"A young Brazilian surfer is riding a groundswell"- Gabriel Medina in the New York Times
“Brazil misses having a big sports star,” he said. “And right after our embarrassing participation in the World Cup, Medina has a very big chance of becoming our next Ayrton Senna or Guga Kuerten: idols capable of putting the whole country in a state of commotion by waving the Brazilian flag on the highest place at the podium."
On the eve of the title-deciding Pipeline Masters, Gabs Medina has been featured in a New York Times story about what his imminent title will mean, both for himself and for his sports-mad country. It includes observations from Matt Warshaw and Renato Hickel, plus an opening photo from Ed Sloane (that made it into the print edition of the NYT).
Comments
Opening Paragraph: "Gabriel Medina, a 20-year-old Brazilian, was well on his way to becoming the first South American to win the Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour men’s title."
Shouldn't that be : "is well on his way........."
Or have they already decided he's won the Title?
Think they mean: Was well on his way, as if it was a given outcome, but he stumbled in Portugal.
Yeh, I detect the injudicious hand of an out-sourced sub-ed who has butchered the opening parapgraph.
"Medina’s success is well documented and fervently tracked by fans around the world. His win at the Billabong Pro Tahiti generated pro surfing’s largest live audience, including those watching the live stream and on television. He has almost 700,000 followers on Instagram and more than 531,000 likes on Facebook. It does not hurt that Medina is a good friend of the Brazilian soccer star Neymar.
When asked how his life had changed in the last couple of years, Medina said that going for an ice cream at home was a bit more complicated.
“I lost a little freedom here in Brazil, but it’s normal,” said Medina, who is not yet fluent in English.
But of course - Who's watching???
not many Bobby, more people follow Medina on the Gram than the ASP, so going off your theory there's probably 120 million viewers who follow ASP on cable TV though
he has a tough ask gettng by the wildcard in his 1st round.....its far from sure h wil wn......pressure can be a bitch ..ask Parko/Sunny.......
and aren't mainstream journalists so painful, why wouldn't NY Times pay an Australian obsolete surf jouno to write for them?
Hey Bob.
Guess where Medina's 700k followers get him on TV: it's called a can. You can kick it because it's empty and no one cares.
Nymar only has 49 million likes. But Neymar us a year older than Medina so perhaps unfair. Plus, Medina is young and still has John John way beat in the Like department by a long ways.
Hmm.....comparing soccer to surfing......and ya think Medinas more popular than John John??
Medina seem's like a good guy. Very 'Like'able.
Not a great time to go a bit wobbly, just when Fanning seems very focused.
Hard to beat JJ in this one though.
Looks like it's going to be interesting viewing for all 50k of us.
Brutus,
You ever get out of that Aussie bubble? Heard of the social media have ya? Well, Aussies don't own that or surfing.
Medina: 700k on Facebook, 700k Insty, 34k twitter
JJF: 320k on Facebook, 235k insty, 34k twitter
Thems the facts old man.
The USA ain't what she used to be.
Careful Brutus --- Not long ago bunny Boy told us how he caught up with some Santa Cruz LOCALS!!!! -- he's connected Bunny Boy is - so we don't mess with local surf dudes like Bunny Bay. Tune into Fox Sport next week Brute and enjoy watching Pipeline, then check SN for forums of webcast numbers.
Hi Mr Rottmouth!
Nice to see you!
Quote from BunnyBoy
"I am no expert, but according to Todd Richards and several Santa Cruz locals I know, guys were landing the 540 fifteen years ago."
Bunny Boy=Local = hard core surf local
Locals Only hey Bunny
Competition is good.
Money and numbers know no borders.
Rotty, so the USA ain't what it used to be?... tell that load of bollocks to the Norks, So. Sudanians, Somalians, Venezuelans, Argentinians, Russians, Chinese, Iranians, any Arab nation,.. or any of the countries run by Black Supremacists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Fragile_States_Index
Yew!
Bob,
I am with you. I have been converted by surf media's inverted logic. In fact, it was put quite succinctly here: http://daynolds.blogspot.com/2014/12/pro-surfings-bogged-rail-in-social_...
Play the ball. Always.
Also, you can catch the new WSL / ASP on the... well... nowhere live in the United States of America, but well, there is hope: http://stabmag.com/the-wsl-is-30-milli-in-the-hole/
Hope and change got the USA a president elected. And, according the Roller, pro surfing don't even need hope or change. Just good old capitalism.
Which is just a word a for communists who aren't in power yet.
Communism being the logical end of capitalism would fit the narrative of Gabriel Medina winning the last WCT title almost too well. Someone should write about that.
Or at least borrow liberally from others.
China's coming to the rescue. Just hang on a bit. There's a few hundred surfing now. In another 10 years there will be 5,000. Money to burn. Yew!
Oh, hang on, the Communists ARE in power.
I heart Clif :-)
Are you a "local" at your break Bunny?? Are you also connected with the Locals on the North shore along with your locals at Santa Cruz
Bob,
Quit hanging your jury.
Don't get too excited Mr Rottmouth, I was being sarcastic on behalf of everyone else
Tony Ty is a Big Island Local -- and I bet there's two other Locals in your corner Bunny. He who plays the "local" card falls fastest and hardest. The profiles are complete.
We're ready for the next round of well researched who's watching, the web.