With a tip of his hat to mate and co-title chaser, Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning has securely locked in his second World Title. Protein cafes and weightrooms everywhere sung out in chorus, while I hung my head in angst. Maybe it’s because I’m not Australian, or perhaps because I’m not a fan of robots, but I just can’t feel good about this win.
No doubt the guy is beyond in-form, at the top of his game, focused, unquestionably talented and has worked harder than anyone on tour to get to the winner’s podium, but his winning the title this year feels even ickier than the first time around.
In 2007, he came out of the gates firing, and never even looked back to see if anyone was on his heels. He surfed with machine like perfection, not letting fellow tour mates’ modern aerial and above the lip surfing interfere with his three to the beach or three to the channel approach.
This time around, he still surfed like the robot he is, but his best mate, Parko led the charge from the first event. Mick took it upon himself to consume more protein, do more squat thrusts and continue with his three turns per wave routine, to surpass his best mate and take away the title that the rest of the world (and the rest of the surfers on tour) were expecting Joel to win. I’m not naive enough to think that any of these guys are in it for second place, but come on, how do you take joy in burning your best mate?
You can argue that perhaps Joel should have stepped up his game to take down his oldest friend and the title in one fell swoop, but I find it much easier to blame Mick. Early speculation had the bland blondey laying down for Joel, to make sure he would share Mick’s place in the history books. Unfortunately for Joel and his legion of fans, that was not to be.
As the pro surfers “rep” on the World Tour, Mick got exactly what he wanted in the last round of tour planning and negotiations – continued blandness and a return to the old style one world ratings system. Should the revived “rebel tour” get cracking in 2010, with its more progressive focus and alleged ratings dominating roster, Fanning may find himself winning more uninspiring victories, with his unique three (identical) manuevers per wave style.
Mick Fanning surfs better than almost anyone on the planet. In heats, freesurfing and otherwise, he utilizes his likeness, the Karate Kid’s Johnny Lawrence’s take no prisoners approach. This method has won him numerous event victories, and now two world titles. While his sweeping top-turns (patent pending) are unrivaled, we all just know he’s capable of so much more.
Johnny Lawrence never backed down and never surrendered. Johnny Lawrence was more driven than any of his peers. Johnny Lawrence had flawless technique and could unleash an astounding barrage of machine like punches to utterly destroy an opponent. (Is this sounding familiar yet?) But…. what Johnny Lawrence was never expecting and couldn’t possibly counter was Daniel Larusso’s unorthodoxed crane kick. One big move took down the machine.
Mick – we expect a more inspiring performance from our champions. Take a big step forward or you’re likely to get the crippling crane kick one of these days soon, and it may just come from your “best” mate.
Related posts:
what a joke… you failed to mention some of the circumstances of Mick’s run to the top. First, Joel injures his ankle (another similarity to Mr. Larusso), then gets a bad call at Trestles when the buzzer supposedly sounded before he popped up on his final wave. Then, Mick gets a free heat due to the busted eardrum of another competitor. Finally, lets take a look at Mick’s run at pipe. If Sunny shows up on time, Mick has to surf against him in Round 3 instead of Meister. Another lucky break for Mr. Fanning. I’m noticing a trend here. I’m not saying that he’s not a great surfer and surfing well, but It just seems to me that he caught a lot of breaks this year.
d
“Early speculation had the bland blondey laying down for Joel, to make sure he would share Mick’s place in the history books. Unfortunately for Joel and his legion of fans, that was not to be.”
Woah! You’re so right, what a dick!
I don’t think Mick should have layed down for Joel, I just think he caught a sick amount of breaks. I thought it lacked class that he was out there kind of trolling the waters during Joel’s final heat though. I know he had to be out there ready for his heat, but He could’ve stayed at a distance. (to clarify… I was not calling this post a joke above… I was saying that Mick’s title was a joke)
d
man that whole article reeks of sour grapes.
women’s and men’s titles to australians, and no indication of anything changing soon. stings a little does it?
enjoy your aerials and natural surfing but remember if you wax on and off over it a little too much you might go blind.