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you've never been to Michigan.
 
I have. Change the number from 35 to 3.5 million. The rest stands. NHL/NHLPA keeps shooting themselves in the foot. Fun sport, but they're doing their best tp make sure as few people as possible care about it.
 
I'm a casual fan and crap like this is not positive at gaining increased interest.

I would never let any potential children of mine play hockey. That sport is rough.
 
I played but stopped at around 14 or so before everyone got big enough to seriously hurt each other. Used to do light scrimmages on Mondays with former minor league players and can't imagine what kind of damage they can do when they are playing in something that matters.
 
It's insane how close those waves break to where spectators can stand.
 
Juan Manuel Marquez looks great tonight against Manny Pacqauio. Just a slugfest so far though, been really entertaining.
 
WOW Pacman is defeated! Juan Manuel Marquez just hit Pacman with an absolutely ferocious right hand. See ya to the "Megafight".
 
http://vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com...-view/day-2-highlights-billabong-pipe-masters

Video synopsis of Day 2 at The Pipe Masters

For a little background, the ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals yuk yuk yuk) is the governing body responsible for determining the best contest surfer every year. They organize 10-12 WCT (World Championship Tour) contests a year, and in each of those contests, the surfers accumulate points based on their results. At the end of the year, whoever has the most points wins. In addition, the 22 highest scorers remain on the WCT for the following year.

In addition to the WCT, there is also the WQS (World Qualifying Series), where there are literally hundreds of contests all around the world where surfers accumulate points in contests weighted by their "status" (i.e. prize money). The top 10 finishers (who may also be current non qualifiers on the WCT) in the WQS also surf the WCT for the following year.

Then the ASP gets to hand pick two ASP wild cards for each event on the WCT, which I think is really fucking lame, but whatever.

So right now, the WCT Title is coming down between Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson. Parkinson is 31, has finished second probably 10 times. He is easily the best surfer in the world who has never won a world title. He is also arguably the best surfer in the world. Kelly Slater is 40 and has won 11 titles. He is definitely the best surfer of all time, and is really remarkable in his ability to adapt new styles and keep his surfing "tricks" current with the times while still surfing with the skill, power and grace that hearkens back to a time when surfers did all of their maneuvers on waves (power surfing) rather than above them (aerial surfing).

So the drama of this contest boils down to this. Kelly has to advance further than Parkinson in this contest, or Parko wins his first World Title.
 
Oddly enough I saw both Slater and Parkinson's heats yesterday. There's this unique excitement in the format when one guyneeds X points to pass the other guy and the clock is ticking down. Really fun to watch. Plus things within a heat can change so quickly and the conditions present that random element.
 
bfactor said:
Oddly enough I saw both Slater and Parkinson's heats yesterday. There's this unique excitement in the format when one guyneeds X points to pass the other guy and the clock is ticking down. Really fun to watch. Plus things within a heat can change so quickly and the conditions present that random element.
Click to expand...

Plus, in Hawaii, on the most famous reef break waves, both the left and the right can work depending on the swell direction. In the case of the Pipeline Masters, Pipeline is a left that works on North and Northwest swells. The right hand wave on the same reef is called "Backdoor", which only works when there is a lot of north swell in the water.

Yesterday, both Pipe and Backdoor were working incredibly well, which makes the event way more exciting. And all of this is magnified by the fact that Pipe has killed more surfers than all other waves in the world combined. These guys are the best of the best, modern day gladiators risking their lives for the ultimate ride.
 
I'm always amazed by the guys that get seemingly crushed by the barrel and just disappear beneath this violent mass of foam where I'm thinking "is that dude ok"? A few seconds later the foam settles and you see that he's not only ok but has already paddled like 30 ft back in the other direction to get back in line at the break. I do remember them talking about how dangerous backdoor can be.
 
BTW, just saw one of the worst wipeouts imaginable in the last heat. Guy paddles back out, gets a wave with less than a minute to go in his heat to advance. Unreal.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the Parko heat. They did a pretty solid job considering what they had to work with. Love sports where the character of the "playing field" changes from day to day.
 
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