Comments on: Kelly Slater: Greatest Athlete of All Time?

By: Agnese Minazzo

Agnese Minazzo — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 06:26:20 +0000

It obvious! He IS the best!

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:33:20 +0000

The greatest athlete of all times was chosen already in 2009 or so. The Brazilian Pele.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:30:27 +0000

What is a cricketer?

By: Seabass

Seabass — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 08:59:53 +0000

What about the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar a sporting god to more than a billion people.

By: Laaden

Laaden — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:25:50 +0000

@Anton it is quite obvious that your IQ and your beach sandals size are probably identical,
If you cant respect achievement then you should stick to possibly growing some balls so you can, If not check YOUR aunt or Gran !!!

By: anton

anton — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:08:38 +0000

@jeremy,,hehehe you are very funny you make me laugh,,well i am a semi old fruit but still yummy enough to eat.There are plenty of veterans who could beat Slater or any of the guys in heats but this progressive surfing bull would not allow basic power and style,,but occy is challeging this a bit even though he was being underscored on sum waves at margies and trestles.And if it wasnt for guys like bobby the tour probably wouldnt make many changes there needs to be more debate and protest or we would all be sheep and the tour would just slowly move along with a few guys sitting in a booth writing dodgy scores on a piece of paper.And yes about delayed heats and replays yes they have improved it but the system is still stuck in the past and untechnical,,the heat in brazil last year with desouza and owen what a joke completely silly and a heap of other heats too.And its weird,that their calling in fiji sum of the best surf ever and they dont even run a few heats hmm Dream Tour.Jeremy i’m afraid to say i’m not the only one who can give different opinions on Slater or the Tour.Im happy to give different opinions and hope the tour can evolve more quick as surfing is the best sport by far.The tour should make more effort in improving the tour instead of relying on Slater to give the tour notoriety.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:49:09 +0000

Ah. thanks for your correction about 40 year old guys, I need glasses as I’ve hit the big number myself. Unfortunately this makes your argument more ridiculous. I challenge you to come up with even half that number.
What you say has no validity.I could tell you there are aliens monitoring our planet or there wasn’t really a holocaust but it would mean NOTHING because it there is no factual evidence of any of this.
Regarding heat replays you have a good point. The WT are now postponing following heats so the judges can review replays of late wave exchanged to make sure they can be as accurate as possible.
Have you been to any WT events? If not you should, because what the camera doesn’t show very well is the speed, size and power of the wave the surfers are performing on. I saw a heat in France once where a surfer scored a perfect legitimate 10. When I saw the online footage later it didn’t look more than a 7 because on screen it wasn’t possible to get a true sense of the dynamics of the wave and how critical the moves where.
Yes of course sometimes judges make mistakes but enough to make or break careers? Never!
You sound like Bobby M. Not good.
If you’re a young dude, i like your passion and I’m sure you’ll learn to back up your arguments with more legitimacy.
If you’re not well, you’re just a twisted old fruit and I’m done with you.

By: Steve00

Steve00 — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:19:07 +0000

Agree that you can’t compare apples with oranges (conditions, different sports etc….). So to suggest someone is the greatest sportsman of all time is irrelevant. The question could (and should) be, who is the sportsman that you admire and respect the most. The answer is subjective, and in my opinion it is Kelly Slater.
I also like the comment above about airs in 1 foot slop being the norm, or the way competitive surfing is heading. As much as I dislike this, Kelly Slater has adapted and can still compete (in this aspect) with the so-called new generation.
I do not think that Kelly’s achievements will ever be matched in surfing.

By: anton

anton — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:55:53 +0000

@Jeremy,I didnt say 40 guys i said 40 year old guys,,probably all those guys on tour should be there but also a whole lot of other guys and more should be there but the tour doesnt allow it,as the tour is trying to tell you what progressive surfing is..You say that tennis and football etc has controversy but with those sports the ball is either in or out and your foot is either in or out so to qualify it more or less depends on who hits the ball in or who runs the fastest and they have also made big improvements with replays etc yes the tour has improved the judging but its not enough there r so many silly scores because the scores become official within each heat,,the tour depends on each heat and so many heats r dodgy and theres no justice for the loosers,,the scoring should be a longer drawn out process using replays well after the heat is finished if need be to come up with the true winner or even a draw.Maybe slater deserves all his titles maybe not but the tour has changed alot and its really fallen into place for him now as the waves are better and he can just relax,where back in the days there were more events and alot of shitty waves all those legend power chargers had no choice but to retire.Slater is an amazing athlete amazingly physically gifted but all those titles its just like an advertisement for the sport.I would still rather Currens approach to a wave 15years ago or whatever to copy cat slaters approach on a wave in 2012,,so the Tour can claim they have the greatest athlete,,for me who cares,,power and style still blows slater out of the water,,but yes slater is an amazing athlete.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 23:52:00 +0000

I can assure you that my Aunt’s balls comment articulates a lot in one sentence. Using the word ‘if’ or ‘could’ when you are trying to justify your arguments is weak> E.g. IF i was born next to the ocean and surfed everyday with competitive friends from the age of 5 I COULD have been a world champion. It;s an opinion I may have but has no validity whatsoever because it has not been proven.
The same with your statement that 40 guys COULD rock up on the world tour and surf as good as any of these guys on tour. The only way these guys you speak of can PROVE it, is to put in the commitment, dedication grind and passion that the WT guys have over the years and get out there and give them a good whipping. There are probably a 100 surfers out there who have video sequences out that make some of the WT guys look lame but thats not reality. It may take a year of shooting and editing to put
an “amazing” sequence together. The WT guys haven’t got time for onanistic pursuits because they’re out there week in week out laying there reputations and livelihoods on the line in heats.
You speak of dodgy scoring. Well blow me down. Like there isn’t controversy in tennis, football, rugby and every sport. Get over yourself and your conspiracy theories.
I do sort of agree with you that the greatest sportsmen of all time is an impossible question but I think there are a select group of which Slater has PROVED himself worthy of joining.