My Olympic Surfing rant

[Shukin]

To save David and Chas from having to open yet another DM from me I have decided to use this platform to rant and perhaps hear how others are feeling about the games so far. If this is not what this forum is for I apologize in advance.

I have been watching both women’s and men’s coverage on the NBC app on my apple tv. If you thought the commercials on the WSL stream were annoying, try this ap out for size. The last time I felt this frustrated was when I attempted to contact Microsoft customer service only to find they have switched everything online with NO live chat or human to be in contact with. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason for when they cut to a commercial during the surfing and there is a lack of replay, so the percentage of waves one misses viewing is beyond belief.

The commentators obviously have no idea that NBC has decided to cut to one of six possible commercials, they just keep rambling on. Barton Lynch is by far my favorite surf commentator followed closely by Dave Kalama, BL’s enthusiasm is contagious, reassuring, and keeps my interest and frustrations at bay.

Whomever are doing the play by play for the woman are trying hard to break things down for the first time viewer, which I understand, yet the whole thing sound like they are reading a bad script. The commentators are never introduced nor do they address each other by name, I recognize her voice from WSL coverage but don’t know her name, I’m not sure who he is. The guy keeps bringing up “Duke’s Dream” of surfing in the Olympics but can’t pronounce his last name, only talks about his 1912 appearance, not his multiple medals and sports, and the says you can see a statue of “the Duke” in Waikiki! Duke is not his nickname, so I think his use of  “the” is incorrect.

I also felt somewhat melancholy to see how much effort the Japanese have put forth to set up the beach with tents, guardrails, and a giant screen, and there be no spectators allowed. The coaches are required I guess to wear masks on the beach as they cheer?

Question, if a seven time world champion get’s knocked out by someone who is not on the ct, does the ct really have “the best surfers in the world?” Or it that just a phrase like ‘the one and only’ or the ‘GOAT’ subject to personal opinion? Seeing John have to go against Kolohe so soon was sad for America, they could have chipped away at surfers from other countries and perhaps met up in the semifinal’s or finals. The conditions seem to be a layup for the Brazilians as I believe David, Scott and Chas have mentioned before, if they take the men’s gold and the WSL tour I hope it has a positive ripple in their economy.

I don’t understand how the draw works, if someone can explain I would appreciate it.

Caroline Marks is on fire! Carissa is Carissa, Sally Fitzgibbons is on point.

Kolohe and Kanoa kick off the Men’s quarterfinals today, personally, I want whomever wins this to go on to win the gold. Bummed to see John out so soon, I don’t think Kelley would have done any better in those conditions against Kolohe, he may have done better in his first surf though, purely speculation at this point. Though the waves aren’t beautiful, I am happy to see they have waves and I feel those conditions are perhaps what most beach goers who are watching surfing for the first time are used to seeing. Perhaps they can relate and take their wavestorms and Costco Gerry Lopez boards out at shitty breaks and work their way up to better conditions and hand shaped boards.

I am excited to see the outcome and to see what these athletes can do in these conditions, Japan having a few gold meddles in skateboarding already is awesome considering how underground it is there.

I’m very curious how others feel, what the general public response is, if Scott watched any or got so caught up in watching the steeplechase he decided to cancel some custom boards and buy some running shoes?

Thank you for allowing me to put this out there, if you read this, thank you.

[Shukin]

July 27th follow up. After posting the above rant I went on instagram to see if anyone else in my feed had been watching and I came across a photo of Joey Buran’s post about a “A Sunday afternoon well spent!” I don’t know how many people turn to the gram for the photos only, I am one to actually read the captions, and I am certainly happy I did. Joey went on to say “How many Sundays in my life have I been able to watch surfing in the Olympics? Before yesterday …none. So historic.” I had to take a step back and open my mind a bit. I commented on his post “I’m using the app in Apple TV as well, are you finding the way they cut to commercials annoying? I feel like during the women’s heats yesterday I viewed more repeat commercials than Waves ridden.” I guess I was hoping he would agree with me and add his frustrations, but no, his response made me think even deeper and more holistic. He replied with a laughing emoji and “Just glad I can be watching!” I realized at that moment that I should stop looking for holes and step into gratitude for what is actually unfolding, and how monumental this really is.

Through my interactions with this spiritual man allowed me to view the rest of the Olympic Surfing coverage in a new light. I was on the edge of my seat during the Medina Igarashi show down and Barton Lynch carried me over the edge with his enthusiasm and excitement, he exudes an undeniable passion for the sport, I wish I could change my siri voice to his, could you imagine? I was still triggered by the women’s commentator, so I just lowered the volume and listened to Kenny G instead, painful, but much less. Joey’s teachings allowed me to feel fortunate to even have a way to watch all of the surfing even if I missed some to commercials, and I could appreciate the WSL app more for simple features like rewind and fast forward.

Interestingly enough, I was able to rewatch all the medal heats this morning with a lot less commercials, so was able to see waves I missed the first time around. I’m curious how many people around the world watched surfing in the olympics, how much airtime it got on the network and not the app.

I’m very interested to hear  others experience.

 

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