Pretend for a moment that you are an ASP Judge. You are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and local hero Adriano de Souza is surfing in the Quarterfinals against Owen Wright. Both men are World Title contenders surfing in less-than-ideal conditions. They must be scored on two waves. The video above reflects their wave selection and performance. Now, please explain the logic behind their respective scores.
Adriano de Souza is a great competitor. Kelly Slater has repeatedly expressed frustrations about competing against him, and he deserves to win an ASP World Tour event. He deserves to sit atop the World Rankings. But not like this. Victories like this create pregnant pauses, asterisks, and discontent about the entire concept of equitable surf competitions.
Unless, of course, you can rationalize the outcome of this heat. Please do.
