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X FACTOR
Kelly Slater pulls out of X Games
The wind is light onshore, the surf is an inconsistent shoulder high, it's about 90 degrees in the shade, the crazy banana boats are buzzing along the surf line and most of the shade-bound vacationers and locals are either working on getting hammered or in full siesta mode. Another typical summertime Sunday in Puerto Escondido.
Typical, except for the scaffolding set up on the beach, all the fancy cameras lurking about and even more pasty white tourists than usual. The X Games 11 have come to town. And while it's certainly a far cry from Huntington Beach's US Open mayhem right now, this formerly sleepy Mexican fishing village ("Escondido" means "hidden" for the non-Spanish speakers) is about as packed as it's been with pro surfers and the accompanying media entourage. Packed, that is, with one notable exception: Mr. Kelly Slater is missing.
Well, to be honest, he's not actually missing -- he's in South Africa -- it's just that, well, he's missing the X Games. Not coming. And as you can imagine, the rumors are flying. As of press time, organizer Brad Gerlach decided to penalize the East Coast team by only allowing 'em nine members rather than ten, so they only have one alternate. (See list below.)
This morning, Matt Kechele, East Coast team coach and longtime friend of Kelly, said, "He's got a sinus infection, but maybe it's his way of saying 'you guys are fine -- you don't need me.'"
Later on, Kech is upset about Ger's decision -- "Why punish the whole team?" he asks -- and the two have been in heated meetings all day. Stay tuned for tomorrow's report for more on this situation.
As for the surf contest, well, today was the day that The Game was introduced to Puerto Escondido. Last night, honorary team captains Mike Parsons and Matt Kechele had a coin toss with Puerto Escondido's local surfers, who picked two teams -- the Tiburons and the Malaguas. Parsons took the Tiburons and Kech took the Malaguas.
This morning, when it was cooler and offshore and shoulder- to head-high on the (inconsistent) sets, the two teams battled it out in front of over a hundred local spectators lining the beach and Mexico's ESPN capturing everything for the rest of the country.
After a pretty equal battle through most of the Game -- these guys all know Puerto like the back of their hand -- it came down to the final quarter, when Diego Cadenas pulled out a stellar 8.25 in crunch time for the Tiburons. The Malaguas, who were not afraid to use the bullhorn to heckle the Tiburons, were gracious losers, everyone shaking hands after it was over.
"It was so cool," winning coach Parsons beamed afterwards. "These guys all compete all the time on their local circuit and they know each other really well; it was great to see how well they took to the format."
Gerlach walked by and chimed in, "I know this thing is going to go off in other countries." After weeks of planning, he's stoked to see it go off so well for the locals.
Garth Tarlow was working with Parsons as the water coach, and agreed. "It was insane. One of the guys even almost got an assist."
Over on the other bench, Kech replied, "Our team actually had more experience, but those guys got the waves."
But Parsons summed it up: "They all said, 'this is so much fun -- can we do it again tomorrow?'"
Surf permitting, that's what's going down.
The official Surfing X Games will happen on Tuesday August 2nd -- according to Sean Collins, it should be a few feet overhead and piping. Now that's Xtreme. Stay tuned here for daily reports and a full wrap up. --Marcus Sanders
Pre-event coverage
WINNING TEAM, MEXICO GAME DAY ONE: TIBURONS
Roberto Salinas
Coco Nogales
Angeles Lozano
Cristine Corzo
Diego Cadena
OFFICIAL LINE UP: SURFING X GAMES 11
EAST COAST
Coach: Matt Kechele
Team members:
C.J. Hobgood
Damien Hobgood
Baron Knowlton
Cory Lopez
Shea Lopez
Peter Mendia
Todd Morcom
Dean Randazzo
Jamie O'Brien (Wildcard)
WEST COAST
Coach: Mike
Parsons
Team members:
Shane Beschen
Keiran Horn
Taylor Knox
Rob Machado
Peter Mel
Pat O'Connell
Dane Reynolds
Che Stang
Chris Ward
Kalani Robb (wildcard)
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