or media company involved.

People respond differently to the microphone and the public exposure, some people clearly enjoy their own voice and love feeling like they are part of the big show, some people are pretty pro about it, some people are just themselves whether the mike is on or not. Not many of them make an effort to gather information or prepare themselves for the task beyond psyching up or whatever; usually that's left to the anchor and to the broadcast director.

I think this one is really suffering from a number of commentators not really having much idea of the competition (like who the surfers really are as competitors and what heat surfing is really about) and from the big drawback of the fractured media rights process -- lack of consistent chemistry between the commentators. Some people click and others don't, and it's happening by fluke more than by planning.

[Karlos]

- a journalist or editor from a partner surf mag (ie Chris Cote)

The presence of that bloke generally has me hitting the mute button. You know that's saying something when you consider some of the other talent we've got to put up with.

[Hollowed out]

Ta for the inside on that Nick, sorta now fits and guess that the Fuel TV aspect has influenced things being that a broader audience demands more 'soft/cheesy' comments and non stop jibbering and generalisation and background info.
Why ASP doesn't take a position of having at least one professional commentator (anchors) who is neutral and speaks for all the surfers, judges who then has the "guest" presenters with them who have at least been screened and briefed on protocol and standards before they are let loose.
For my money Turpel & Doherty and even Stanfield (fits the hawaii thing) would be first in line and paid accordingly to ensure the whole game is lifted. Occy for one is great when partnered with the right anchor (and not pissed like at the manly event) and Reggae, Liam (a real surprise actually), Col Berasconi, Barton and yourself. To a lesser degree Pottz (heard it all a bit too much and a bit too much personal stuff from him), Peter Mel (too flat).
Tomlinson probably the best 'throw to beach, but he is 100% bong and that Rosey is pretty good.
What do others think??

[Karlos]

Turpel (if he's the guy I'm thinking of) is OK as he doesn't try to dominate. Doherty's ockerisms get a bit much at times, & I thought Pete Mel was good on the few occasions I heard him. Occy can be either (unintentionally) funny or excruciating. Reggae & NC are usually OK as they contribute something beyond the Spicoli-isms that most of the others are infected by.

[Nick Carroll]

Ta for the inside on that Nick, sorta now fits and guess that the Fuel TV aspect has influenced things being that a broader audience demands more 'soft/cheesy' comments and non stop jibbering and generalisation and background info.

Yeah I dunno about that; you really don't see Fuel around the events; they collect the feed and satellite it, and I am sure they may have had some influence with formats and direction styles, but not on the commentary.

A broader audience needs the sport explained skilfully and succinctly from the ground up, "soft" commentary and such like is no good to anyone really. Though a commentator who could consistently make you laugh (and not by accident like Occ) would be extra cool

[Hollowed out]

Thanks Reg, stoked that you cared enough to comment, very constructive

[ajohnsen]

The pooing question might seem frivolous, but I'm serious. How do the organisers deal with the environmental issues of the Volcom structure - sewage, rubbish etc.?

[buzzy]

The commentary was very Seppo extreme sport rad, and annoying.

NC, why is Slater up against the lowest ranked qualifier in Rd 2? Aren't seeds now determined by current rankings, not last years?