It’s on. ZoSea’s newest baby, the old ASP, has a facelift, and it looks pretty damn good. The Samsung Galaxy ASP World Tour kicked off at Snapper Rocks with a bunch of new tweaks… and they are noticeable, to say the least. Here are eight of the first things I noticed on watching the new webcast.
1. Look at this professionalism! This looks like something a REAL outfit would make for a REAL sport, like the NFL. Who’d a thunk that a little attention to graphic detail would add so much legitimacy?
Wooooh! Look at that thing. That’s a desk.
2. A Desk! Did we mention professionalism? Nothing says professional sports like the a portable on-field broadcast desk. Move over Peter Mel and Pat Parnell. We need Charles Barkley wearing a suit talking smack or Dick Vitale throwing down some “Awesome Babies!” That thing probably cost $10,000. And it was totally worth it. I love that desk. You love that desk too.
3. Well, here’s something that HASN’T changed: the girls are still getting the shitty end of the stick. “Hey, the waves are junk! We can run the girl’s event!” That sucks. But to their credit, they’re surfing amazingly well in some of the worst Snapper conditions ever. You go, girls.
4. Hiring a professional photographer was a great idea. All these women are already beautiful, but good Lord, they all look like models in their headshots. Nikki Van Dijk’s next career move, judging from her headshot, should be some kind of foray into the perfume commercial world.
5. Alessa Quizon is officially the world’s cutest person. After beating everyone’s sweetheart Steph Gilmore (due to interference), the Hawaiian newcomer gave the most charming, little girl post heat interview. If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be friends with Alessa.
6. It looks like the ASP has officially arrived. Again, who’da thunk a few professionally done graphics would go such long way? For all the newcomers watching this webcast, they’re going to be left with the impression that the Tour isn’t run by ex-industry guys that don’t exactly have the clearest idea of how to run things. In fact, maybe they do now!
7. This is an ad. Not that strange. But it’s an ad for a BANK. That’s not a surfing company, folks. That’s an ad aimed at regular folks that don’t care about surfing’s neon. These people care about mortgages and savings accounts, not fin keys and flip flops.
8. Oh wait. Ah, whatever. Stay true to the core, right? But they are staying true to the core every three minutes, running advertisements almost as much as they’re running the contest. I haven’t seen this many ads since I was in second grade math class, and I still don’t like it.
On the whole, this is awesome. A definite step up and clearly the result of a lot of hard work. Relaunches will always have a few speed bumps, but based on what we’re seeing so far, we like. Looking forward to the rest of the event.
Watch The Quiskilver Pro Gold Coast LIVE now on ASPWorldTour.com.
